Take Your Pick

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Don’t ever let it be said that the Reds have failed to allow you to learn new things. Widen your horizons. Deepen your skills.   Yesterday, what to do if you are kidnapped. And today, another lesson that may well come in handy, er, someday. We are the first place you look for that kind of valuable stuff, right?

This wisdom, hard-won and in-depth and exclusive to Jungle Red (J) , comes from the amazing Kristen Lepionka.  If you hear a sound in the background, that buzz is everyone on the planet talking about her new (and debut) novel THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK.   

Now, take notes, you all. Then—hide them.

Unlocking the Secrets of Unlocking

  By Kristen Lepionka

Lock-picking always looks so easy in the movies. Is it weird that I notice this? Probably, but no matter--with a single bobby pin or paperclip, Hollywood wants us to believe that our heroine can get any door open in mere seconds. But in reality, it’s not so simple. I know this because, when I created the protagonist in my novel THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK--Roxane Weary, a private investigator who’s been known to trespass through locked doors--I wanted to get the details about lock-picking just right. First, I fell down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos about lock-picking. Then I ordered an instruction booklet from a vaguely sketchy website. Then, still unable to figure it out on my own, I wondered if I could get someone to teach me how to do it.

Maybe the sketchy website could put me in touch with someone locally? This type of question seems perfectly reasonable to a writer in full-on research mode.

Then I heard about an organization called Locksport International which is an entirely upstanding and non-sketchy group dedicated to competitive lock-picking. Locks are basically just the home security version of a Rubik’s Cube, and Locksport International gathers people together to practice, compete, and challenge each other to “solve” them. And they’re quite generous about teaching, too! I attended one of their workshops and learned all about this delicate art, including things that Hollywood often gets wrong--like that single paperclip I was talking about.

You really need two tools to open a lock--a pick, and a tension wrench. Without both, it’s virtually impossible. Here’s how it works.

Your garden variety front door lock--a pin and tumbler lock--consists of a series of short vertical pins that are lined up in a matching series of holes drilled into the top of a larger cylinder (which contains the keyhole on the front). The pins prevent the cylinder from turning. But if you push those pins up and out of the cylinder, it will open freely. Each lock has pins of different heights, which is where those jagged edges on your housekey come in. Their purpose is to move the pins up and out of the cylinder, a point called the shear line.

But you can’t open a locked door just by inserting a key and standing there watching, right? You have to turn the key too. Hence the second tool. The pick simulates the jagged edge on your key, and the L-shaped tension wrench simulates the turning motion you make when unlocking your front door the regular way. As soon as the pins are lifted above the shear line, the motion of the tension wrench turns the lock open.

So the next time you watch a movie where a character picks a lock, take a look at how they’re doing it. And check out Locksport International for more information on the exciting world of hobby and competitive lock-picking--it’s quite a lot of fun. Here is a video of me demonstrating. 

To win a signed copy of the The Last Place You Look, comment with your favorite "rule-breaking" detective character!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Ooh. We just did a big story about the unscrupulous lock-pickers out there, the ones who take advantage of panicked homeowners who have locked themselves out. See? Now you can avoid all that.

Rule-breaking detective. Hmm. Isn’t that all of them? Or is it? Gotta start with Sherlock Holmes. How about you, Reds and readers? 

And have you ever picked a lock?

THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK to one lucky commenter! 

(And hey, Kristen, tell us more about your book in the comments!)

 Kristen Lepionka is the author of the Roxane Weary mystery series, starting with The Last Place You Look (Minotaur Books, 2017). She grew up mostly in a public library and could often be found in the adult mystery section well before she was out of middle school. Her writing has been selected for Shotgun Honey, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and Black Elephant, and she is also the editor of Betty Fedora, a lit journal focusing on feminist crime fiction. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her partner and two cats.

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About THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK

Nobody knows what happened to Sarah Cook. The beautiful blonde teenager disappeared fifteen years ago, the same night her parents were brutally murdered in their suburban Ohio home. Her boyfriend Brad Stockton―black and from the wrong side of the tracks―was convicted of the murders and is now on death row. Though he’s maintained his innocence all along, the clock is running out. His execution is only weeks away when his devoted sister insists she spied Sarah at an area gas station. Willing to try anything, she hires PI Roxane Weary to look at the case and see if she can locate Sarah.

Brad might be in a bad way, but private investigator Roxane Weary isn’t doing so hot herself. Still reeling from the recent death of her cop father in the line of duty, her main way of dealing with her grief has been working as little and drinking as much as possible. But Roxane finds herself drawn in to the story of Sarah's vanishing act, especially when she links the disappearance to one of her father’s unsolved murder cases involving another teen girl.

The stakes get higher as Roxane discovers that the two girls may not be the only beautiful blonde teenagers who’ve turned up missing or dead. As her investigation gets darker and darker, Roxane will have to risk everything to find the truth. Lives depend on her cracking this case―hers included.

Kristen Lepionka

Author of The Last Place You Look, out now from Minotaur Books

www.kristenlepionka.com | Sign up for my newsletter

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