Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Who Says Crime Doesn't Pay?

by Felicia Donovan

Anyone who has read THE BLACK WIDOW AGENCY series knows that I draw a lot of my plotlines from my own years of experience in law enforcement, as well as my extensive research on all facets of cyber crime. Throughout the writing of the series, I assisted on cases involving child predators, cyber stalkers, on-line harassment, etc; alongside the gal who gave me the original idea for the series, Detective Kristyn Bernier. Kristyn works as an Investigator with the Northern New England Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Together, we trolled the Internet, watched a lot of nasty things pop-up on monitors as she posed as a young teen in chat rooms, and tracked these creeps down through a variety of sources to identify them and get them off the street.

Kristyn is a bloodhound when it comes to finding the slugs and maggots who prey on our children. In that, we are very much alike - sniffing out the bad guy like a dog and never giving up the bite until absolutely commanded to - but beyond that, we're very different. "Ying and Yang" is how she often refers to us. She's quick-witted with an even quicker tongue, I'm methodical, reflective and reserved. She's always "pulled together" while I slouch around in whatever happens to be clean that morning. Her desk looks like a hurricane just blew through the area while I need everything in folders with labels.

Despite our differences, we work incredibly well together because we both have a strong work ethic and desire to see justice served. We also appreciate each other's intellectual capabilities, so to that end we put our collective blonde (sort of) heads together and schemed up a brilliant idea - What if we collaborated on a book all about cyber crime and case stories from the victim's and law enforcement's perspective about the REALITY of cyber crime? What if we were to make people aware of some of the most frightening websites and tools available to stalk someone? What if we told what it is really like to "catch a predator?" My agent loved the idea. Publishers loved the idea. So...

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I'm proud to announce the impending arrival of CYBER CRIME FIGHTERS: TALES FROM THE TRENCHES by Felicia Donovan and Kristyn Bernier, which will be released in December from Que Publishing (ISBN: 0789739224).

Writing non-fiction has been an entirely different experience than writing The Black Widow Agency series. There's all kind of formatting, figures and captions, pull quotes, permission issues, research, fact checks, and more research. There are Development Editors, Permissions Editors, Technical Editors and Author Reviews. And just when we thought we were done with everything, a case that we'd mentioned in the book would take a bizarre turn so we'd have to scramble to squeeze the details in.

As much as I loved writing CYBER CRIME FIGHTERS: TALES FROM THE TRENCHES and working with a terrific co-author, let's just say that I began to sorely miss my Black Widows and the freedom to suspend reality. I'm looking forward to returning to my gals to chronicle their adventures once more, but in the meantime, who says crime doesn't pay?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

If crime has to pay, I'm glad it's you. LOL. I can't wait for this book, it sounds absolutely fascinating. Good luck to both of you.

Joe Moore said...

Best of luck on the success of your collaboration, Felicia.

Jessica Lourey said...

Congratulations, Felicia! Way to add to your writing chops.

G.M. Malliet said...

What fantastic news, Felicia!

Huge congrats!

Sue Ann Jaffarian said...

BIG CONGRATULATIONS, FELICIA!!! The new book looks fascinating and very scary.

It's always good for us to spread our wings in other directions.

Mark Combes said...

As the only philosopher that really matters sings from his hammock in Key West, "Fiction over fact always gets my vote."

In the end, it's just easier to make shit up.

Best of luck with the book! You are doing good and noble work!

Felicia Donovan said...

Thank you all! I wonder, though, has anyone else crossed the waters from the fiction to the non-fiction side? I wonder what that experience was like for you? It was certainly quite different for me but in a good, challenging kind of way. The more I learn, the more dangerous I become...

Marta Stephens said...

Congratulations and best of luck, Felicia!!

I see we'll need to make another spot in December for you at Murder By 4!

Anonymous said...

Felicia,
I wish you all the best with the book. You certainly deserve it with all the help you've given us LEO writers. Can't wait to buy and read it.

Congrats!!!!

Nina Wright said...

Very impressive, Felicia! May all your writing prove lucrative!

Nina

Anonymous said...

Felicia,
Congratulations on your book! It sounds fascinating.
And hello to Lynn Sholes & Joe Moore on this site.

Shannon said...

Hi,
Felicia, great written book. Crime does pay. If you think of law inforcement it does have to pay. over all well written bogs

Shannon
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