Omerta

How Real Do You Want It

When writing a police procedural, you must walk a fine line, balancing realism with drama. Recently, I read with amusement an interview of a retired cop by a well-known author. The retired officer pointed out all the common mistakes writers make when writing police stories. As a retired police officer myself, I understand where he was coming from. And I agree with him that accuracy and authenticity are essential in police procedural novels. Fans of the genre, who tend to be very knowledgeable about police procedures, expect that. On the other hand, going overboard with realism can be a mistake. Why? Because believe it or not, real life police work is far more tedious and routine than exciting, although many civilians might never imagine that. I like to say that I spent over twenty years doing hours and hours of monotonous and repetitive tasks interspersed with occasional moments of pure terror. A one-hundred percent reality-based police story would make for boring reading. While my protagonist, LAPD Detective Howard Drew, would never beat a suspect with a rubber hose during an interrogation to get a confession (because that would be absurd), Drew does sometimes color outside the lines when a real-life detective couldn't. That makes for a far more interesting story.