Nerding Out
My favourite character in The Therapist and the Thief is Veronica. Hands down. She is fun to write and even more fun to create. In short, she is a 21-year-old highly skilled thief from the wrong side of the tracks. She’s incredibly intelligent, capable, pragmatic, has a unique moral compass, and engages in some very tricky stuff.
I do want to clarify from the outset that she is not a version of myself, I promise. In summary, I believe that our similarities are (1) being female, and (2) coming from a difficult childhood background. Like many of us, I came from a very low socio-economic demographic (i.e. we were dirt poor) and I have lived in some very high crime areas (some of which have been accurately described as slums). I, however, was naturally crime-averse but I’ve no idea why, given my background and environment. I didn’t even jay walk. Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I have recently jay walked, but it really was safe.
I’ve personally known a few criminals – relatives, friends, neighbours, and acquaintances – but honestly, Veronica wasn’t modelled on any of them. I completely made her up. The best part was conducting research to inform various sneaky goings-on and the risks involved. I spent many happy hours reading about crime statistics (yes, I found that fun), watching crime shows (my fascination with criminal investigation documentaries finally came in handy), and talking with knowledgeable people about a vast array of illegal activities that took my fancy for this character.
I spent hours looking up credible sources and reading fascinating facts online such as; serial numbers on diamonds and the effect on international diamond trafficking; effective methods of fencing stolen goods; little known but legitimate flaws with residential and commercial safes; police procedures and precedents; spyware equipment (and its ready availability on the internet); various weapons; effective poisons; the dark web; effective methods of evading capture … the list goes on. I was no doubt flagged countless times by law enforcement agencies based on my search criteria alone. Every now and then I’d type in an explanatory search criteria such as ‘aspects of intrigue in mystery novels’ so they could see that I was coming from a good place.
Instead of feeling guilty for wasting time looking things on my laptop, or ‘nerding out’ as one of my friends called it, I embraced feeling writerly and could honestly claim that it was all in the name of research. It’s possibly one of the reasons this series is a trilogy. The twisty plots continue. There are so many fun directions, unexpected turns, and delicious possibilities, it’s clear to me that further research will be needed for a while longer yet. I should perhaps also watch a further crime documentary or two (curled up on my couch, glass of wine in hand, wishing I had a box of chocolates). It’s research after all.