“You could be a technical consultant on my show. I don’t want to worry all the time about what they are doing. But if you’re there, I won’t have to. You can keep them honest, guarantee the realism, and stop them from making me into something I’m not.”
“Likable, for instance.”
“Anything but a big-boobed blonde who rides her Harley to work, flaunts her cleavage, wears her gun like a fashion accessory on her tight jeans, and never makes a mistake.”
“Why not? That would be a definite improvement. You ought to try that in real life.”
“I’m serious, Duncan.”
“So am I.”
“This is a way to retire and use your experience doing something besides security work.”
“Yeah, but I’d have to spend all day around actors who are pretending to be cops. People like Nick Egan. That would drive me nuts. I’m not in love with the business like Garvey. Hey, why not go to him? He’d love this.”
“Because he’d let the actors, writers, and producers do whatever they want. But you’ll give them the same shit you give me. You’ll be making really good money doing nothing but criticizing people and offering Pavone’s pearls of wisdom.”
“You can get paid for that?”
“Wait, there’s more. They have caterers on the set every day. Breakfast and lunch are free.”
Duncan’s eyes lit up. “Free food?”
“It never ends. They have a table on the set that’s always full of cake, cookies, chips, and candy.”
“I’ll think about it,” he said. “There’s no hurry for me to decide. I’ve got a few months left on the job and you don’t have a TV show yet. Besides, the way things are going, you probably won’t survive to see it.”
Eve smiled. “I can always count on you to see the positive side of things.”
“That’s me,” he said. “Mr. Sunny-Side Up.”
Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
The Lost Hills sheriff’s station in Calabasas, California, is a real place, but the characters and events portrayed in this novel are entirely fictional. I’ve also taken substantial creative liberties regarding the way the sheriff’s department allocates its manpower and resources. While many of the streets and other places mentioned in the book do exist, Hueso Canyon does not, though it is inspired by an actual location in the Santa Monica Mountains near Latigo Canyon Road and Kanan Dume Road.
There wouldn’t be a second Eve Ronin novel if not for the enthusiasm, insight, and support of my editors Gracie Doyle, Megha Parekh, and Charlotte Herscher, the marketing and promotional efforts of Dennelle Catlett and Megan Beatie, and the negotiating prowess of Amy Tannenbaum.
To research this book, I attended several homicide investigators’ training conferences for law enforcement professionals. I am grateful to the organizers, instructors, and attendees of these conferences for allowing me to participate and learn from their experiences. Special thanks to Jason Weber, public safety training coordinator, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay, and John Flannery, director of public safety, Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin.
I am deeply indebted to Paul Bishop, Robin Burcell, Lee Lofland, David Putnam, Kathy Bennett, and Patricia Smiley for letting me draw on their law enforcement backgrounds to get the cop stuff right . . . though at times I’ve intentionally bent reality to suit my fictional needs. They were incredibly patient with me and answered my dumb questions in astonishing detail.
There is a lot of forensic stuff in this book, and to sort through it all, I relied upon the wise counsel of Dr. D. P. Lyle; Daniel Winterich, professor of criminal justice, Lakeland Community College; Pamela Sokolik-Putnam, supervising deputy coroner investigator, San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner Department; Katherine Ramsland, PhD, professor of forensic psychology, DeSales University; Danielle R. Galien, criminal justice professor, Des Moines Area Community College; and Katherine Ann Roberts, PhD, executive director, California Forensic Science Institute, School of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics, Los Angeles. Any errors in forensics, science, or procedure you encountered are entirely my fault and quite possibly premeditated.
I also appreciate the help of Lieutenant Colonel H. Ripley Rawlings IV, USMC, for showing me the wide range of military tattoos and explaining to me their symbolism and meaning.
There were several books that were especially useful to me, including Practical Homicide Investigation, fifth edition, by Vernon J. Geberth; Introduction to Crime Scene Investigation, third edition, by Aric W. Dutelle; Advances in Forensic Taphonomy, edited by William D. Haglund and Marcella H. Sorg; Death Scene Investigation: Procedural Guide, second edition, by Michael S. Maloney, MFS; and The Analysis of Burned Human Remains, second edition, edited by Christopher W. Schmidt and Steven A. Symes.
Finally, I want to thank the authors of these exceptional articles and papers:
“Forensic Anthropology: What Bones Can Tell Us” by John K. Lundy, PhD (Laboratory Medicine, volume 29, number 7, July 1998).
“The Forensic Evaluation of Burned Skeletal Remains: A Synthesis” by Douglas H. Ubelaker (Forensic Science International, volume 183, January 2009).
“Assessment of Skeletal Changes after Post-Mortem Exposure to Fire as an Indicator of Decomposition Stage” by N. Keough, E. N. L’Abbé, M. Steyn, and S. Pretorius (Forensic Science International, volume 246, January 2015).
“Exploding Skulls and Other Myths about How the Body Burns” by Elayne J. Pope, MD, O. C. Smith, MD, and Timothy G. Huff, MA (Fire and Arson Investigator, volume 54, April 2004).
“The Use of Orthopedic Surgical Devices for Forensic Identification” by Rebecca J. Wilson, MA, Jonathan D. Bethard, MA, and Elizabeth A. DiGangi, PhD (Journal of Forensic Sciences, March 2011).
About the Author
Photo © 2013 Roland Scarpa
Lee Goldberg is a two-time Edgar Award and two-time Shamus Award nominee and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels. He has also written and/or produced many TV shows, including Diagnosis Murder, SeaQuest, and Monk, and is the cocreator of the Mystery 101 series of Hallmark movies. As an international television consultant, he has advised networks and studios in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, China, Sweden, and the Netherlands on the creation, writing, and production of episodic television series. You can find more information about Lee and his work at www.leegoldberg.com.
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