Cold cases are often in the news
Cold cases such as the White House Farm Murder get a lot of publicity when someone manages to open them up again. Sometimes something reminds us they are still live, like the Maddie McCann case. I’m glad the police so often don’t give up until they solve a case completely and that they fix past mistakes where they can.
Cold Cases are popular on TV
New Tricks ran for years and Waking the Dead was almost as popular in its day. Don’t forget Unforgotten! Perhaps the pace of these makes a welcome change from the urgency of the typical police drama where the motto that the First 24 Hours are Crucial drives everything. That could account for many mistakes. Of course, it is important to move fast so as to get evidence while it’s still there, but in real life as in fiction the tortoise sometimes beats the hare.
Cold Cases in my writing
My hero, Frank Hill, has actually found the body in each of the three Accounting for Murder novels, and therefore become involved in current murder investigations. However, there is a question in the third, New Money, that the case is connected to several old cases. Or was that a distraction? I set my other novel, DOWN in 1978/9 but the case goes back to the 1960’s. For more about New Money see my post. For more about DOWN there’s another post.
The cover of New Money – was the murder connected to any cold cases?
Why do I like Cold Cases?
Apart from anything else, I love the idea that someone who thinks they have got away with a murder (or several) finds the long arm of the law catching up with them. You can imagine my delight every time someone makes a new development in forensic science. The precautions people took to cover their tracks are no longer effective. I am old enough to remember when DNA was discovered. Just because you left no fingerprints, you were no longer safe.
The cover of DOWN -which is all about cold cases.
Do you like cold cases?
Do let me know if you prefer your crime stories cold or hot. I can’t promise, but I’ll try to take your comments on board. I hope you enjoy reading them anyway.