Author Updates & Upcoming Rockin’ Halloween Interview

Posted on October 26, 2012 by jchasenovelist

I wanted to convey a heartfelt thank you to everyone for the amazing support for my EMILY STONE SERIES.  Rest assured, Emily’s next huge adventure in DEAD BURN is about wrapped up and ready to experience.  That is, if you can handle an arson serial killer searching for victims by their committed sins, a ruthless hit man, and a little more of Emily’s rambunctious friend Jordan!

***

 

I will be a guest on Blog Talk Radio THE WRITE STUFF with host and Best Selling Author Ashely Fontainne on HALLOWEEN – October 31st @ 6:00pm CST!  Click HERE to get all the details.

***

Here’s a wrap up of some recent Author Interviews and Book Appearances that I’ve had the privilege of participating in:

THE KINDLE BOOK REVIEW – Fall Fright!

THE MASQUERADE CREW

INDIE AUTHOR NEWS

WLC CHARACTER INTERVIEW

TEAZURS.BLOGSPOT.COM

TYRKIERAN.COM

  * * *

Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
Posted in Dark Mind, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Violent Death of Infant Results in Only a Ninety-Day Sentence

Posted on October 24, 2012 by jchasenovelist

How much prison time should be considered appropriate for the murder of an infant?  Yes, there must be consideration for intent, maliciousness, premeditation of this act . . . but what is the ballpark?  Five years?  Ten years?  Twenty?  Maybe life?

Well, how about ninety days in prison for the death of a six-month-old girl?  That is the sentence handed down to a teen dad in Colorado after his actions were shown to have caused the death of his daughter.

Nineteen-year-old Dylan Kuhn originally told authorities that he had found his baby girl with a blanket wrapped around her neck.  Upon further questioning, Mr. Kuhn eventually admitted that he had forcefully put his daughter down on a bed when he didn’t know why she was crying.  This was consistent with the medical examiner’s findings that the baby had been slammed against a “soft but unyielding surface.”

Kuhn admitted that he had not been straightforward from the beginning because he was scared and because he thought his girlfriend would hate him for what he had done.  He pled guilty to manslaughter and the judge, citing Kuhn’s age and lack of previous criminal record, decided that ninety days in jail would be adequate to punish Kuhn for his daughter’s death.  The judge agreed with the argument made by Kuhn’s attorney that jail is where many young men learn to be repeat offenders.  And, at sentencing, both Kuhn’s mom and his girlfriend spoke on his behalf.

It is difficult to fathom that any human life is equated to only three months of jail time, particularly when the victim is an innocent and defenseless baby.  I hope that, at least, this young man uses the opportunity at freedom to “honor his daughter,” as the judge advised in his ruling.  In my opinion, he should receive counseling and anger management in addition to his prison sentence.

What are your thoughts on this sentencing? 

  * * *

Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
Posted in crime | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Can Our Furry Companions Enhance Genre Fiction?

Posted on October 22, 2012 by jchasenovelist

It’s no secret that I love animals and I share my household with two Labrador retrievers and two cats.  My top dog “Sarge” (photo above) is enjoying a nice swim at the beach.  Life just wouldn’t be the same without some type of furry companion included in my day-to-day routines.

It actually got me thinking about how animals and pets can influence a novel.  It can be any type of genre, like mystery, romance, and even sci-fi where a fido-type of character can be integrated to enhance a character or storyline.

Many years ago, I read my first Dean Koontz novel called Watchers.  What made me pick up this book was the interesting storyline with a smart canine wrapped up in a supernatural thriller, along with a government conspiracy.  One of the important supporting characters was a stray dog.  Needless to say, I was hooked on Koontz’s books after that story.

I was recently introduced to a fun mystery series by Spencer Quinn.  I laughed out loud when I picked up the book Dog On It and read the first few pages.  This story actually has the dog’s point-of-view as a character in the book.  I highly recommend this series for anyone who loves a good mystery, many laughs, and the best sidekick any main character could ask for in a story.  It’s a steal on Amazon Kindle for  99 cents.

 In 2011, I was inspired to write a thriller, Silent Partner, with a California police K9 unit on the heels of a serial killer.  It definitely adds another dimension to your story, but I loved the challenge.  When I created the Emily Stone Series, I included a large Labrador to add to vigilante detective’s reclusive and covert life.

I’m in the process of creating another thriller/mystery series where the protagonist has an eight-foot Python as his home security.  Now, I have you thinking again!

I think that any type of animal friend, whether it is a dog, cat, bird, or even a tarantula can always add to the storyline and create more character depth.  These four-legged (or eight-legged) friends don’t have to be a main or supporting character, but it gives another dimension to the story that readers can relate to.  It can up the suspense, create a nice pause in a stressful story, or give that unexpected laugh.

Some examples of furry and even feathered characters could be the happy dog that greets the homicide detective when he comes home from a hard day, the two Siamese cats that inspire the horror writer in the midnight hour, or even the parrot that mocks the serial killer after he’s returned home with a fresh victim.

What’s your favorite book with an animal character?

  * * *

Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
Posted in K9, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Violent Crimes Up for the First Time in Nearly Two Decades

Posted on October 19, 2012 by jchasenovelist

It is sometimes difficult to believe, based on the horrible stories that get covered non-stop on the 24-hour news cycle, but violent crime actually has been decreasing for about two decades.  The incidences of assaults and rapes and robberies have shown a downward slope since 1993.  From 1993 through 2010, violent crime in the United States decreased by 65%.  That’s remarkable and a testament to better trained law enforcement, effective laws and sentencing, and many other factors.  Unfortunately, it appears that trend in the right direction stalled out last year.  Let’s hope it is only a one-year aberration.

The Bureau of Justice just released statistics showing a 22% increase in simple assaults in 2011 over the record low that our country had just the year before.  Of the more serious, violent assaults, the number of such attacks appears at best to have remained about the same as 2010.  Overall, violent crime saw an 18% uptick over the previous year.  And, it is not just crimes against our fellow humans that saw an increase last year; property crimes were up 11% over 2010.

The surveys done for this research were completed by phone as opposed to reviewing police records, as the hope was to account for crimes that were never reported to law enforcement.  This is crucial, as less than half of all crimes are ever reported.

Analysts remind us that the jump seems so large due in part to the fact that crime statistics were so low in 2010, inflating the gap that occurred with the crime that took place in 2011.  But, that leaves the question—why were we as a nation significantly less violent in 2010 and was caused the spike in 2011?

Do you have some thoughts on the reasons behind this shift in the trend?  What made 2011 so different from the twenty years that preceded it?  I love to get your opinions on this.

  * * *

Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
Posted in crime, Police | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Why Do We Cringe at Terrible Sounds?

Posted on October 17, 2012 by jchasenovelist

Fingernails slowly dragged down a chalkboard, a shrieking woman, or that high-pitch sound of a drill makes us cringe on the spot and cower in disgust.  Even pressing your hands against your ears does not seem to help.  Okay, I admit it, I like to find weird and unusual science stuff in addition to my crime scene forensics.  And I like to share!

Have you ever thought about why we cringe at such terrible sounds? 

Is our brain programmed to make us shrink from these types of noises?

According to a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, there has been a correlation between the emotional and auditory parts of the brain with heightened activity when we hear repulsive noises.  Everyone has a different level of sensitivity, but for the most part, we all find certain sounds horrible.

Newcastle University scientists have discovered that the auditory cortex (processes sound) and the amygdala (processes emotions) of the brain to be active when we hear certain sounds.  Researchers tested volunteers using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and rated the individual results from the least to most pleasant sounds.

Some of the worst noises rated  in the study were knife on a bottle, fork on a glass, nails on a chalkboard, and a female scream to the most pleasant of water flowing and a baby laughing.  In addition, researchers found that the frequency of the noises from 2,000 to 5,000 Hz was found unpleasant to most people.

From the scientific perspective, understanding the brain’s reaction to noise could help scientists and doctors to understand individuals with medical conditions such as autism and misophonia (hatred of sound).

“This work sheds new light on the interaction of the amygdala and the auditory cortex.  This might be a new inroad into emotional disorders and disorders like tinnitus and migraine in which there seems to be a heightened perception of the unpleasant aspect of sounds”, says Professor Tim Griffins from Newcastle University, who led the study.

I didn’t see the sounds such as a gas leaf blower, wood chipper, and a fork sliding across a dinner plate on the list, which are sounds that drive me insane.  This interesting information might prove to be a fun aspect to add to a character in a fictional book.

What’s your least favorite sound?

  * * *

Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
Posted in Criminology, Forensic | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

31 Things That Scare Me

Posted on October 13, 2012 by jchasenovelist

It’s the scariest month of the year and I thought I’d keep up with the yearly tradition and post what actually scares a criminologist and crime fiction author.

Now, on to my list.  Just in case you were wondering…

1.                   People text messaging and surfing the Internet when they drive.

2.                  Cleaning the cat litter box.

3.                  Men who wear socks with sandals.

4.                  People listed with three first names.

5.                  Children that know more about technology than I do.

6.                  Old coffee.

7.                  The rapidly increasing size of the ordinary garden gopher.

8.                 Ambient temperatures over 75 degrees.

9.                 Rats in the attic.

10.               Actually knowing the words to most 80s songs.

11.                Political debates.

12.               Thinking it was only my imagination.

13.               Feeling completely comfortable and relaxed studying serial killers and crime scenes.

14.              Not being able to buy new shoes – more shoes – more shoes.

15.              Bees.

16.              Enjoying television reruns including reality shows.

17.              Knowing when the phone is about to ring.

18.              Thinking that real superheroes are actually forensic scientists and cold case detectives.

19.              Relating to Sigourney Weaver’s character “Helen Hudson” in the 1995 movie Copycat.

20.              Weeds growing in my yard that triple in size every single day.

21.              The ticking of the clock.

22.              People who don’t like black dogs or black cats.

23.              The increasing number of endangered species.

24.              People without a sense of humor.

25.              Predatory people looking for child victims.

26.              Fast food French fries having a shelf life of 100 years or more.

27.              Having to find a scarier book or movie than the last.

28.              Feeling comfortable in my own shoes.

29.              Not knowing what’s around every corner.

30.              Making this scary list.

31.              And finally… the most scariest thing of all… not being able to write every day.

Notice how I didn’t say alone in a dark scary place when it’s raining, and an anxious guy with hockey mask wielding a machete that wants to ask me for directions….

So, what scares you?

***

In celebration of the scariest month, you might want to pick up some chills and thrills from the award-winning Emily Stone Series.

  * * *

Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
Posted in Dark Mind, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Plumber Helps to Capture Would-Be Burglar

Posted on October 11, 2012 by jchasenovelist

With the protagonist in a series of novels I have written being a woman who takes the law into her own hands by hunting down predators and bringing them to justice, I enjoy finding stories of “everyday” men and women who have decided to act when they see crime happening.  While I never advocate putting yourself in grave danger or accelerating an already dangerous situation, it is nice to know that there are plenty of people out there who want to see the bad guys get caught.  Among these people is a plumber from Maryland.

The plumber had just entered a home in Waldorf, Maryland where he was scheduled to do work on some renovations, when he noticed a side door had been kicked in.  He investigated and found a man standing inside.  He then used his cell phone to take pictures of the would-be suspect and to call police.

The suspect, Tarique Jarrod Day, was found shortly thereafter in a wooded area.  His arrest is due largely to a man who went beyond his job requirements and who had the sense about him not only to contact authorities but also to grab some quick photographic evidence of the trespasser.

This incident seemed to end without much danger of escalation into violence.  The suspect tried to leave the scene when discovered and gave himself up to police without incident. It is fortunate that the plumber did not find himself placed in a more volatile predicament.  He must have read the situation well and acted on those great instincts.  He is unharmed, no property was stolen, and the alleged criminal was taken into custody.

What do you imagine your first reaction would be if you came home to find a stranger standing in the middle of your living room?

* * *

Author Blog: https://authorjenniferchase.com/
Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/
Book & Crime Talk:  http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chase
Books: Compulsion  Dead Game  Dark Mind  Silent Partner  Screenwriting
Posted in crime | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment