by Special Guest Colleen Collins
In my real life, I work as both a writer and a professional private investigator (PI). Sometimes, fellow writers will email and ask questions about what their character (in a contemporary story) might do to check out a suspicious person, investigate an incident, or research a piece of evidence. I thought the Romancing the Blog writers and readers might find it useful if I highlighted several public resources that a fictional character might use to dig for data, which is after all what answers questions and solves crimes.
Below are some hypothetical scenarios and the resource/technique a character might use.
He claims to lead an excessively charmed life, including living in a multi-million-dollar home. The last is easy to check. Have your character go to Zillow.com and plug in the address. Zillow will show the estimated real estate value for the address as well as for neighboring properties, display aerial photographs of the home and its neighborhood, even provide current sale prices for nearby properties.
She claims she lives alone with her dog. Your character can quickly check the county assessor’s office for the property listing (online, enter the search words [state] [county] Assessor—for example, Colorado Jefferson County Assessor). If she co-owns that place with a man who has the same name as she does, she ain’t single.
He claims to be a doctor. Your character doesn’t have to fake an illness to check this, just go to http://www.verifyprolicense.com/home.aspx and research professional licensing in that state.
She claims to own a chic local nightclub. Your character can hang out at the club and quiz people, or quickly confirm it with the city’s liquor license authority (online, a search on [city] liquor licenses—for example, Denver liquor licenses—should bring up links that point to the correct licensing agency).
He claims perfect credit, but carries only cash. No need for your character to ponder if he’s solvent or not. Just check the bankruptcy records at the administrative offices of the U.S. Courts: http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/
She claims she’s lived on a small island in the South Pacific for the last 10 years, that’s why no addresses show for that time period. Hmmm…either she’s led a fascinating life, or she’s hiding where she’s really been. Good idea for your character to check the inmate locator lookup at the Federal Bureau of Prisons website: http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp
He claims to be a city policeman. Your character can confirm this with that state’s peace officer certification registry (online, a search on [state] peace officer certification—for example, Colorado peace officer certification—should bring up the registry link).
She takes off every night, claiming to visit her elderly aunt Martha, comes home smelling of whiskey and cigars. Unless Auntie Martha is a party animal, she’s going elsewhere. Wouldn’t it be great for your character to slap a GPS on her car, see exactly where she’s going? Well, unless your character’s name is on the registration for that vehicle, we’re talking felony. Instead, how about your character tossing his/her cell phone under the seat of the car? Then, using that cell phone carrier’s family locator service, track it. Nothing illegal with that!
Hope you find these data-mining tips useful. To quote Sherlock Holmes, “Data! Data! Data! I can’t make bricks without clay.”
Colleen Collins and her PI business partner will be teaching “Quick Studies on the Shady Side: Tips and Techniques for Writers Developing Sleuths and Villains,†a series of online investigative courses geared to writers, from June-December 2009. For more information, go to http://www.writingprivateinvestigators.com
Disclaimer: The information and advice offered in this blog are for the use of writers/readers only and should in no way be taken or construed as counsel or advice for persons requiring investigation assistance.
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Fantastic post! some of these will be very helpful to me to bookmark for when I need them.
Thanks!
This is wonderful information! Thanks so much for sharing!
Hee hee! The cell phone in the car is particularly informative.
The cell phone GPS idea is great because it would also be a wonderful excuse for depriving your character of easy communications later in the story. Not that we’d want to put our characters into jeopardy or anthing
Colleen,
Thanks for sharing this great information. Now I know I have Eva Baum doing something illegal and have to decide if she knows and will do it anyway or if she needs to find another approach.
Charlotte Phillips
Hacksaw
Hi Colleen. As a reader, I love learning how you go about doing your book and this is first time I’m learning about how you put your character together. Thanks on the links. I may play on them for fun!
Awesome post, Colleen! Great info…and as a PI writer, very helpful!
Excellent! I’m a big mystery fan and often astounded at how often laws are casually broken when simple alternatives – like that cell phone trick – are available. I’ve used a few of those links myself to check out businesses and home owners (for vacation house rentals). That course sounds interesting. hummmmmmmmm
Very cool post — I’m definitely bookmarking it. Thanks!
Angie