Last week we caught up with author Elizabeth George on tour for her new novel, JUST ONE EVIL ACT. She shared how she generated the kernel of idea for the book from the now famous Amanda Knox case. Don't worry, there are no book spoilers here. While George got the idea from the Amanda Knox case, her book isn't about that case.
What George learned by reading up on the Amanda Knox case is that in Italy the case Prosecutor runs the police investigation. So that means, the prosecutor can send the police force out to gather evidence that fits his or her hypothesis, rather than just following the evidence where ever that leads. Not only that, she learned that there is no freedom of the press in Italy. If a journalists writes something a prosecutor doesn't like about a case, they can be held in defamation. This naturally changes how journalists report on crimes.
She also did research on the power of the British tabloids in influencing a story of this kind and the types of rumor and innuendo they picked up without bothering to ground any of it to facts. This led her to add a tabloid journalist to her mix of characters for the book.
I'm a big Elizabeth George fan. I have all of her books and most of them are signed. When I recommend George, I suggest that people start with the first Inspector Lynley mystery, A Great Deliverance. What I was reminded of during this signing is that George's forth book, A Suitable Vengeance, does start out in the timeline before A Great Deliverance. What I didn't know is that George wrote it before A Great Deliverance but it wasn't published until afterwards. George still suggested readers start with A Great Deliverance so I will stick with that recommendation.
You can read a review of JUST ONE EVIL ACT here. If you want to read more about why I love George's books, go here. For a story about another Elizabeth George book signing years ago, go here. If you want to learn more about A Great Deliverance and would like a fabulous recipe for mint ginger team to go with it, click here.
It's always interesting to see where authors get their ideas from.
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