Paul Davis On Crime: crime writers and modern society

Monday, February 17, 2014

Crime Writers Have Finger On The Pulse

Phil Miller at the Scottish newspaper the Herald offers a piece on crime writers and modern society.

Leading Scottish writer Val McDermid has said crime novels were popular in Scotland because crime writers could keep a "finger on the pulse" of modern society.

McDermid, a bestselling author of crime books, said reading genre fiction was an outlet for the stress of modern life.

The writer, from Kirkcaldy, known for her novels featuring Dr Tony Hill, spoke after it was revealed the top 20 most read books from libraries in Scotland all belong to the crime or thriller genre.

She said: "Because most crime writers produce a book a year, we've always got our finger on the pulse of contemporary society.

"And now more than ever Scots are fascinated with what's going on in their world."

The writer added: "We feel really murderous a lot of the time and reading about it diverts us from doing it."

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/crime-writers-have-finger-on-the-pulse.23438662

You can also read my Philadelphia Inquirer review of Val McDermid's The Retribution via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2012/02/val-mcdermids-retribution-is-gripping.html

Paul Davis

Paul Davis is a writer who covers crime. He has written extensively about organized crime, cybercrime, street crime, white collar crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, the military, espionage and terrorism. His 'Crime Beat' column, which covers crime news, crime issues and crime prevention in South Philadelphia, appears weekly in the South Philly Review, and his 'On Crime' column, which covers crime in the Greater Philadelphia region, appears weekly at Philly Daily and Broad and Liberty. He is also a longtime contributor to Counterterrorism magazine and writes their online 'Threatcon' column, which covers crime, espionage and terrorism. Paul Davis' crime fiction appears in American Crime Magazine. His work has also appeared in the Washington Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Weekly and other publications. As a writer, he has attended police academy training, gone out on patrol with police officers, accompanied detectives as they worked cases, accompanied narcotics officers on drug raids, observed criminal court proceedings, visited jails and prisons, and covered street riots, mob wars and murder investigations. He has interviewed police commissioners and chiefs, FBI, DEA, HSI and other federal special agents, prosecutors, judges, public officials, WWII UDT frogmen, Navy SEALs, Army Delta operators, Israeli commandos, military intelligence officers, Scotland Yard detectives, CIA officers, former KGB officers, film and TV actors, film writers, directors and producers, journalists, novelists and true crime authors, gamblers, outlaw bikers, and Cosa Nostra organized crime bosses. Paul Davis has been a student of crime since he was a 12-year-old aspiring writer growing up in South Philadelphia. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy when he was 17 in 1970. He served aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Kitty Hawk during the Vietnam War and he later served two years aboard the Navy harbor tugboat U.S.S. Saugus at the U.S. floating nuclear submarine base at Holy Loch, Scotland. He went on to become the civilian administrative officer of a Defense Department command in Philadelphia, where he oversaw security, safety and other programs for the command's military and civilian employees, and served as an investigating officer, while working part-time as a newspaper crime reporter and columnist. He retired in 2007 after more than 37 Navy/DOD years of service and became a full-time writer. From 1991 to 2005 he was a producer and on-air host of "Inside Government," a public affairs interview radio program that aired on Sunday mornings on WPEN AM and WMGK FM in the Philadelphia area. You can read Paul Davis' crime columns, crime fiction, book reviews and news and feature articles on this website. You can read his full bio by clicking on the above photo (by Brittany Davis-Pearson). And you can contact Paul Davis at pauldavisoncrime@aol.com.

Paul Davis On Crime

Monday, February 17, 2014

Crime Writers Have Finger On The Pulse

Paul Davis

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