An Interview with: D. H. Dublin

(aka John McGoran)

author of the Crime Scene Unit series

by Patricia Szuhaj

You've written three books in the CSU (Crime Scene Unit) series— Body Trace (2006), Blood Poison (2007) and Freezer Burn (2008). Have you always written in the mystery genre?

No, I started out when I was 8 or 9 years old writing science fiction short stories. I stayed with that awhile. At some point in high school, music supplanted writing—I wrote lyrics, not stories, for about ten years, then went back to school and finished my degree. After that I did some freelance copywriting, and that's when the itch to write fiction returned. I'd always thought of myself as a writer, but I realized that if I wanted to be a writer, I had to write

So at that point did you move into the mystery area?

Yes. But for some reason I was only thinking in terms of novels—mystery and crime novels, as opposed to short stories.

Has your early interest in sci fi carried through to your mystery novels?

In sci fi, I liked the added mental exercise of thinking about different realities, which is what you have in good sci fi, the extrapolation of ideas to the next level. That's similar with mystery and crime fiction. You have the basic elements of fiction, but with an added intellectual element of the mystery. While writing and structuring any story, you have to deal with pacing, character and plot development that follow your structure, and of course you hope your story line will be good. But in addition, with mystery, you have to be doling out bits of information at the right time, in a way that keeps your reader guessing but not bewildered, so they can solve the mystery, but not too easily. The emotional and intellectual have to integrate. I should also note that there's a sci fi connection to forensics—both deal with scientific application to the story line.

Your novels are notable for the incredibly detailed descriptions of crime scene investigation techniques they provide. How did you gain the knowledge to be able to describe those scientific techniques?

I had no professional scientific background, but great interest in the field, so for me it involved a lot of research. One of the things that makes forensics crime fiction different from other crime fiction is that scientific procedure is at the core—usually all of the evidence is at the crime scene. You can have evidence turn up later or be overlooked but you have to keep in mind how it makes the character look when that happens; if they're constantly missing things, they look incompetent. You also have to factor in the time between when a piece of evidence is discovered and when the information contained within it is revealed. You can't have something revealed in an hour if the procedure involved takes two days to complete.

Can you give an example of research you've conducted for the SCU novels?

(Laughing)Besides talking to cops, pathologists and scientists or manufacturers of CSU equipment, I've conducted first-hand research. Like experimenting with liquid nitrogen in my back yard. I had to make sure the phenomena I used in Freezer Burn actually worked, and since the authorities I spoke with were divided on that question, I tested it for myself.

And the result?

Oh, it worked! I've always wanted to play with liquid nitrogen…it was fun.

The CSU series' main protagonist is Madison Cross, a physician-turned-CSU investigator in Philadelphia . Do you find it a challenge to write about a female protagonist as a male writer?

I had a conversation about that with my editor before I started writing the novels. I was intrigued by the idea of being a man writing a female lead character. I think in part because I outline so thoroughly, by the time I started writing the first draft, I knew Madison so well as a character that I wasn't thinking in terms of her being a woman, it was just Madison . Actually, I'm delighted that I could write her. I haven't heard any criticisms of my portrayal of Madison as a woman and her point of view, so I'm pleased.

You don't give a lot of descriptive details about the physical appearance of your characters, particularly Madison . We know that she has dark hair, but little else. Is that intentional?

I want to convey that Madison is very self-aware in some ways and not very self-aware in other ways. She is coming to terms in the novels with things about herself that she hasn't been aware of. Intellectually, she knows she is attractive, but she doesn't think of herself that way. She's not vain or preoccupied with her appearance. So yes, the lack of physical description is intentional and part of her character.

Writers write from experience. So what part of you is Madison ?

If Madison was totally secure and self-confidant, I don't know if I could have written her character convincingly. I suppose her intellectual curiosity and the ways she's very sure of herself yet socially she has insecurities. And she's aware of her blind spots. Part of me is that.

Freezer Burn is a departure from your first two novels with respect to the subplot of what happens with Madison —her “family issues” take a backseat in this book. Is that a strategic decision on your part or simply how the story line played out as you wrote?

A bit of both. I wanted the books to be different, and not necessarily have the same elements necessarily occurring in every book. So when the story took the action out of Philadelphia , I went with it. For me, one of the interesting phases of plotting occurs when you find a character confronted with something they normally wouldn't do. This leads to interesting eddies and back channels of plot and character as the author tries to find ways to motivate or drive the character to do something he or she wouldn't normally want to do. In Freezer Burn, I realized part of the plot would take place outside Philadelphia and that opened up possibilities for story line and character.

Why are the CSU novels set in Philadelphia ? What does that add to the books?

One of the great things about Philly—besides the fact that I live here and know the area—is that in a police novel, because of jurisdictions in real life, certain actions have to take place in the city in order for them to be relevant in the story. And there are a huge variety of locales in Philadelphia , from gritty neighborhoods to thriving center city to bucolic parks. Also, for me, Philly's past greatness gives it an element of “original sin” and history that other cities don't have.

Your novels have received high praise: Publisher's Weekly has called your work “immersive.” What do you say to that?

It's a tremendous compliment—the best possible. On some level, the mark of a successful work for me is to have the reader forget himself or herself and exist “in” the novel. That's what I shoot for.