Wow, so I just read this article over on Writer’s Blog.
Polish author Krystian Bala was recently convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for planning and directing the murder of Dariusz Janiszewski.”
Evidently the guy murdered this other person, and 3 years after the murder wrote a best selling book about it!
I write romantic suspense/crime fiction. I’ve got some grizzly, creepy things in my work, products of an apparently less than savory portion of my imagination. I frequently joke about how murder mystery writers are the most well adjusted of people because we’re able to symbolically murder anybody who pisses us off in our work. Cathartic, right? But damn, this makes me paranoid! Guess I better watch what I say!
In this particular case, the details of the murder were never released to the public, so when the book pretty well described it act for act, the police were obviously tipped off that it was the killer writing. So writers beware! If you write about homicide, make sure you aren’t using details from a real crime. Wouldn’t want the authorities knocking on your door.
Might make an interesting story though. Some author who writes about homicides that he/she dreams about and doesn’t realize is real until the police come knocking…and has to solve the case to clear his/her name. Hmm…that might be cool…note to self…
2 thoughts on “Murder He Wrote”
It could just be a case of coincidence/serendipity perhaps. I remember when Hunt for Red October was being filmed that some of the sets they’d made for the subs were making the technical advisors nervous because they were so close to the real thing, and they hadn’t seen that part of the sub (or something like that- it was a while ago *g*).
Sounds like a great idea for a book, though.
Well in this particular case they wound up with considerably more evidence than the novel itself and have already convicted him.