Author Katherine Ramsland is my guest today on Help From My Friends Friday. I know her as Dr. Katherine Ramsland as I’ve sat in on her lectures at the Writers Police Academy as well as poured over her articles in Psychology Today. Perhaps the most profound course I especially learned from was when she talked about mistakes detectives made by trusting their gut instead of the evidence. From that point, my protagonists stopped using instinct and became a stickler for facts. Harder plot work for an author, but well worth it. I’m pleased to welcome Katherine today. Suspense and thrillers are in for a treat, (forgive my pun) as she talks about Book One of her new series, I Scream Man. ~ Donnell
A Psychic, a Producer, and an Author Walk into a Bar
By Katherine Ramsland
Author Katherine Ramsland
Okay, they weren’t in a bar. They weren’t even all together, but there was a convergence that sparked my new novel series and also a true crime book. It started with a pitch. I was in a network meeting to sell an idea when a producer asked, “Why aren’t you writing about what you do? You’re a forensic psychologist who does unique crime investigations.”
Why, yes, I do. I consult for coroners on suicidology. I train cops. I also work on cases with paranormal elements. I’ve experienced teams brimming with characters, like the exhumation crew headed by a cranky law professor who dug up Jesse James, among others. We had a core team, as well as a network of consultants, depending on what any given case required (anthropologist, radiologist, pathologist, geologist, dog handler, etc.). That’s a perfect set-up for a novel series, with endless possibilities. Characters can come and go, bringing new technologies and unique ideas.
Around the same time as that network meeting, I was in Savannah with a crew from Court TV. We were doing a program on haunted crime scenes. That’s where the psychic comes in. We were investigating a suspected association between a murder and a sex trafficking ring – a case that also had a ghost story.
By then, my idea was percolating for a forensic psychologist/suicidologist named Annie Hunter. She’s willing to explore paranormal incidents, but she’s also skeptical of many claims made. Although she invites paranormalists to participate on cases, her core team is a cadaver dog handler, a PI, and a digital analyst. Some of these characters, as well as some of Annie’s consultants, are based on people I’ve worked with.
I like to launch my fiction from actual crimes, because the truly twisted ones provide a solid base for bizarre behavior while suggesting multiple routes for fiction. I consider the mental health issues and decide what might have happened to a person (or people) as a result.
Our Savannah investigation inspired the plot of I Scream Man, the first novel in my “Nut Crackers” series (they “take on hard nuts to crack”). I combined what we’d discovered there about sex trafficking with Pennsylvania’s “Kids for Cash” scandal in which judges were paid to sentence kids to a private juvenile facility. In Savannah, I went to an allegedly haunted place called the Buzzard House. (I changed the names in my novel, but some of the people and conversations are real.) What happened there startled me, inspiring not just my plot but also a true-crime book.
In the novel, a woman with a missing child hires Annie to evaluate a medium’s skill. While she’s engaged in this, a “paratherapist” named Sarah tells Annie that
the ghost of a murdered boy wants her attention because she would “understand how they worked.” Sarah claims to psychically hear something about “candy” and “three.” Annie pivots to the Candyman, a serial killer who’d used two teenage boys to procure his victims. This actually happened at the Buzzard House. I threaded Sarah’s comments to me throughout I Scream Man’s plot. In the actual encounter, I asked Sarah if I should contact the Candyman’s handyman to learn more about the grooming process. She said that if I wanted to better understand the Savannah case, I should. That is, the Savannah murder victim thought I should.
I didn’t. Not then. I wrote the novel. But a decade after this Buzzard House encounter, a series of circumstances brought me close to the handyman. Now I’ll have a true-crime book on the accomplice grooming process, which in turn gave me a plot for the second Nut Crackers novel.
So, the psychic, the producer, and the author crossed paths in the right way. And since I mentioned a bar, I’ll add this: Annie always finds wine labels for red blends that pair well with her investigations.
About the Author: Dr. Katherine Ramsland teaches forensic psychology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, where she is the Assistant Provost. She has appeared as an expert in criminal psychology on more than 200 crime documentaries and magazine shows, is an executive producer of Murder House Flip, and has consulted for CSI, Bones, and The Alienist. The author of more than 1,500 articles and 69 books, including The Forensic Science of CSI, The Forensic Psychology of Criminal Minds, How to Catch a Killer, The Psychology of Death Investigations, and Confession of a Serial Killer: The Untold Story of Dennis Rader, The BTK Killer, she was co-executive producer for the Wolf Entertainment/A&E four-part documentary based on the years she spent talking with Rader. Ramsland consults on death investigations, pens a blog for Psychology Today, and is currently writing a fiction series based on a female forensic psychologist who manages a private investigation agency. The first one, I Scream Man, was published in September 2022.
About the Book: When a boy vanishes under strange circumstances, forensic psychologist Annie Hunter collects her team of sleuths, the Nut Crackers. They link the boy to a network of powerful people, the “I Scream Men,” who gain political favors through a juvenile sex trafficking ring. As Annie tries to hide a victim they seek to silence, head predator Alder Plattman – nicknamed “Plat-eye” – snatches her young daughter. Relying on coded clues, some quirky allies, and the mysterious method of remote viewing, Annie sets out to rescue her daughter and cripple the criminal network.
Among her associates is attorney Jackson Raines, a youth advocate whose brother stole the network’s secret records before he was murdered. As a hurricane bears down and Plat-eye chases Annie’s team, they race to recover this vital cache before he can destroy it.
I can’t wait to read this book, Katherine. Talk about someone who doesn’t have to do much research. You’ve already been there, done that! Wishing I Scream Man and the series a phenomenal success.
Thank you. But I do like the research part of writing, and I ran around the Carolinas looking for locations. I also paid a lot of attention to hurricane reports.
Exactly, research is such a necessary evil for writers. And how timely your book involves a hurricane.
Yes, and there was a hurricane in the Carolinas at one point while I was writing. So, the reports are pretty authentic.
Katherine, you certainly lead a fascinating life that gives you plenty of plot ideas!
Thanks, Lois. There’s no shortage of ideas or characters! Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Absolutely fascinating! Can’t wait to read the book!!
Thank you. There were quite a few odd moments like that. It’s always interesting how a story absorbs events and people you meet, transforming them into plot and conflict.
Katherine, I loved I Scream Man and literally could not put it down! It’s great to know that you’ve lived your research and I enjoy all the detail you include. I’m looking forward to the next Annie Hunter thriller.
Thank you. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know.
So interesting! I like the flexibility you have in assembling your investigative teams.
Thank you. It gives me lots of ideas for stories.