I’m delighted to welcome Rebecca Bradley to the blog today. Rebecca is a retired detective and fellow author who has recently set up a police procedural fact checking service. So, if you are a new crime writer, or even an established one, who wants to check the authenticity of your work, this may well be the service for you. Here’s Rebecca to tell us a bit of background about the service and how it works.
Hi Jane, firstly, I want to thank you for having me on your blog today. I really appreciate it.
Back in 2015 I was medically retired from the police with a genetic condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Luckily for me I had already started writing my first crime novel while I was still in the job so I had something to keep my mind active once I was out. It has kept me going ever since. I have released two novels and a novella in the DI Hannah Robbins series.
I spent over 15 years of my life in the police. The first 7 years were spent as a uniform officer on the front line doing shift work. It was a great role and one I always look back on fondly. After that I spent the remainder of my time in a specialist department as a detective where I gained a greater insight into investigating and into dealing with the emotions that difficult investigations can throw up.
Because of this experience I am starting a police procedural fact checking service available to all crime writers setting their work in England or Wales, as Scotland and Ireland have different procedures and laws.
For crime writers with a UK based novel who want to check out some facts before they commit to a procedurally heavy storyline – I can help.
For crime writers who have written a UK based novel and want it checking for its police procedural correctness before they move forward with it – I can help.
Because I have been out of the loop for two years I have this covered and I am in touch with colleagues who still work in the police where I can fact check anything that may have changed since I have left. Nothing stays the same and I acknowledge that, understand it and can work with it.
So, what can I offer and at what cost?
- You can email me a list of questions – £80 an hour broken into 15-minute increments depending on the amount of questions and how detailed a response is needed.
- You can email me your full synopsis with what it is you want me to consider about it (Helpful if plot points turn on procedure.) – £80
- Email the synopsis plus a half hour Skype chat to discuss it (visually recorded and you get a digital copy of the recording) – £120
- Full manuscript read through. No time restrictions applied. Full report provided. – £310 up to 95,000 words. £5 for every 1,000 thereafter.
- (Package) Synopsis plus full manuscript – £350
- (Package) Synopsis, half hour Skype chat and full manuscript read through – £370
Please do let anyone who you think might be interested in this service, know.
Email me at rebecca.bradley2010(at)gmail(dot)com
I look forward to reading your questions and your work!