Lynda La Plante 'inspired by real crimes'
4th January 2010
Crime writer Lynda La Plante cuts herself off from the outside world when working on new material, she has revealed.
In an interview with the Metro ahead of the television adaptation of her 2007 novel, The Red Dahlia, which is based on the true-life murder of Elizabeth Short, the author said that she isolated herself and concentrated on research when writing the book.
'Writing The Red Dahlia, I was surrounded by the crime screen pictures and the notes the killer sent to the police,' she explained.
La Plante also told the newspaper that she is interested in 'loads' of real-life crime cases and how people are able to lie during police investigations, which provides her with ideas for new works.
She also denied that crime fiction has become too gory in recent years, pointing out that real cases are just as horrific as those found in literature. The author said that Stieg Larsson's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is an example of a book with combines good writing with horrific details.
In a recent interview with the Liverpool Echo, La Plante revealed that she is researching her next crime drama, hoping to write a story about a robbery at a gold refinery.