The Scene of the Crime

Lynda La Plante

WHEN you’re one of the very best crime writers in the business, can boast a pioneering career stretching back almost seven decades, and have brought us unforgettable icons of screen and book like gangland dame Dolly Rawlins of Widows fame and groundbreaking Prime Suspect detective Jane Tennison, reaching the age of eighty was never going to dull your creative juices.

Liverpool-born Lynda La Plante has achieved success and awards beyond the dreams of most crime authors – three BAFTAs, a BAFTA Fellowship, an Emmy award, a British Film Institute Fellowship, a Royal Television Society award, an Edgar, and a CBE to name just some – so it’s good to report that this born storyteller is most certainly not resting on her laurels. 

Not content with a full complement of dazzling detective-led crime thrillers, La Plante (pictured below) has found fresh and fertile territory for a brand new series set in the fascinating world of forensic science and starring young and ambitious CSI officer Jessica Russell who has been tasked with heading up a fledgling Met police crime analysis unit with a high stakes remit… get results or the team is scrapped.

The idea for the exciting new slant on crime detection came from La Plante’s many years of interaction with top forensic scientists as she researched the different methods used to enhance murder investigations, and when she learned of a separate division overseeing specifically brutal crimes, it became the foundation of this gripping new series.

Star of the show is 34-year-old Jessica Russell, an experienced CSI officer working out of Scotland Yard with the Met police. She has a joint first-class honours degree in psychology and criminology, an exceptional Masters degree in investigative psychology and behaviour analysis, and there could be no better candidate to head up a new Murder and Serious Crime Analysis (MSCAN) team. It’s a job that is entirely new to Jessica but it brings together a team of two other CSI officers she has worked with and trusts implicitly – DNA specialist Diane Thomas and fingerprint expert Stephen (Taff) Jones – who, between them, have dealt with every kind of murder and major crime scene.

But not everyone is happy with the new unit… DCI John Anderson – senior investigating officer on the Barking homicide team and known to be ‘out of his depth’ – is sceptical about Jessica leading the team, resents the possible clash with other crime scene managers, and there are also concerns over the running costs.

Add on Jessica’s ongoing obsessive-compulsive disorder after a trauma that ended her training as a probation officer, and the responsibilities of caring for her vulnerable twin brother, David – whose life spiralled into drink and drug addiction after the death of their mother from cancer – and her life is far from smooth on the domestic front.

But it’s all systems go when Johan De Klerk – a wine importer from Cape Town and the husband of Michelle Belsham, a prominent and infamously ruthless barrister who has ruffled many feathers – is found horrifically injured after a robbery and brutal assault at their upmarket London home. De Klerk is in a coma in hospital and a major investigation is launched using the newly formed and experimental MSCAN unit who must piece together the complex puzzle at the heart of this brutal crime.

If it was a robbery gone horrifically wrong, what was so important to have been stolen? The team is under immense pressure for instant results but they know that one careless decision, one wrong accusation from Jessica or her team, and at least one of their detractors would be all too happy to close down the unit for good.

Working in the Eighties, a time of entrenched gender inequality and rampant male chauvinism, La Plante herself faced innumerable obstacles both in front of and behind the camera, and her books and scripts broke down stereotypes and blazed a trail for others along the way. And this hard-hitting writer – aided and abetted by her fiery, flame-haired new protagonist – is still hot on the trail of any hint of male arrogance, ineptitude or overbearing superiority as Jessica and her charismatic, newly-minted team of experts move into gear and take us above and beyond the more familiar territory of a crime investigation.

It’s an eye-opening and intriguing world in which DNA, blood patterns, fibres, fingerprints, footwear, tools and weapon-mark comparisons can help to solve serious crimes, providing the crucial, damning evidence which will ultimately make the difference between the police winning or losing a case. At the helm is behavioural psychological expert Jessica, a highly competent but fallible woman struggling to overcome the trauma of an event in her past, coping with the unpredictable behaviour of her beloved twin brother, and under pressure to get results in a case that could make or break her team.

Weaving a fast-paced, thrilling murder plot between the intricate and endlessly riveting work of the forensic experts requires a special kind of magic and it’s one that La Plante plays to perfection with her trademark authenticity, eye for rich detail and exquisite characterisation. To miss it really would be a crime!
(Zaffre, hardback, £22)