Getting down to the nitty gritties
When I started thinking about writing the Roth series I knew I'd have a lot of work to do. You can't take on writing a mystery/thriller series without committing to making it as authentic as possible. Forget the Paris setting, that was the least of it - it was the everything else that took the time. Three years later I have to admit I had no idea of the volume and type of research I'd have to do before I could get down to writing the books. I've researched French chateaux, boar hunting in France, refugees, the differences between French and English tailoring, cacao production in West Africa and malaria research, among other things. It goes on and on. To kick off there were the nuts and bolts of Interpol and French law enforcement which wasn't so bad. Then making Victor Roth an expert in forgery and counterfeiting taught me the world is awash with fakes and counterfeit goods. In some countries legitimate factories run twenty four hours a day, producing ...