If this is not a crime thriller plot

Sometimes, I use elements of true crime stories for my fictional mystery and thriller writing. Why invent a dastardly crime when so many are committed every day? If, as I do, you like to ensure that your fictional writing has the authenticity of a true story, then where better to go than the current news feeds?

This recent story of the conviction of American Aimee Betro for a bungled attempt at a revenge killing in the UK is one such example. It has all the hallmarks of a true story, not least because it is, well... a true story. If I were going to write a story about a contract shooting, or other such murderous conspiracy, this would be a candidate for much of the authentic detail. Anyone who thinks that they can come up with this sort of thing by exercising their imagination alone, must have a more productive and intricately detailed dreamscape than this humble mortal.

One of the things that irritates me about a lot of murder mysteries I read or see on screen is that they bear little or no relation to real murder. That is because all of the detail is made up, invented on the spot, as being the quickest and least-effort approach. Yet, to do enough real-crime research to get nitty gritty on what it is like to be a murderer or would-be murderer, is so easy.

One of the things far from the truth is that murderers, when depicted in fiction, are so often shown to be a race apart. They are mindless killers, who have superhuman powers, it seems, to kill without being detected. That is until the super-superhuman powers of the fiction detective are pitched against them. Then, the detective comes up with lots of theories about who did it, rather than collect and sift evidence, which is the job of real-life detectives. This is absolute nonsense and the reality of homicidal crime is that it is very human, seldom carried out efficiently, and the perpetrators are often less than the masterly criminals portrayed in fiction.

Fiction in any form has always intended to be realistic," Raymond Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder

Take the example of the perpetrator in this attempted murder, this conspiracy to assassinate a member of a family in a bitter feud with the co-conspirators of the would-be murderer.

Was she a professional assassin, a career criminal, steeped in a murderous past? No! It seems she had hardly a trace of past criminal connections or career trajectory.

Aimee Betro tried to shoot her target from just feet away outside his home in a cul-de-sac in South Yardley, but her gun jammed. CCTV footage showed how the victim had just returned home and was getting out of his car, but sped away as she approached him with the gun, smashing the open door from Betro’s car. But a few hours later, she returned and fired three bullets through bedroom windows of the family home. West Midlands Police Aug 12, 2025.

Reading stories like this, we can see where the motivation to plot a murder comes from in one example. We can find out some of the ways that 'assassins' or hired killers are recruited. We can learn how they might try to cover their tracks or fail to do so. We can also understand how the criminals might underestimate the ability or the tenacity of law enforcement agencies to collect and analyse evidence that can lead to the identity of the perpetrator. Later this evidence will help to convict them.

Do the good guys always win? No, of course not. Some murders remain unsolved, some are attributed to innocent parties, resulting in miscarriages of justice. Sometimes the ability to find a killer and bring them to justice may depend on the resources available to the law enforcement agencies where the murder was committed.

What are the killers themselves like? Most murderers and those who commit lesser crimes of homicide or attempted murder are pretty ordinary. Some killers are people of questionable emotional or mental capacity whose rage steps in to take the place of simple reasoning, problems solving and negotiation. The killer may well be a violent person who resorts to violence rather than deploy other means to resolve problems. Sometimes the killing is unintended or unpremeditated and just the result of a violent outburst. Sometimes the killing is planned, prepared for, the victim set up.

In such cases the killer, or the person offering to pay another for a killing, will aim to fool the authorities, to get away with murder. Have they thought of everything? Have they covered the risk of a particularly tenacious investigative team being assigned to the case?

It is of course the flaws in the planning or execution of such a dastardly plan that are the stuff of murder mystery writing. As in so many other areas of fictional story creation, presenting a convincing and authentic case can often depend on research, research, and more research.

If you do want to use true crime stories in your fiction writing, be sure not to copy anything from the real events. If you look at individual details and use these to help you to invent fictional events that are authenticated by the same level of detail, you are less likely to attract legal scrutiny.

Happy crime writing.