MORAL MISCONDUCT is the first in a new series featuring a veteran NYPD homicide detective named Frank Flynn who’s forced to work the murder investigation of a dead cop with an Internal Affairs investigator named Christine Levy.
Along the way they learn intimate and embarrassing details about each other, which makes for an awkward partnership.
How awkward will Frank and Christine’s partnership get? Will their partnership impact on their murder investigations? To unearth a little more of the embarrassment that these partners encounter, David DeLee and I have gotten together today to chat about what eager readers can find in ‘Moral Misconduct’. David, let’s start our chat today by setting up the background to your tale. How did it all start?
I wanted to write a police procedural, along the lines of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series and Joseph Wambaugh’s excellent books, only set instead in New York City and focusing on the men and women of the NYPD. That was something I’ve never tackled before.
How did you go about jumping into a story that you’d never tackled before? Were you able to use events or experiences from your own life to get yourself started?
My father was a cop, so I grew up with policemen around me all the time. I also worked private security for a long time before becoming a writer and so I worked closely with the police making an arrest and navigating the ins and outs of the criminal justice system in a very hands-on way.
I can really see how those experiences with the justice system would have certainly made it a lot easier for you to get in the zone. As you’ve directly interacted with people who were either who you wanted to write about, or close to who you wanted to write about, how did you find the character development process?
They’re inspired by people I know, composites of individuals, and then molded and shaped as needed, making them best suited to be the characters I need to tell the story.
Do you find this process of moulding and shaping energising, or did it get a bit exhausting after a while?
Oh, it absolutely energizes me. I can’t wait to tell the stories that are in my head, to see how they unfold and what happens next. Writing is as entertaining to me as watching a movie or TV show or reading a book written by someone else. It’s so much fun to tell the story. First to myself, then to the world at large.
When you’re in that process of getting down the words to share your tale with the world at large, what do you think about?
The reader. That person who will ultimately be on the other side of those words. Everything is about getting them to see the pictures in my head as they read the words, the sentences, the paragraphs I write. That’s the job, getting that right.
Yep, that’s the job! And if you got that job right for this book (which I’m sure you did), what should readers come out understanding?
That cops, real cops, are just like everyone else. Men and woman who are mostly trying to do the right thing, while doing a very difficult job. And yes, while some cops do bad things, overall the people and the institution is good.
Well said! There’s so much scope for showing how cops are real people just like everyone else, so do you think you’ll go back to this world in your next book?
I just published Book 2 in the Flynn & Levy series. Its called WHILE THE CITY BURNS and is available now. I also just wrapped up book 2 in my Brice Bannon Seacoast Adventure series. It’s out with my editor now and should be on sale later this summer.
Oh, adventures all around! You’ve piqued my interest so much now that I’ll have to end out today’s chat with you so that I can finish this tale so I can pick up book 2 straight away! David, thanks so much for sharing your work with us today, and I can’t wait to see how Flynn and Levy’s adventures continue in the future!
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Excited to read the book we discussed today? Find it here on Amazon: ‘Moral Misconduct ( ASIN: B01NAIHBHM )‘.
Want to find out more about David DeLee? Connect here!