DEEP SIX Nominated for the Shamus Award

I am so honored and pleasantly surprised by this nomination. Congratulations to all my fellow nominees. Here they are:

PRIVATE EYE WRITERS OF AMERICA SHAMUS AWARD NOMINEES 2017

Best Original Private Eye Paperback

Michael Craven, The Detective and the Chinese High-Fin-Harper Collins

O’Neil De Noux, Hold Me, Babe. Big Kiss Publications

Erle Stanley Gardner, The Knife Slipped. Hard Case Crime

Vaseem Khan, The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown. Red Hook Books

Manuel Ramos, My Bad. Arte Publico Press

Best First Private Eye Novel

Tim Baker, Fever City. Europa Editions

Joe Ide, IQ.  Little, Brown

D.P. Lyle, Deep Six.  Oceanview Publishing

David Swinson, The Second Girl. Little, Brown

Richard Vine, Soho Sins. Hard Case Crime

Best Private Eye Short Story

Lawrence Block, “Keller’s Fedora” (e-publication)
Brendan DuBois, “A Battlefield Reunion” in AHMM, June
Ake Edwardson, “Stairway From Heaven” in Stockholm Noir, Akashic
Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins, “A Dangerous Cat” in The Strand. Feb-May
Dave Zeltserman, “Archie On Loan” in EQMM, Sept.-Oct.

Best Private Eye Novel

Reed Farrel Coleman, Where It Hurts. Putnam

Lindsey Davis, The Graveyard of the Hesperides. Minotaur

Timothy Hallinan, Fields Where They Lay. Soho Crime

Al Lamanda, With 6 You Get Wally. Gale Cengage

Robert S. Levinson, The Stardom Affair.  Five Star

DEEP SIX coming in paperback on 11-14-17
(with a new cover)

A-LIST, the next Jake Longly comedic thriller coming 12-12-17

 

Is Truly Autonomous Robotic Surgery Far Off?

You’ve probably heard of robotic surgery. Sure sounds cool and very much like Star Trek. I mean, Bones could do this in his sleep. Right?

But robotic surgery in its current iteration is actually more “remote” surgery. It’s still performed by a surgeon but he sits across the room from the patient at a console where he manipulates handles that in turn do the surgery. A series of lights, cameras, and instruments are inserted through cannulae into the patient, and the surgeon manipulates the instruments under visual guidance and performs the procedure not unlike he would if he were standing next to the patient. This is very expensive equipment as you might imagine.

But, distance can prove a problem here. Time lag is never a good thing in surgery. The surgeon needs everything to happen in real time, particularly if an emergency arises or things go wrong. There is no time for delay under these circumstances.

Think about space travel. Let’s say, that a colony is being constructed on Mars. The initial explorers would be few in number and would have skills more related to space travel and geology and other scientific endeavors. Having a surgeon and a well-equipped operating room might not be possible. Not to mention, most surgeons are not trained to do all procedures – – or at least they are not comfortable with doing them. Robotic surgery could eliminate this problem. But not in its current form. For example, what if a surgeon is performing a gallbladder removal using a robotic device? The patient is on Mars; the surgeon is on Earth. The time lag for instructions to travel the roughly 250,000,000 miles back and forth would be daunting. Currently, communication with the various Rovers that are roaming around the red planet pass through one or more satellite systems and can take anywhere from three or four minutes up to 20 or 25 minutes. In surgery, such delay could prove catastrophic.

The solution, of course, is a completely autonomous robotic surgeon. One that can perform the surgery – – from skin to skin as surgeons like to say – – on its own. One that does not require any ongoing instructions or feedback. One that “sees” what is needed and performs all the needed tasks to complete the surgical procedure. Very heady stuff.

But such research is ongoing right now. A system known as the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) is in development. It’s in its beginning stages and therefore still fairly crude but it is a step in the right direction.

In my second Dub Walker thriller, Hot Lights, Cold Steel, the arena of robotic surgery in the hands of a megalomaniac is in play. Dub and crew, of course, must uncover what is going on and track down the culprits.

 

 

Webinar: What Were They Thinking? The Planning of the Perfect Murder

Join me for a fun Webinar hosted by Sister in Crime-Atlanta on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. You must be a member of that chapter to join is but if you’re already a SinC National member it’s only $20.

Here is the info on the event:

When your character plans and executes “The Perfect Murder,” he always, ALWAYS makes a mistake or two. These errors ultimately lead your sleuth to the solution. In this session, Dr. D.P. Lyle deconstructs the planning, execution, and post-crime behavior of two headline-grabbing murderers–O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson—to help mystery writers and fans better understand fictional killers from social, psychological, forensics, investigative, and motivational points of view. Q & A follows a 1-hour presentation. Forensic questions welcome!

Webinar: https://www.meetup.com/Sisters-in-Crime-Atlanta-Chapter/events/239240813/

SinC-Atlanta: https://www.sincatlanta.com

 

 

How Old Is That Fingerprint?

Fingerprints are useful forensic science tools. They’ve been so for over 100 years. Mainly, it’s the pattern of the ridges on the fingertips that supply the useful information. We know that everyone has different fingerprints and we know that they do not change throughout the person’s life. This means that they are highly reliable sources for identification and for discrimination between two individuals. Law enforcement has employed this for years.

But several newer techniques and analyses allow investigators to go even deeper. The skin cells, that are part of a fingerprint, can often yield DNA. Chemicals in the print residue can sometimes reveal if the person has used or handled such substances as cocaine. Other analyses are underway that might make fingerprints even more useful.

One question that frequently plagues crime scene investigators is exactly when a print was laid down. This determination can make a huge difference. Let’s say that a print is discovered at a homicide scene and the primary suspect says that he had been at that location but that that had taken place a week earlier. Not on the day of the killing. Is he telling the truth? Or simply trying to throw the police off and make an excuse for the evidence they collected against him? It would be nice to know if the print was 24 hours old or seven days old.

Research is currently underway by Shin Muramoto and his colleagues and they reported their initial findings in a recent article in Analytical Chemistry. They discovered that a chemical found in fingerprints known as palmitic acid migrates away from the ridges at a predictable and consistent rate. By looking at this migration pattern they are able to determine whether the print is fresh or up to four days old. They are looking to extend this envelope to a longer period of time. But you can see, that even this level of discrimination could help—or not—- the suspect in the above scenario.

 

The World’s First Homicide?

No one knows for sure when the world’s first homicide took place – – other than Cain and Abel, that is. But it just might have happened 43,000 years ago in northern Spain. A skull retrieved from the Sima de los Huesos (Pit of Bones) in the Atapuerca Mountains showed two circular puncture wounds in the forehead of the skull. The skull had been found shattered into 52 fragments but miraculously was nearly complete. Once it had been reassembled the two wounds were easily identified. Researchers believe they were made by the same instrument and that they were not consistent with a simple fall into the cave shaft.

When you examine the skull it definitely looks as though some pointed instrument, most likely a stone tool or weapon, had delivered the blows. Of course, the assailant could claim self-defense, but this looks like a homicide.