I became aware of the fascinating interplay between police
detectives and private eyes through various personal contacts
as I researched my novels. What I learned is that reality is quite
different from what’s served up in films and TV shows. You know
the cliché: grizzled, alcoholic private dick living on the edge while
managing to show up oafish cops and engendering considerable
rage in the process.
In real life, cops and PIs are highly trained professionals and sometimes they’re faced with
cases where neither can get the entire job done and cooperation is the optimal strategy.
That led me to the what-ifs:
What if a cop and a PI with a history of mutual hostility were forced to cooperate on a
baffling homicide? What if that history was rooted in the most primal of all conflicts: sibling
rivalry? What if the rivalry was kicked up several notches by their being half-siblings with a
mother who could only be termed a serial marrier? What if the stress of a long-unsolved
homicide of one of their cop fathers contributed to the complexity of their relationship?
Thus were born the characters of Aaron Fox and Moses Reed, two young, driven guys
who intrigued me the moment they jumped out of my head. I decided to get to know them
better within the structure of a Delaware novel, to see if I liked them well enough to give
them their own starring roles. The result was Bones, a novel that met with huge
appreciation here in the US as well as in the UK and around the globe.
I found out that I liked Aaron and Moe a lot; the result is True
Detectives, a thriller that portrays LA’s darkest side against a
backdrop of Hollywood corruption and stunning perversity.
As Reed and Fox embark on solving the long-cold
disappearance of an apparently innocent young
woman, they find themselves contending with a
series of brutal homicides whose solution
requires nothing less than total collaboration.
Milo Sturgis appears, and so does Dr Alex
Delaware – Dr D. at a crucial juncture. But this
book is Moe and Aaron’s, and the only way
they can solve these killings is by not killing
each other first.
