Research: Both Virtual and Live

FIX is a story I wrote with J.A. Konrath and F. Paul Wilson. It combines the worlds of Konrath/Peterson's Codename: Chandler with F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack. Although we have all been to New York City many times (especially Paul), we did a lot of the specific research for this book online, using Google Earth to virually run around the streets of the city while we all wrote in the same Google Docs document.

I can't tell you much about this scene without giving away twists in the story. But if you read the book, you'll understand the significance of all these photos. My favorite is the one of me with my two sons doing a little in-person research in the museum.
​

An excerpt from FIX:


Exhibit Temporarily Closed to Public

Closed because the meeting was supposed to take place here? Or would the meeting take place here because it was closed?

I checked the doors. Locked. I couldn't see around the corner into the gallery where the meeting was set to take place. I listened, couldn't hear anything.

This didn't feel right.

I pulled the map from my pocket and saw only two entrances into the exhibit on the first floor. Not ideal for getting the drop on someone. But the second floor had possibilities.

I backtracked a few steps back into the American Wing and climbed the stairs. There I discovered a wide array of musical instruments, from woodwinds to strings to drums. I reached a balcony displaying a beautiful pipe organ cordoned off to prevent curious fingers from touching. I crawled onto the balcony, holding my breath, and peered through the marble railing, spying the colorful flags and shining armor one floor below. Life-sized models of horses stood in the center of the large gallery, fully decked out in armor, knights on their backs. Glass cases filled with weaponry and more armor rimmed the room's periphery.

And standing in the middle of the room, their backs to me, two men.


Read the whole story in FIX, a Codename: Chandler/Repairman Jack thriller!