Karen Campbell
Balloch Library, 12th May 2010
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Karen Campbell is one of the rising stars of crime fiction and she talked to a large audience at Balloch Library. Karen, unlike many crime writers, actually served as a police officer, so she has an insider’s perspective on how the police function. Both of her parents had been in the police and she is married to a former police officer so it is safe to say that she knows police culture inside-out.
Karen spent five and a half years in the police and left to bring up her family. She was accepted for the renowned Glasgow University Creative Writing Masters degree, and so her writing career began with several short stories being published in assorted anthologies and magazines. Her tutor encouraged her to use her experience in the police as subject matter for her writing when she was on the Creative Writing Course. The origins of her first novel, The Twilight Time, can be found in some of these stories. Karen’s books are very realistic but they are also shot through with black humour. Karen told an anecdote about the rather sleek and plump cat at the mortuary which had developed a taste for some of the “spare parts”. She said that as with many other dangerous or stressful occupations, the police develop a gallows humour as a survival strategy. Her second novel, After the Fire, explores the theme of whether or not the police should be armed. The main character is a firearms officer who ends up in prison. Her research for the novel included talking to a police officer who had been in prison for a period. Her own knowledge of the police and her research helps to give her work real authenticity.
Her third novel Shadowplay explores the power dynamics of being a female officer. The senior female officer Mrs Hamilton is an amalgam of various people that Karen has served under. Mrs Hamilton’s philosophy can be embodied in the expression – “If you’re no on my bus you’re under my wheels”. Karen was very warm and engaging and when you consider the dark nature of much of her subject matter it was an evening full of laughter. Many of those who attended commented on how her talk had helped to humanise the police and give a better insight into the tensions and pressures that they operate under.
Karen spent five and a half years in the police and left to bring up her family. She was accepted for the renowned Glasgow University Creative Writing Masters degree, and so her writing career began with several short stories being published in assorted anthologies and magazines. Her tutor encouraged her to use her experience in the police as subject matter for her writing when she was on the Creative Writing Course. The origins of her first novel, The Twilight Time, can be found in some of these stories. Karen’s books are very realistic but they are also shot through with black humour. Karen told an anecdote about the rather sleek and plump cat at the mortuary which had developed a taste for some of the “spare parts”. She said that as with many other dangerous or stressful occupations, the police develop a gallows humour as a survival strategy. Her second novel, After the Fire, explores the theme of whether or not the police should be armed. The main character is a firearms officer who ends up in prison. Her research for the novel included talking to a police officer who had been in prison for a period. Her own knowledge of the police and her research helps to give her work real authenticity.
Her third novel Shadowplay explores the power dynamics of being a female officer. The senior female officer Mrs Hamilton is an amalgam of various people that Karen has served under. Mrs Hamilton’s philosophy can be embodied in the expression – “If you’re no on my bus you’re under my wheels”. Karen was very warm and engaging and when you consider the dark nature of much of her subject matter it was an evening full of laughter. Many of those who attended commented on how her talk had helped to humanise the police and give a better insight into the tensions and pressures that they operate under.