Where does the character of Jo Beckett, forensic psychiatrist, come from?
Jo explores the mysterious, messy, twisted landscape of the human mind. She analyzes dead people for the police, to determine whether their deaths were accident, suicide, or murder. While I love CSI, I wanted to write about a character who explores victims’ lives, not their bodies. Jo searches for meaning her territory is the psyche and the human heart. And I didn’t want her to be a humorless drone, obsessed by the work. She’s a California girl. She loves sushi and tacos, can’t survive without an hourly hit of coffee, hates earthquakes, and thinks climbing a cliff at Yosemite is a great way to relax. Did you research forensics and psychology to create Jo? Extensively. My sister is a psychiatrist, so I have an expert on call for research. (Why do you think I chose a shrink as a heroine?) And my sister put me in touch with a colleague who’s a forensic psychiatrist. He talked to me about his work, and provided me with reams of material. But it wasn’t psychiatrists who gave me the hardest
