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Life After The Police - Author
Police officers have so much experience of dealing with situations that are unique to the rest of the general public it makes sense that some of them use this to make stories. Continuing with our series of what officers do after leaving the service is this interview with ex-DS Lisa Cutts.
ConsultingCops (CC) - Hi Lisa, can you please tell us what force you worked for, what rank you retired at and what role you performed?
Lisa Cutts (LC) - Hi Lyndon, I worked for Kent Police for twenty-five years and retired as a detective sergeant. I worked mainly within CID after completing my two-year probation period back in 1998. Most of my service was spent within the Serious Crime Directorate, investigating murders, rapes and kidnaps. It was exhausting, but also very rewarding.
CC - I understand you have been a crime author for a while even whilst you were still serving as a police officer. Can you tell us how you came about being an author?
LC - It was a series of strange events. In 2011 my husband had a heart attack. We were at home and I was about to get ready for work when he collapsed and stopped breathing. Fortunately, one of the things Kent Police had taught me was CPR – and the air ambulance was on duty and able to land nearby; I can’t take all of the credit. Four and a half minutes is a long time when someone isn’t breathing, but the ending was a happy one. After four days in intensive care, he made a remarkable recovery and a few months later, we went on holiday. I took my Kindle and a stack of books and one of the books I read literally changed my life. It was the amazing Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes. What I hadn’t realized when I tore through the book was that Elizabeth worked for Kent Police as an analyst and worked in the same building as me. With security being as it is, I couldn’t get into her part of the building and she couldn’t get into mine. We had never met, but I emailed her to tell her how much I loved her book and she replied and asked if I had time for a coffee. I must admit, I was star-struck. We met, chatted and she encouraged me to write. I went home that day and wondered what I would write about. Then I remembered that I knew quite a lot about murder. Nine books later, Elizabeth and I are still very good friends. I owe her a lot.
CC - Did you have to make an application to your force to write about crime whilst still a serving officer? If yes, what form did that take and what was your force’s reaction?
LC - Yes, I had to submit a secondary employment application form outlining what I wanted to do. I also suggested that I write under the name Lisa Cutts, didn’t base the books on any investigation I’ve worked on, didn’t base the books on either members of the public or colleagues and didn’t mention that the books were based in Kent. To be fair, I describe the location as somewhere between London and the coast with France visible across the channel on a clear day. Even the most amateur detective could work it out.
CC - How many books have you written and are they all the same genre?
LC - I’ve written nine books, six of them police procedurals and three are cozy crime. I found the cozies a real comfort to write as they are a change of direction and contain nothing too graphic. Having said that, I’m starting on book ten and this is more of a return to the darker side of crime writing.
CC - Are any of your books written on your personal experience as a police officer?
LC - Certainly the first six. Never Forget was my debut and I wrote it from the perspective of a female forty-something-year-old detective constable who liked a glass of wine or two and investigated murders for a living. It was cathartic, although, as I’ve said, I never based the books on actual investigations, only the methods of how murders are solved.
CC - I understand when you left the police you initially remained as a police staff member. Can you tell us about this period of time and what role you fulfilled?
LC – When I retired, I was working on an historic investigation and took a few months off to write, intending to return for several years as police staff. Even though I was only working for three days each week, I wanted to fully commit to writing and knew that I couldn’t continue doing both. After fourteen months, I handed my notice in and now write full-time.
CC - What made you stop being a police staff member and becoming a full-time author?
LC - As well as continuing to write crime fiction, I was also approached about a non-fiction book. It’s nothing to do with policing, although it is a subject very close to my heart. It’s still under wraps at the moment as we’re ironing out the details. It wasn’t a very difficult decision to make – office-based document processing or doing something I love.
CC - What is your daily routine now?
LC - Now I’m away from a desk or laptop all day, I use the morning to get as much of my personal stuff done, walk the dog and spend the afternoon and early evening writing or researching. I make a lot of phone calls and visit my local library fairly often. I still work weekends as old habits die hard. I’ve got used to not really having a day off.
CC - Do you miss being a police officer and if yes, what part of it do you miss the most?
LC - No. I sleep very well, relax with alarming ease and get up every day with a plan of what I’m going to do. I made some fantastic friends along the way and still see them whenever possible, so I’ve taken the best with me.
CC - How did you become a professional author? How did you obtain an agent and how did you get published?
LC - I entered a competition with an extract of what became my first book. I won first prize, much to my amazement, was offered a two-book publishing deal and one of the judges who was an agent, offered to represent me.
CC - Is there any advice you can offer for our readers who want to be published authors?
LC - Contact agents, publishers, keep writing and keep reading. A lot of the brilliant things that happened to me were because I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. I almost didn’t enter the competition, in fact, I almost didn’t write the entry in the first place. I took a chance that anything positive would come out of it and I can’t believe where the last nine books and eleven years have gone.
CC - Any other comments you would like to make?
LC - Author library talks are often free and can give writers an insight into the world of an author. They’re usually good fun and even if readers borrow the book from the library rather than buying it, the author still gets a Public Lending Right payment which is often more lucrative than royalties from a book shop purchase. Please support your local library. I love going to mine and seeing a number of people browsing and borrowing books.
