The Lake County Morgue

The Sisters In Crime went to the Morgue today.

The Deputy Coroner that conducted the tour was friendly and informative, as well as a little unsure as to what we were all doing there. We explained that as writers, we are driven by a need to experience some of the incidents we write about for that added layer of authenticity.

A writer does not wish to sell a book a reader will throw against the wall in frustration of unrealistic police procedure - even in cozies.

Before she started, the Deputy Coroner asked if any of us were squeamish, so she could gauge what to say and what to sugarcoat. Most of us raised our hands, mine went up fast and high.

We walked through the facility, saw the cooler with the body bags, a couple of labs with expensive equipment they were lucky enough to obtain, the autopsy room with an identified though unclaimed skeleton and back to the offices.

I had a great time - any day you can walk out of the Morgue is a good day. She kept apologizing for the smell and I wondered if I shut the olfactory senses off because I smelled nothing but a little musky air.

The tour was great. She went through an evidence kit they bring to a crime scene, explained how to test for the presence of drugs right at the sight - she even showed us how to lift a fingerprint!