The new Mike Stanhope mystery is on the way!
If you’re the victim of crime you go to the police. In theory, anyway. But what if you’re being blackmailed? That’s another matter.
The problem is that the police might make public the thing you’re being blackmailed about. That’s the essence of blackmail, isn’t it? Without that fear, it simply won’t work.
Maybe you had an affair with your secretary or your doctor, or leaked business secrets. The police won’t necessarily care about these things, but an indiscreet word from them might still give the game away.
But what you’re being blackmailed over something illegal – maybe a crime you committed a long time ago? How can you persuade the police to investigate the blackmailer without also investigating you?
The answer is that you can’t. However much you play it down, the police will at least be curious; and if they scent criminal activity on your part, they’re sure to start taking an active interest. Don’t forget, they already know who you are, whereas the blackmailer may be an unknown quantity. To them you’ll look an easier target.
You can’t murder a website
If you’re genuinely innocent of the alleged crime, you might feel you can leave the police to investigate you to their hearts’ content, so long as they also pursue the blackmailers.
But what if you’ve been carefully set up by the blackmailers? What if they’ve created a convincing trail of planted evidence and fake information? That might make you think again.
Guilty or innocent, plenty of blackmail victims in fiction end up attempting to kill the blackmailer in their effort to fend off the threat. Sometimes they succeed.
But suppose the blackmailers are hiding on the internet. Cybercrime adds a whole new dimension to the theme. You can’t murder a website or social media feed to fend off the attack. The blackmailers can post anything they like about you, and simply defy you to refute it.
They don’t even have to upload their supposed evidence; they can just threaten to. They can say they’re going to allege that you embezzled funds from a charity, or bought and sold illegal pornography. You can deny it all you like, but sadly, a lot of people are likely to believe it. Mud sticks.
More prevalent than it’s ever been
Which is why the threat of such blackmail is more prevalent now than it’s ever been; and why I’ve chosen it as one of the themes that kick off the next Mike Stanhope mystery drama, scheduled for publication in late summer 2024.
A distant colleague of Mike’s is being blackmailed over his alleged involvement in illegal pornography, and turns to Mike for help. But with Mike, life is never simple. He tends to look for connections where none seem to exist; and in this case there are plenty for him to chase up.
I think his efforts make this one of the most intriguing novels yet in the series: one that lays bare the insidiousness of the online blackmail threat, and also teases with the possibility that in this case there might be some kind of logic in the seemingly random events that surround it.
I hope you agree!
