Allison Leotta: 5 things TV crime dramas get wrong

Allison Leotta, whose new A Good Killing is out now, joins HEA to explain five things that aren't realistic (or logical) on TV crime dramas. And she would know, seeing as how she was a federal prosecutor for 12 years in Washington D.C.

Allison: I've always loved TV crime dramas. The drama! The romance! The tear-jerking speeches! Law & Order was part of what inspired me to go to law school and become a prosecutor. What a mistake that was.

Don't get me wrong. I loved being a prosecutor in D.C. I specialized in fighting sex crimes and domestic violence. I felt that it's the most rewarding legal job in America. There's nothing as satisfying as putting a predator in jail.

But now, when I try to relax in front of the TV, only half of my mind is enjoying the story. The other half wants to stand up and shout, "Objection!"

There are some details the shows get so wrong, it's almost criminal. Black lights that — ding, ding, ding! — flash and tell you exactly whodunit. Blond officers who pose as blond joggers for a killer who targets blondes — and immediately get him to attack her in the park. Coroners who can pinpoint the Argentinian farm where the morel mushrooms found in the victim's stomach were grown. As a prosecutor, I also had to worry about "the CSI effect" — jurors coming to the courtroom with wild expectations based on the incredible science they saw on TV.

Now I write romantic suspense novels myself, and I blog about what TV crime dramas get right and wrong. Folks often ask me: What are the worst mistakes? The challenge is narrowing it down to five. But when the fabulous Joyce Lamb asks me to write a blog post, I write a blog post! So here for your reading pleasure are the top five mistakes TV crime shows make:

1. You won't get fingerprints off that gun.

Sorry, not gonna catch the killer that way. Usable prints are notoriously tough to get, and guns are the worst surface to get them from. A combination of conditions — dry skin, too much humidity, textured rubber or metal — conspire to wipe the gun clean, even if the shooter didn't do it himself. Some gun companies deliberately make their weapons with material that repels fingerprints. When I called a fingerprint expert to the stand, it was usually to educate the jury on why there weren't prints on the gun.

2. Most rapists don't lurk in bushes.

Rapes committed by strangers do happen, and get a lot of media coverage when they do, but usually a rapist is a man the victim knows intimately: an ex-boyfriend or stepfather; her doctor or minister; a teacher or coach; a professional colleague or the guy she invited home from a bar. I no longer worry about someone breaking in through my window — but I'm much more cautious about who I'll open the door for. This inspired my most recent book, A Good Killing.

3. Prosecutors don't wear stilettoes.

Female prosecutors on TV sashay to court in four-inch Manolos. But real prosecutors are on their feet all day and often lugging big boxes of exhibits, so comfy shoes are key. The seasoned female prosecutor wears mid-range heels: You look nice for the jury but won't break a toe when you stand to object. Sometimes the walk to the courthouse is done in flip-flops, with a quick switcheroo right before the judge takes the bench.

4. Most victims aren't beautiful young heiresses who secretly work as strippers.

But you already knew that.

5. The bad guy will never confess with his lawyer sitting right there.

You know the scene. In a dingy jailhouse meeting room, the prosecutor badgers the defendant until he sobbingly confesses: "OK, I killed her! I had no choice!" Meanwhile, the defense attorney sits there looking mildly constipated. A real defense attorney is as likely to let his client be questioned by the prosecutors as a lobster is to throw himself into a pot of boiling water. Defense attorneys know the vast majority of their clients are guilty — and any time a defendant opens his mouth, he risks revealing that. As a writer, I understand why this scene is so popular: The prosecutor hero needs to find out what really happened, and only the killer can say for sure. But it's pure fiction.

About A Good Killing (courtesy of Touchstone):

Former federal prosecutor and critically acclaimed author Allison Leotta's spellbinding thriller follows prosecutor Anna Curtis as she heads home to Michigan to defend her sister in a case that will bring her to her knees.

How far would you go to save your sister?

Anna Curtis is back in her hometown just outside of Detroit. Newly single after calling off her wedding, Anna isn't home to lick her wounds. She's returned to support her sister, Jody, who has been wrongfully accused of murder after their old high school coach, a local hero, dies in a suspicious car crash.

But maybe Jody isn't so innocent after all. The police are convinced that Jody was having an affair with the married coach and killed him out of jealousy. As Anna investigates with the help of her childhood friend Cooper Bolden, an Afghan War veteran with a secret of his own, she slowly peels back the facade of her all-American town and discovers that no one is telling the truth about the coach, not even the people she thought she knew best. When the town rallies against them, threatening not just Jody's liberty but both sisters' lives, Anna resolves to do everything she can to save her sister and defend the only family she has left.

In her best book yet, Leotta, "the female John Grisham" (The Providence Journal), explores the limits of vigilante justice, the bonds of sisterhood, and the price of the truth.

Find out more about Allison and her books at allisonleotta.com.