Guest Post, Margot Kinberg: When You’re On Social Media*

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from the Pet Shop Boys’ On Social Media. 

Margot Kinberg is a university professor and mystery novelist, originally from the US East Coast. Her academic and teaching background is mostly in language learning, teacher education, writing, and content area literacy. She has two crime fiction series: the Joel Williams series, and now, the Patricia Stanley series. Her new novella, Streets of Gold, comes out on March 16th.

Thanks very much for having me, Sarah. Technology has woven itself into our daily lives, and that’s especially true of social media. It’s not hard to see why, when you think of the ease of communication and the ability people have now to be in contact with others at any time, from many different parts of the world.

Social media has a lot of drawbacks, but, in both real life and in crime fiction, it can help solve crimes and find missing people. I’m sure you’ve read plenty of news stories that feature people who were reunited with family, and crimes that were solved, because of social media. We see that thread running through crime fiction, too.

Social media plays a major role, for instance, in Helen Fitzgerald’s The Cry. Joanna Lindsay and her partner, Alistair Robinson, travel from her native Scotland to his family’s home in Victoria. With them is their nine-week-old son, Noah. The flight is long and difficult, and the couple are all too glad to get off the plane and on their way. During the drive to Alistair’s family home, the couple faces every loving parent’s worst nightmare: the loss of their son. They report that he’s missing, and a massive search is undertaken. The media picks up the story, and before long, Facebook and other social media outlets are carrying the story, too. There are all sorts of ‘find Baby Noah’ pages, crowdfunding efforts, and more. The police are involved, too, of course, and they slowly begin to wonder whether Joanna and Alistair know more than they are saying about Noah’s fate. Questions start to come up online, too, and it’s not long before Joanna, especially, becomes the target of all sorts of speculation. The power of social media comes through clearly in this novel, and we see how that impacts the search and the couple.

Kazuhiro Kiuchi’s Shield of Straw is the story of Takaoki Ninagawa’s search for justice when his granddaughter is raped and killed. DNA evidence has linked Kunihide Kiyomaru to the crime, but he has gone into hiding. So, Ninagawa puts out a very public billion-yen bounty on Kiyomaru’s head and creates a website explaining how to claim the reward. When Kiyomaru hears of this, he knows that thousands of people will be looking for him, and he decides to turn himself in at the local police station. At least he’ll be protected there. Tokyo police detective Kazuki Mekari and his team are sent to bring the fugitive back to Tokyo to face trial, but that won’t be easy. Mostly through social media, thousands of people know that Kiyomaru is being brought to Tokyo by train. There’s even a way that people can check on the train’s progress online. So, the team will have to dodge amateur bounty-hunters all the way back to Tokyo. It’s an eerie look at how social media can be used to target someone.

The focus of Brannavan Gnanalingam’s Sprigs is an exclusive boys’ school in Auckland. Rugby rules there, and those who are on the team are the social leaders. One Saturday night after an important rugby match, members of the team get together for a party at the home of one of their teammates. News of the party gets around, and it’s soon crowded. One of the partygoers is fifteen-year-old Priya Gaianan, who’s both excited and nervous about going. She has too much to drink, and four of the boys on the team gang rape her. The incident’s recorded, too, and is soon passed around via social media. Priya is, of course, devastated, not only because of the rape, but also because everyone will find out about it. When she finally goes to the police to report what happened, they use the video to trace the attack to the boys responsible. In this case, we see how social media is helpful to the investigation, but also makes things that much worse for Priya.

Samantha Downing’s For Your Own Good is set against the backdrop of the exclusive (and expensive) Belmont Academy. The students there are all expected to be accepted at the finest universities, and their parents take every measure to ensure that happens. There’s a lot of pressure on the young people, and that only increases when Ingrid Ross, the mother of one of the students, suddenly dies during a major event at the school. When it’s established that she was murdered, the police begin an investigation that comes to focus on the victim’s daughter, Courtney. Along with the interviews they conduct, the police check online activity, texts, and social media to look for evidence. They arrest Courtney, but is she guilty? And if not, who else could the murderer be? It’s a complex case, and it doesn’t stop with just one killing. As we follow along, we see how the various characters share information and gossip, create their own theories about the crimes, and more, all using social media. We also see how the killer uses social media.

Social media is a part of my new novella, Streets of Gold, too. The story features fifteen-year-old Staci McKinney, who’s left home to escape her predatory stepfather. As you can imagine, her mother, Theresa McKinney, is desperate to find her, and checks her daughter’s social media dozens of times. She also creates a video, which she puts online, hoping that people will share. Her strongest wish is that Staci will see it and respond. But Theresa’s not the only one looking for Staci. Philadelphia City Councilman Daniel Langdon and his assistant, Scott Townlee, want to find Staci, too. She is the only witness to a crime they committed, and they want to make sure she’ll keep quiet. They, too, use a social media campaign to enlist the public’s help in tracking Staci down. In this case, social media could be a way to find and rescue Staci – or to trap her.

And that’s the thing about social media. Love it or hate it, it’s an important part of our modern lives. So, it’s no wonder at all that it plays a role in crime fiction, too.

Thanks again for hosting me, Sarah!