San Joaquin Sisters in Crime May 5th Meeting

What I Learned at the May meeting of Sisters in Crime

By Mary Benton

C. Jedediah Cridland-Hughes, Reference Librarian of the Fresno County Public Law Library, replaced our scheduled speaker, Sharon Borbon, who wasn’t able to attend.

Jedediah, a gifted and charismatic speaker, quickly covered the wealth of information available to us through the use of our local Public Law Library. His presentation was slanted specifically to us, as writers, and covered the many aspects that a writer of fiction, or nonfiction, is faced with when trying to get, “the facts, ma’am, just the facts.” His suggestion of using real crime scenarios to spark ideas for plot lines in our stories hit a home run with me. These cases, plus information concerning legal procedures of a personal nature, can be researched through the Public Law Library and are as easy as a click away on our computers. Jedediah generously handed out resource sheets listing those sites. Extra sheets may still be available at our next meeting.

Nancy L. Crossfield, Librarian from the William O. Owen Medical Library at St. Agnes Medical Center was our second speaker. She delivered her presentation with large doses of humor and pointed out that the Library has an abundant amount of information concerning the various poisons available to would-be killers, their effect, and what symptoms they might cause. She also handed out resource sheets for writers that listed websites that encompassed such subjects as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Disaster Information Management, and National Capital Poison Center. This information is a valuable tool not only for writers of mystery and suspense, but for personal research when you, or someone you care about, has been diagnosed with an unfamiliar illness.

Both speakers did a terrific job and deserve a “two thumbs up!”