Crime Writer Margot Kinberg

Sometimes, parents are unable or unwilling to care for their own children. In many countries, that means that the child is placed in residential school or in the foster care system. Sometimes, the system works reasonably well; children have safe homes, get an education, and are given support. Other times, the system doesn’t work well at all. There are even tragic stories that come from some foster homes. No matter how well the experience works, foster care leaves its mark on those who’ve lived in it. It certainly does in real life, and it does in crime fiction, too. There are a lot of examples; space only permits a few. But I’m sure you’ll be able to suggest more than I ever could anyway.

Fans of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch will know that he grew up in care after the murder of his mother when he was eleven. He went to a few foster homes and a residential school. The experience has had a real impact on him, too. He didn’t really have a father figure in his life, and after the death of his mother, he didn’t really have many adults in whom he could confide. At the age of seventeen, he persuaded his then-foster father to sign enlistment papers, and joined the military, where he saw service in Vietnam. His youth wasn’t easy, and he still bears some scars. Perhaps that’s one reason he’s so determined to make a good life for his daughter Maddie.

Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series features Mma Precious Ramotswe. She owns a private investigation agency in Botswana. One of her good friends is Mma Silvia Pokotwane, who runs the local orphanage. Children are placed there for a number of reasons, including the death of their parents, abandonment, and other family problems. Mma Pokotwane is fiercely devoted to her charges and does whatever she can to make her care home as loving and friendly as possible. She knows each child and works to find the right new home for each one. In fact, Mma Ramotswe’s two children are former residents of the orphanage. It’s not easy for Mma Potokawne, though. Money is always an issue, and some of the children have mental and physical special needs that make it more challenging to find loving homes for them. But she doesn’t give up. And she has a way of getting people to do things for her and for the orphanage.

In Patricia Gibney’s The Missing Ones, we are introduced to Detective Inspector Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Parker and Detective Sergeant Mark Boyd. One day, they are called to the scene when the body of Susan Sullivan is discovered in a cathedral in the Irish town of Ragmullin. Then, the victim’s boss is murdered. Then there’s another murder. Now, the team has to find out what links the deaths. They soon establish that there doesn’t seem to be a romance angle or a financial motive. So, Parker and Boyd look into the victims’ pasts. They discover that these murders are linked to St. Angela’s, a former care home for ‘wayward children.’ As the story goes on, we gradually learn about what the place was like and some very dark, horrible things that happened there. This story is an example of old sins casting long shadows, as the saying goes.

Marcie Rendon’s Murder on the Red River is the first of her novels featuring Cash Blackbear. It’s the 1970s, and Renee ‘Cash’ Blackbear is a for-hire farm worker, and a member of the Ojibwa Nation. She’s also a very accomplished pool player, cigarette smoker and drinker. Cash hasn’t really had an easy life. She was removed from her mother’s care after her mother had been in an alcohol-fueled car accident that put her children at risk. Cash grew up in a series of white foster homes, in which she was never really welcome. At nineteen (her age at the beginning of the series), she has her own place to live and is trying to be independent. She gets help from Sheriff Wheaton, who’s been a sort of father figure to her since she was a child. And in the series, the two work together to solve murders. Cash has been deeply impacted by the foster system, especially the racial issues that have arisen as she’s been placed in different homes.

And then there’s Angela Marsons’ Silent Scream, which features Detective Inspector (DI) Kim Stone. The real action in the novel begins when school principal Teresa Wyatt is found drowned in her bathtub. Then, there are two other murders. At first, there don’t seem to be connections among the three victims. But then, the police team discovers that all were at one time connected to a girls’ home called Crestwood, which has since been closed. As Stone and her team investigate, they find that very few people want to talk to them about Crestwood or anything that went on there. But Stone persists, and eventually, the team discovers some dark, ugly secrets that have everything to do with the murders. This is an especially difficult case for Stone, too, as she is herself the product of the foster care system.

Most people will tell you that foster care and homes are better than sleeping on the streets, and there is truth to that. And many such places are welcoming, safe havens for children who need them. But that’s not always the case, and even the best foster placements leave their mark. At least in crime fiction, they do.

*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from R. Dean Taylor, Frank Wilson, Pam Sawyer, and Deke Richards’ Love Child, made popular by the Supremes.