Why I Wrote Blood on the Veld: Turning Wildlife Crime Into a Thriller

How a simple writing exercise led me into the disturbing world of wildlife trafficking and inspired an entirely new crime thriller series.

Some writers find inspiration in a newspaper headline. Others get an idea while walking the dog, overhearing a conversation, or staring out of a window.

My inspiration for Blood on the Veld came from making a list of things I hate. Not exactly romantic, I know, but it worked. At the time, I was living in a small city north of London and working as a paraplanner. My husband, Gareth, and I had moved south from Edinburgh after he decided to work for a tech start-up.

I'd also made a career change. After qualifying as a financial adviser, I'd discovered that the job was about 90% sales and 10% advising. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a salesperson. Paraplanning was a better fit. It involved financial analysis and written reports, both of which appealed to the numbers and writing geek in me. But writing fiction was never far from my mind.

I'd already published my first novel, When Red Is Blue, a semi-autobiographical literary fiction story about a woman growing up with an alcoholic father and a paranoid schizophrenic mother. It was dark, depressing, and not for the faint-hearted.

Apparently, I wasn't finished exploring dark subjects.

The Writing Exercise That Started Everything

One evening, I was sitting in the spare room of our rented house, reading one of the many how-to-write-a-novel books that writers tend to accumulate. I'd reached a chapter about finding inspiration.

The author suggested making two lists: things you love and things you hate. The idea was that something on either list might spark a story. Wildlife trafficking was at the top of my hate list.

I'd always been disturbed by the exploitation of wild animals, and the more I thought about it, the more I wondered whether wildlife crime could provide the foundation for a series of novels. There were criminals, international networks, enormous financial incentives, and people willing to risk their lives to protect endangered animals. The ingredients for a crime thriller were certainly there. But having an idea and committing several years of your life to writing about it are two very different things.

The Research Almost Made Me Change My Mind

Before committing to the series, I needed to answer two questions. Was there enough material to sustain multiple novels? And could I remain interested in the subject long enough to write them?

I started reading books, watching documentaries, and studying research reports about wildlife trafficking and conservation. It didn't take long to realize that finding enough material wouldn't be a problem. The real question was whether I could cope with it. I read about the brutal killing of elephants, rhinos, pangolins, leopards, bears, wolves, sharks, birds, and countless other species. The scale of the cruelty was overwhelming.

I remember coming downstairs one evening and telling Gareth that I wasn't sure I could do it. Writing a novel requires spending hours every day immersed in the world you're creating. Writing an entire series could mean returning to that world for a decade or more. Did I really want to spend that much time researching something so disturbing? For several days, I seriously considered abandoning the idea. But something kept drawing me back.

Why I Chose Fiction Instead of Nonfiction

I've always believed that a novelist's first responsibility is to entertain. Readers pick up thrillers because they want suspense, compelling characters, unexpected twists, and stories that keep them turning the pages. If I wanted to write a book whose primary purpose was to educate people about wildlife crime, I could write nonfiction. But fiction offered something different.

A well-told story could take readers inside a world they might otherwise know very little about. Instead of simply presenting facts about wildlife trafficking, I could build those realities into the motivations, conflicts, and decisions of fictional characters. I could create villains inspired by the criminal world I'd researched and place them in stories that were exciting to read. The conservation element would be part of the story, rather than a lecture interrupting it.

During this period, I remembered the title of a Mike Skinner album inspired by Jung: The darker the shadow, the brighter the light. It captured something I'd been struggling to articulate. Wildlife trafficking operates in the shadows. By writing about it, I could bring some of those stories into the light. And I could do it through the genre I wanted to write: crime thrillers.

From an Idea to Blood on the Veld

Once I'd decided to go ahead, the next challenge was creating a story that felt authentic. I began researching the countries, animals, and criminal activities that might form the basis of the first novel. South Africa became the setting for Blood on the Veld, with an albino elephant at the center of the main storyline.

I read extensively, studied reports, watched documentaries, and spoke with people who had firsthand experience of wildlife and conservation. I also spent two weeks volunteering at a South African game reserve. Being there gave me something I couldn't get from a book or a computer screen: a sense of the place itself. The landscape, atmosphere, wildlife, and people all helped me build the world of the novel. The research also gave me ideas for characters, conflicts, and plot developments that I might never have considered otherwise.

I wrote the first quarter of the manuscript while working full-time, another quarter after reducing my hours, and the remainder while writing full-time. By the time the manuscript was ready for an editor, I'd spent roughly two to three years working on it. It was a long process, but I'd never expected writing a research-heavy thriller to be quick.

A Thriller First, With Something More Beneath the Surface

Blood on the Veld is the first in a series featuring the protagonist Christian Bekker. The stories are centered on wildlife crime, but they're written for readers who enjoy suspense, complex villains, and the darker side of human nature. My hope is that readers become absorbed in the characters and the story first. If they finish the novel with a greater understanding of wildlife trafficking, that's an added benefit.

And perhaps they'll find themselves looking at wildlife crime a little differently. But above all, I want them to enjoy the book. After all, that's why I write fiction.

If you enjoy crime thrillers with international settings, morally complicated characters, and a story rooted in real-world criminal activity, I'd love for you to read Blood on the Veld.