Spencer Kope

Spencer Kope is the Crime Analyst for the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office. Currently assigned to Detectives Division, he provides case support to detectives and deputies, and is particularly good at identifying possible suspects. In his spare time he developed a database-driven analytical process called Forensic Vehicle Analysis (FVA) used to identify the make, model and year range of vehicles from surveillance photos. It's a tool he's used repeatedly to solve crimes. One of his favorite pastimes is getting lost in a bookstore, and he lives in Washington State.

Kope's new novel is Whispers of the Dead.

Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. His reply:

I recently finished Ready Player One, and what a cool ride. I loved the story, not just because it paints an accurate picture of what I believe our dystopic future might look like, but because it also looks back to the best decade of my life: the 1980s. It’s one of the best stories I’ve read in a while, so I also picked up a first printing to add to my collection of first editions. Now that the Spielberg movie is out, I’ll be lining up to see it at the theater in the next week or so.

I’m currently reading Suspect by Robert Crais, which is shaping up to be a great story, and before that it was Yesterday’s Echo by Matt Coyle, which I really enjoyed.

Much as I’d like to spend my life in novels, I also read a lot of non-fiction. Some of this is research for books I’m writing, other times it’s just because I’m curious by nature. I recently took a load of grief from family members who thought it was hilarious that I was reading a book about salt. They wanted to know if the sequel was called Pepper. The book was Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky, and it was fascinating—or at least I thought so.

Another non-fiction title I recently finished was Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. This one was research for my crime series, which features a recurring villain nicknamed Leonardo because of the subtle depiction of the Vitruvian Man that he leaves behind. Finally, one of my all-time favorite non-fiction titles remains Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Pure gold.

Visit Spencer Kope's website.

--Marshal Zeringue