indexes in fiction 7

The Cutting Place by Jane Casey is a crime novel that mentions indexes.

Jane Casey is a former editor and her husband who is a criminal barrister ensures her writing is realistic and accurate.

The Cutting Place was published in 2020 is Book 9 of the 13-crime book series featuring detective constable Maeve Kerrigan. This is the first book by Jane Casey that I read and it can be read without reading the previous 8 books.

In this book, Maeve Kerrigan is investigating the disappearance of a young journalist who was about to expose a shocking scandal.

As part of her investigation, Maeve finds a biography of a man which was printed to honour his twentieth year as president of the gentlemen’s Chiron Club. She goes to the end of the book to look for an index to skim through for familiar names or anything of interest. However, the book had no index (page 82).

I am disappointed the book had no index but I am impressed that the detective was looking for clues in the book and for an index. It shows that indexes can be useful for people looking for information for a wide variety of reasons and how indexes add value to books.

Although this novel does mention indexes and the book did not have one is disappointing it is interesting that indexes are mentioned at all. Maybe the author’s background as an editor influenced her to mention indexes.

For anyone writing a book which needs a proofread or an index, hire a professional from AFEPI (Association of Freelance Editors, Proofreaders & Indexers of Ireland) , the Society of Indexers, or CIEP (Charter Institute of Editing and Proofreading) to lighten your load!