Legends of True Crime Reporting: Ann Rule

"True crime writing is a very delicate and difficult genre and not to be undertaken lightly."

--Ann Rule

I must say up front that I love Ann Rule and am utterly incapable of objectivity. From a girl born and raised in rural Michigan, she grew into a smart, educated woman deeply interested in true crime who relaxes with gardening, beachcombing, and Reno 911--in each respect a writer after my own heart.

As a true crime writer for three decades, she has swimmed upstream, shunning the type of work that results in anti-hero worship of depraved killers. She grabs readers by the face and forces them to take a long, hard look at the victims and families devastated by violent crime. Throughout her two dozen books (including one fiction novel, Possession, based on a true story), you can count on Ann Rule for three things. One, she will relay the tale in a simple, straightforward narrative told from the victim's point of view with sensitivity and emotional intensity. Two, the flatteringly portrayed heroes of her books are the police officials and prosecutors who bring down the culprits--never the killers themselves. Three, she'll tell you a story you probably haven't heard before; you're never going to find a book by her about BTK ("he deserves to die forgotten") or Laci Peterson ("over-covered"). So if this type of crime writing isn't your cup of tea, then Ann Rule is not for you. So don't try to read her work and then peevishly bad-mouth it online.

Though Ann Rule became famous for her book about Ted Bundy--The Stranger Beside Me, now and forever a true crime classic--and recently dominated the non-fiction bestseller lists with Green River, Running Red, despite bad reviews--you're unlikely to see more serial killer books from her in the near future. She generally stays away from the sexual sadists and child rape-murderers and gory butchery, which gives her another star in my opinion. Her book about Gary Ridgway in particular was a heartbreaking read. If you have the least tendency toward depression (or the occasional recession), it may well be one to skip.

Rule more often focuses on crimes between intimates, asking why... and she appeals to true crime fans who ask themselves the same question. Says Ann: "I am always looking for cases where the suspect is the last person on earth anyone would suspect. When the mask is peeled away, it makes for a fascinating story."

And millions of people across the world wholeheartedly agree. Her website boasts nearly a million hits to date. For every critic who decries her work as "one-sided," "trashy," "formulaic," "boring in its details," or "pounded out" (and she has been nominated three times for the coveted Edgar award but has been a bridesmaid every time), there's a thousand people waiting in line for her next one because she can't write them fast enough.

Katherine Ramsland's Crime Library interview with Ann Rule includes a complete list of titles. My favorites are about mothers who kill--notably Dr. Debora Green, the subject of Bitter Harvest, who burned down her house and killed two of her children, and Diane Downs, subject of Small Sacrifices, who shot her three children. And it is the "boring detail" that makes such cases so memorable. Who can forget that Diane Downs took a gun to her kids while listening to Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf on her car stereo? (In a fascinating postscript to that book, Downs herself appeared alongside Ann Rule on a memorable episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show that only made Downs look like the [expletive] that she is.)

If only she would write historicals... but I guess nobody's perfect.

Comments

[Trench]

I have friends of my family who were interviewed for one of Ann Rule's books and they said she couldn't have been nicer.

[Wesley]

Go to www.dianedowns.com It might help you see another side of the Diane Downs story.

Wesley

[Anne Brewbaker]

It is hard for me to believe that anyone with a little common sense would "bad mouth" Ann Rule.
They just do not understand her writings. So before they criticize a wonderful, truly amazing author, they should reflect on the absurdity of their critiques.
Ann Rule shows her humanity in every book she has written and I would hope that her work not only entertain the readers but teach them too, the lessons that they need to learn.
However free speech is a blessing so everyone has the given right to express oneself.

Anne Brewbaker - Dallas.

[carole gill]

Wesley, I am sorry for you, truly.
You do what you have to do, I can fully understand a parent not being able to believe their child guilty of such a heinous crime.
You must go by what you truly believe.
We all must, I suppose. Please forgive me for my very strong opinions, but I was so horrifed by the Downs case. I followed it and read Ann Rule's book, Small Sacrifices.
By all means support your daughter, but only support her if you honest to God think she's innocent. You know your own heart, after all.

[kyryhgj]

im trying to find that episode of oprah to watch cant find it any ideas thanks

[gfghngk]

cant find the episode with diane downs ann rule and oprah anywhere id like to see it if anyone could help me please thankyou