CLEWS Your Home for Historic True Crime

The Times man is 'no Ann Rule'

Oh my but I got a chuckle at the expense of a newspaper today.

So a journalist from the New York Times penned a true crime paperback, a spousal murder story.

Said a reviewer in the Library Journal: "The narrative is good but could have been fleshed out quite a bit more; [the author] doesn’t provide an in-depth portrayal of either perpetrator, leaving the reader unsure of the real motive for the crime.... The author is talented but should read his Ann Rule before attempting another true-crime book."

Oh, my, my. Which publication is it whose reviews of Ann Rule drip with condescension and complaints about Ann Rule's "hellish details," hmm??

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David Seabrook, R.I.P. Rumor has it that David Seabrook has passed away. He was the author recently of the unusual true crime title Jack of Jumps, a quite sordid, grotesque, compelling book written in what I suspect was an intoxicated state (see the CLEWS review).

City of Galveston Seeks John Berendt-Type The city of Galveston, Texas is hoping out loud that some spectacular murder and vibrant book about it will put that city on the map of black-hearted tourists. Indeed there is so much enthusiasm over the idea that the Chamber of Commerce might be willing to make accommodations to anyone who comes pen in hand. Says one local promoter: "Just a free market idea - we ought to institute a $5,000 prize to be judged by a committee here, to the person who writes the book that captures the character and color of Galveston in the way that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil did for Savannah. If we could only tell our story, about what a crazy, kooky, colorful place we are."

Links in the theme

Harry Potter Lingers More people are reading these days, and You Know Who gets much of the credit.

Witness Spots Murderer on TV Crime Show Ron Tyler was watching a new episode of 48 Hours when Clarence Bailey came on the screen. Tyler is certain that he recognized the man who, sixteen years ago, shot and killed his mother. The Dallas Morning News has details on a case that suddenly isn't so cold. I am reminded of Joseph Foy, who recognized Coral Watts on TV years after seeing him commit a murder.

A Shocking Ruling An appellate  judge in Texas issued a ruling so extreme and extraordinary that it may cost her that seat she holds on the bench. And I hope she does get fired as an example to the rest of our judiciary.

As the Times is reporting today, in a rape/murder case, Judge Sharon Keller of Texas refused to grant postconviction relief to a man even after DNA testing revealed that he was not the source of semen on the victim. As the judge has remarked, finality is more important than claims of actual innocence. No matter how credible the claim of actual innocence is.

What nonsense. It's shocking! It's utterly appalling! Where does public confidence in our criminal jusice system factor into her curious algebra?? Even President Bush - President George W. Bush! - pardoned the man whose semen didn't match.

I say GOOD RIDDANCE to any judge who opines that "finality" is more important than demonstrable innocence. Unfortunately, I am noticing more and more of these "DNA non-match" cases, and it makes me furious.

Of course, we can count on the Times to write an article 1/10 of the length it deserves and to give the piece an idiotic headline: Mixed Opinions of a Judge Accused of Misconduct.

Norman Mailer's Troubles with the Times

The true crime genre can claim Norman Mailer as one of its monarchs, for he wrote the seminal Executioner's Song, which won the Pulitzer Prize and made all American true crime fans so very proud (for we are, in the words of Edward Hale Bierstadt, "as patriotic in our thirst for blood as we are in everything else").

But Norman Mailer had to battle critics his entire career, and among his fiercest was -- you guessed it, and "further amazement is futile," as Bierstadt would say -- The New York Times.

So I was delighted to discover a letter written by Norman Mailer and addressed to one Arthur Sulzberger taking issue with the Times, calling their reviews sloppy, slovenly, ugly, and all sorts of other adjectives that leave me atwitter. So let it be said that any true crime author who gets an ugly review in the Times is privileged to join a fraternity with many distinguished members.