Capote's Reincarnation

If you've been in a grocery store in the United States lately -- Kroger or Wal-Mart or Farmer Jack or whatever -- you might've noticed that the only true crime book on the paperback shelves these days is an encyclopedia of recent cannibal killers. At least one true crime writer thinks the genre "has moved from the mind to the abbatoir."

So states Ron Franscell, a journalist and fiction author from Texas who appears occasionally as a guest commenter on National Public Radio. Franscell recently sold his first true crime account to New Horizon Press, which will publish the book early next year. "Fall: The Rape and Murder of Innocence in A Small Town" concerns the cruel fate of two young girls who lived next to Franscell thirty years ago.

A website promoting the project, http://fallbook.blogspot.com, features a couple of fascinating essays. In the first, Franscell reflects on the difficulty he had in selling the project and the seamy side of true crime. Says he:

Today, the typical true-crime writer parachutes into town, maybe attends the trial, takes some notes (extra points for a jailhouse interview!), snatches some grisly crime-scene photos and catches the next plane home, where somebody slaps a blood-spattered cover on the book and sells it in supermarkets to readers who furtively glance first at the photos inside... today's true-crime writer (and editor) plays... to the readers' lurid fascination with blood and betrayal.

Franscell's remarks also reflect on the legacy of Truman Capote, the father of the true crime genre; some of the most significant books published since In Cold Blood came out in the mid-1960s; and the 30-year-old murder case that drew him away from his journalism for a year. Franscell also went on a pilgrimage to Holcomb, Kansas, site of the murders relayed in Capote's classic, and the essay that resulted from the trip is a fascinating reflection on Capote, the crime, and the place.

For those with an interest in the true crime genre -- beyond the black and white and red paperbacks that dominate the cheap shelves -- Franscell's reflections are worth pondering. You can find his essay at http://fallbook.blogspot.com/2006/02/qa-with-ron-franscell.html. I'll also add the site to my blogroll to keep up to date on this interesting project from a journalist with something to say.

Comments

[Anne V]

Thank you for this referral! I went to Mr. Franscell's site and even though it's still being developed, it is fascinating! This book looks like an exciting new kind of story and I can't ewait to read it.

[Kirsten Ann Hansen(aka Coco)]

Much has been made of Capote, (this year there was a movie of the title)
But Capote was not a very honest or truthful person. He was a friend of
Socialite C.Z. Guest . Both were connected to Claus von Bulow. He claimed
he had seen Sunny von Bulow down 5 cocktails and use a needle to inject
herself. Sunny's friends said she had met Capote once at the Guest home
did not like him and never met him again. Both C.Z. Guest and Capote
were careless with the relevent facts. In the first von Bulow case , his own
lawyer stipulated that Claus had received insulin and barbiturates in a paste
form from a female prostitute.