Here's a Friday news roundup from our favorite literary genre.
48 Hours Between 2 Covers It's about time someone thought of this. The venerated true crime documentary program 48 Hours will issue paperback versions of its stories. True Crime author Paul LaRosa has written the first book, Nightmare in Napa. An excerpt is posted on CBS' website. Alas, there's a backlash, even before the book has been released: a bookstore in Napa cancelled the author's appearance because of complaints about people "making money off the deaths." Unfortunately, this sentiment is not uncommon, and it has a distorting effect on the way these books are written and marketed. Well enough said for now. For more about this author, read these Clews.
Daughters of Juarez Author Teresa Rodriguez's new book, The Daughters of Juárez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border, concerns the unchecked killings of hundreds of women and girls in Juarez, Mexico. The early word: "It is a cry for an end to these atrocities and it is a righteous call, after all these years of horror, for justice now."
Art: The work of famous pulp cover artist Walter Popp. Via
Tying Together All Those Axe Murders A retired Colorado Springs police investigator is taking a hard look at a series of axe murders across the US, including the slaughter of a family in his hometown. He thinks several of these cases may be related, and he's hoping the Pinkerton file in the Library of Congress might even yield the fingerprints to prove it. Some of the cases he's studied have also been linked to the murders in Villisca, Iowa (Clews has details on Villisca and the serial axe killer theory). The Denver Post recently ran a feature on Dwight Haverkorn's investigation.
Top 10 British True Crime Books The Guardian recently ran author David Peace's list of best 10 British true crime books. Do you have an opinion on this list?
- Beyond Belief by Emlyn Williams
- Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son by Gordon Burn
- Killing for Company by Brian Masters
- The Streetcleaner by Nicole Ward Jouve
- Error of Judgment by Chris Mullin
- State of Seige by Jim Coulter, Susan Miller, Martin Walker
- Who Framed Colin Wallace? by Paul Foot
- Smear! by Stephen Dorril, Robin Ramsay
- The Terrorism Trilogy by Martin Dillon
- Bloody Valentine by John Williams
I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't even heard of most of them (though I'm repeatedly told that Killing for Company is excellent -- and Clews is often taken for a British site).
And I've only actually read one of these books -- #1, Beyond Belief. Or tried to read. A few years ago I was tickled to find a copy in a thrift shop for a dime. I didn't get very far before deciding it had to be one of THE worst books I've ever read in this genre. I came close to giving it back to said thrift shop (shocking Mr. James with the thought that I'd voluntarily part with a true crime title) before deciding that the complete crime library also includes the dregs. Maybe I'll give it another go.
Coming up on Clews next week: a review of A Vulgar Display of Power: Courage and Carnage at Alrosa Villa, about a mass murder at a rock concert in Ohio; the story of Father Hans Schmidt, the only Roman Catholic priest the US has ever executed; and some interesting guest posts.
Meanwhile, here's the pervert search of the week, and runner up for pervert search of the week
Killing for Company is indeed one of the great true crime books. I'm glad to know someone else had the same experience I had with Beyond Belief. I also was unable to finish it, possible because of the cockney dialect, if I remember right. Robert
Posted by: Robert A. Waters | April 20, 2007 at 07:54 PM