Historic True Crime: The Musical Just when I think I've heard it all, I read of the Leopold and Loeb musical. Boy geniuses take up killing for sport - now set to music. A Jesse James musical is also in the works. I can only imagine the challenge of telling these stories in verse. What rhymes with murder?
Belle Starr, the Comic The "female Jesse James" now has her own comic book for true crime fans whose taste runs to the "shall we say, exotic." See art at right, via Moonstone Books (warning: link contains sexualized murder fantasy material). Here's a photo of the real woman to help get that stuff out of your brain.
Nice Words on Nightmare in Napa The local bookstore may have cancelled author Paul LaRosa's appearance because of complaints of exploitation (insert disgusted snort here) but Nightmare in Napa impressed one true crime fan I respect.
Writer Larry Lynch of True Crime Lessons remarks: "LaRosa writes...without a trace of self indulgence. His book is a good piece of journalism but one that unlikely to be followed up with the same professionalism if the idea of writing books off true crime TV shows becomes a trend. Story tellers are just too tempted to make themselves the story and to hype the facts out of some misguided idea that leads to more sales."
Speaking of which...
He's Baaaack If there is one name I thought I'd never, ever see on a true crime dustjacket again, it's Joe McGinniss - he of the Jeffrey MacDonald / Fatal Vision fame (or infamy, depending on your point of view). I've racked my brains and shelves and can think of no other author in this genre who has been as controversial. Can you think of a precedent for all the brou-ha-ha that followed his Fatal Vision?
I'd've thought the New York literati turned their backs on this author when Janet Malcolm's The Journalist and the Murderer 
But that was nearly two decades ago. Memories are short. The extraordinary damage done to McGinniss's reputation apparently wasn't permanent. This fall, Simon & Schuster will put its name on a cover with his when it publishes Greed Kills, his new book about Robert and Andrew Kissel. There is some confusion about the name as it's also had other titles. Whatever it's called, it will be an interesting story to read and follow. Will he redeem himself? Can he redeem himself while Janet Malcolm's book is still in print and is a mandatory read for every journalism student in the country?
Another Inspired Pearson Fan I received a nice note from Keven McQueen, who wrote his first true crime book, Murder in Old Kentucky, two years ago, and will shortly release another, The Murdered Maid.
Says Keven: "WOW-- I thought I was the only Edmund Pearson fan out there! I am delighted to find a site that discusses his works and true crime books in detail (GOOD true crime books, that is)....Pearson has been a very strong influence on my writing."
Keven has greatly endeared himself to me with that remark, and I can't wait to read his Pearson-tinged prose! The reviews of his book on Amazon are all quite high and one remarks that his books are "wickedly written"; a librarian says "his books are checked out as quickly as we can display them." What higher praise can there be?
Armed & Dangerous The new book by William Queen is getting a lot of good reviews, especially up in the mountains, where the chase scenes take place.
Legal Scholar or 'Court Jester'? A Canadian author is getting a huge amount of press -- and an incredible amount of vitriol - for his controversial book Lawyers Gone Bad: Money, Sex and Madness in Canada's Legal Profession. In a recent interview, the author was highly critical of the bar's lax disciplinary system and the lack of morals in the bar as a whole. His unflattering look back at the worst of the profession has raised the hackles of other lawyers across Canada, who have descended to name-calling in rebuttal to author Philip Slayton's book.
I don't know a thing about the lawyers' disciplinary system south of the border (Detroit is due north of Canada, so I always think of it that way), but if it's anything like the system in Michigan, it's indefensible and a cruel joke on the public. Meanwhile, lawyers have never been good about handling the misconduct of others in the profession. Not here anyway.
One quick example: in Michigan, every lawyer pays dues to a Thieves and Schemes Account (my phrase). If a lawyer steals client money but can't bay it back, then the state bar pays. The idea is to repair the damage done to the reputation of the profession.
So I had a client who was ripped off by another attorney. The facts fit perfectly within the rules for Thieves and Schemes. He stole a few thousand dollars, did it in writing, did not deny it, and also (not coincidently) was disbarred and in state prison for other crimes, including cocaine, felony assault, and credit card fraud. (I happened to know this S.O.B.; he threw spitballs at me while I was giving my first opening statement.)
But it turns out the Thieves and Schemes account is illusory. The state bar keeps making us fill out the same claim form over and over. I filed the claim exactly six years and one month ago. We have yet to see a penny. The reputation of the bar slips another notch in my client's opinion, and mine, for every year that passes without a g---d---- decision.
Finally...
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