One thumb up, one thumb down

The Mystery of the Missing Word True crime author Corey Mitchell - the force behind the website In Cold Blog, which features the musings of more than two dozen published true crime authors and other "leading voices in the genre" - made my day today.

Corey writes:

I just received my advance copies for my next book, STRANGLER, and what does it say on the book cover? "Includes sixteen pages of photos." No "Shocking," no exclamation points. Cut and dry. Ironically, this book has some of the most graphic photos of any of my books.

This is a bit of a shocker. For the better part of two decades, maybe longer, the publishers of true crime have affixed a phrase to the cover that has long made my skin crawl: "INCLUDES 16 PAGES OF SHOCKING PHOTOS!" This has made it more difficult for folks like me to defend my admiration for the best in the true crime genre. (I've been complaining to anyone who will listen, most recently on In Cold Blog, with a rant - Enough Already With The SHOCKING PHOTOS!)

His book, Strangler, concerns serial killer Anthony Allen Shore, and we'll be able to see the SHOCKING-less book ourselves in bookstores Sept. 4. Mercifully, for those of us tired of defending it, the SHOCKING PHOTOS era may be coming to a close.

Congratulations, Corey, for leading the genre in more ways than one!

(Art from Dastardly Dustjacket Jewelry)

Analysis of Final Analysis For those who do not enjoy spousal murder stories, I say congratulations, for you must have avoided the common curse of an unforgettably bad relationship or the trauma of a short but nightmarish first marriage. I relish these stories, I can’t help it, “there but for,” etc.

I recently read Catherine Crier’s most recent foray into my favorite category. The book is Final Analysis: The Untold Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case.

I wanted to like it. She has secured forever the admiration of this viewer for her work as an anchor on Court TV, a performance daily characterized by intelligence and true grace that elevated the network, which displayed its juvenile taste when it gave her the boot.

But those with great gifts are not easily forgiven for negligently exercising them.

In books about spousal murder, readers do not want to hear about the police investigation. I don't care for long descriptions of the murder scene, the forensic evidence, or even the trial - strange though it may be. That is missing the point. In the vast majority of spousal murders, the whodunnit is obvious; the investigation proves a puzzle with only two pieces.

The murder isn't the mystery; the marriage is the mystery.

But Crier's book has precious little in the way of marital anecdotes and too many policemen. These books are also best told chronologically -- so we can learn how the happy couple in the wedding photo wound up in a fatal embrace. Anything else can be frustrating to follow.

Judging by other reviews, I expect that when I lay hands on Carol Pogash’s version of the same bad marriage, Ms. Crier will have to yield the palm.

Comments

[Corey Mitchell]

Thanks, Laura. Kudos also go to Michaela Hamilton, my editor at Kensington, for removing the "Shocking" tag from my book.

[Fiz]

Congratulations, Corey! I was very impressed with the adjective-less photo section and yet they were shocking. Those poor kids/young women! I'd never even heard of this brute! I know I owe you an email but my youngest is doing a jazz dance week in Cambridge which means four hours driving there and back twice a day...it gives me very little time and reminds me why I hate driving in Cambridge - the cyclists don't think the Highway Code applies to them! Argh! Laura, keep on doing what you're doing - I love your angle on old crimes and new books :-)