CLEWS Your Home for Historic True Crime

Review - Crimes of Passion by Howard Engel - Art Requires Blood!

Howard Engel, an award-winning mystery writer, studied true crime stories for years. Eventually his notebook reached a critical mass, resulting in this interesting book of curated true crime stories. The book is Crimes of passion: an unblinking look at murderous love (Buffalo, New York: Firefly Books 2002).

I like this book for its full-throated defense of the true crime genre and its odd collection of cases known and obscure.

True crime must be faithfully reported, the author reminds us as he explores the well-plowed fields filled with the likes of Ruth Ellis, Jean Harris, Juliet Hulme (Anne Perry), Yvonne Chevallier, Dr. Crippen, Snyder & Gray, Thompson & Bywaters, OJ Simpson, Lizzie Borden, Susan Smith, Elizabeth Workman,  etc.

Some of his essays are very amusing (Lorena Bobbitt) and some are ridiculous and I would recommend this book for its storytelling alone. He does have a bibliography, but I winced when I saw it, as I recognize that there are some prolific true crime encyclopedia writers who are reliably unreliable. 

Anyway, Howard Engel mentions some obscure crimes, mostly European, with a murder connoisseur's good eye for the interesting (Cyril Belshaw, Peter Hogg, Jean Liger, Ralph Klassen, Kenneth Peacock). 

The author also explores the intersection of true crime and high art and literature - Shakespeare, Dante. 

To prove the point, he begins with the case of Francesa de Rimini, who fell in love with her husband’s handsome younger brother Paolo but was alas caught with him in flagrante delicto. Her husband killed them both at once. The case has inspired everyone from Dante (Inferno) to Tchaikovsky.

Without true crime, there is no Carmen or Hamlet. Or any crime fiction worth a fig, as the finest crime fiction writers recognize, at length.

 

"True Crime" - Some notes on the definition of the term

There seems to be a lot of confusion among authors, publishers, and audiences these days about what, exactly, is "true crime." So let's revisit the basic definition of "true crime." What is the "true crime genre" exactly? There is a proper legal definition. At least, a common-law definition that attorneys such as your correspondent would consider binding and definitive. 

For authority besides my own, I rely on an excellent book from the CLEWS library, Advocates of murder: Ten authentic cases of lawyers who murdered by Charles Boswell and Lewis Thompson, published by Collier Books of New York in 1962. It is a book by lawyers about lawyers tried for murder. You can bet that when writing a true crime book about a lawyer-defendant, you had better get your facts straight, as you are both familiar with the laws of libel. Advocates of Murder by Boswell and Thompson sets forth the definition of a "case study." And it is the "case study" that is the backbone of "true crime."

From the book: "Between the covers of this book are ten case histories of lawyers who turned lawless - who became, in fact, killers. The case histories comprise precisely what the phrase denotes. They are narratives which are not fiction, but authentic accounts of actual crimes, with the material largely taken from court records and police files, and with the dates, the incidents, and the names of localities and principal characters just as they appeared officially, true and unchanged."

In short - a true crime book needs to be, first and foremost, TRUE. There should be zero guessing, supposing, or assuming, and if there is, it should be labeled, and even so, it's unsightly. I hate it when authors make up details. Point of view errors are usually the giveaway. If I wanted to read fiction, I would read fiction. 

I recently tried to read a true crime book that was obviously fictionalized with awful results. It purported to be a case study of Carolyn Warmus, an infamous femme fatale from Michigan who is a contender for the best dressed murder defendant of all time. That's her from the cover of the book about her case. She wears peach business separates with black hose for the start of her trial for murder. Not the typical courtroom attire, to say the least. She has served her sentence now and is a free woman. She is still remembered in her home state, where she embarrasses the University of Michigan by appearing as an alumna on its rolls. Someone at a library lecture on local criminal history told me that she is still much discussed. Her family used to send out Christmas cards that said "Warmus Wishes for the Holidays." If I thought she would give me an interview, I would love to write an updated book about her. Because the only book in existence about her case is the abjectly awful Lovers of deceit by Mike Gallagher, who was doing a bad Truman Capote impression instead of a case study. I gave up on his bad writing and had to skim to the end. Well, I didn't give up until 250 pages into it, truth be told. Because hey, it's an interesting case, and even a bad true crime book is better than none. 

Happy 400th Birthday, True Crime! 1621-2021

The first book-length work of true murder stories was published in English in 1621! I had to use an exclamation point because it took me decades to find enough clews to answer the question.

I spent part of the Covid lockdown doing obscure genre research on sites like Google Books and HathiTrust and WorldCat and Early English Books Online and Public Domain Review. I lost track of the hours I spent in this delightful task but it was enough for me to say with confidence that -- 

The first true crime book published in English was written by John Reynolds, a native of Exeter, England, published in 1621 - The Triumph of God’s Revenge Against the Crying and Execrable Sinne of Murder. Execrable is an old word that is hard to say. Which might explain why it’s dead.  It means extremely unpleasant.

Let’s call his book the Triumph. It was an immediate triumph. It is impossible to overstate how immensely popular this book was. King James loved it. Everyone did, from the kitchen to the front parlor.

There was a second edition. Sixth edition. Eleventh edition. Everyone in England read this book. Folio edition. Special edition. Limited edition. Pocket size edition. Abridged edition. The abridged edition went into five editions. The last edition was printed in Belfast in 1842. Meaning this book actually stayed in print for two hundred twenty-one years. Now that's a hell of a press run.

My favorite edition of this book is the 1635 deluxe edition fit for royal reading, It has woodcuts of scaffold scenes and cover art that shows justice, unmoveable, limbs firm, legs of stone and arms of steel, sword in one hand, scales in the other. Smaller woodcuts around the margins show hangings and duels. These were done by a famous engraver, John Payne, one of the earliest line engravers in England, and this attests to how important and popular the Triumph was.

One little caveat. The author was challenged on the truth of the stories. He adamantly insisted they were true, but he did not vouchsafe his documentary evidence. That said, the public believed they were true murder stories and it was labeled and sold and read as a true crime book. Does this make them true crime stories? If a million readers believe it to be true, but one person, alright the author secretly knows he invented them, are they true? In the popular mind, the first true crime book was God’s Revenge. Thus I think it fair and appropriate the declare that true crime was born in 1621* and never mind the asterisk.

We have a lot of reading to catch up on. A lot can happen in four hundred years.

Art via Public Domain Review

Add'l sources: Joan Walmsley, John Reynolds, merchant of Exeter. 1991. Albert Borowitz, Blood and ink. 2002. Kathy Roberts Forde, Literary journalism on trial. 2008. Louis B. Wright, Middle class culture in Elizabethan England, 1935.   #clews #truecrime 

True Crime Author Corey Mitchell, 1967 - 2014, R.I.P.

True crime author Corey Mitchell,47, passed away suddenly in late October. News accounts say he died of a heart attack.

Mitchell studied law but did not practice; instead, he wrote seven true crime books, and a few years ago he was the editor of a well regarded if short-lived and now sadly defunct online true crime collaborative. (Read my initial piece on In Cold Blog here).  Mitchell's titles are Evil Eyes, Pure Murder, Dead and Buried, Murdered Innocents, Strangler, and Savage Son, along with his first and, he told me, most successful book, 2001's Hollywood Death Scenes.

News of his death had me re-reading his old blog; some of the comments he left on Clews (here, here, here, and here); notes we exchanged about the true crime genre, including my favorite posted here; his Facebook page; and an interview I found online. Lately his interests had turned toward his other favorite subjects in music and horror. I will always remember him for one book in particular that I was not alone in being glad he wrote. The book Evil Eyes concerned prolific serial killer Coral Eugene Watts. Evil Eyes is the only book written about Watts, who is, to my beloved Detroit, what Ted Bundy is to Seattle (still much discussed here). True crime fans will remember him for these seven contributions to the genre, gratefully received by those of us who shared and appreciated his interests.

The Christian Science Monitor's Top 5 Historical True Crime Books and more links

Randy Dotinga of the Christian Science Monitor considered his most very favorite historical true crime titles ever and came up with this list of the top five: 

1. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

2. For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder That Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz

3. Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin by Hampton Sides

4. Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz

5. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective by Kate Summerscale

Now there's a solid list. Larson's is the book that introduced many of my generation to historical true crime. I did have a hiccup at a couple of them, though. I reviewed #4 for The Hatchet and Lizzie herself would've been proud of the hatchet job I gave it. And although the author of #5 made me mad,  a lot of true crime devotees and professional reviewers loved the book.

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'A murder mystery from 178 years ago' - CNN picked up the story of two brothers who took their grandfather's old ghost stories seriously ---- and discovered a mass grave in Pennsylvania.

 http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/24/pennsylvania.graves.mystery/

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Timesfreude - If schadenfreude means taking pleasure in the pain of others, then I am all a-freude with my other fellow Times haters at the very latest Manhattan flapdoodle. Here's a set of links from Slate http://www.slate.com/id/2265910/  if you too enjoy nurturing a New York grudge.

True crime award finalists and more links in the theme

"Murder may be the number one social taboo, but boy is it spellbinding."

--Mark Schatzker, Toronto Globe and Mail

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The Arthur Ellis Award gives a nod to the best Canadian true crime book of the year. And the 2010 nominees are... 

 Patick Brode - The Slasher Killings (Painted Turtle Press )

Ed Butts - Line of Fire (Dundurn)

Alex Caine - The Fat Mexican (Random House of Canada)

Terry Gould - Murder without Borders (Random House of Canada)

Jerry Langton - Biker (John Wiley & Sons)

Victor Malarek - The Johns (Key Porter Books)

Robert Remington and Sherri Zickefoose - Runaway Devil (McClelland )

Stephen Schneider - Iced (John Wiley & Sons)

Trisha Smith - Holiday in Hell ( Asteroid Publishing Inc )

John Smith - The Wolf and the Sheepdog (Author House)

Jon Wells -Post-Mortem and Vanished (John Wiley & Sons)

*I've only read the first one, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Canadian true crime aficionados are spoiled.

Chart via

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A gruesome term for a murderer even I hadn't heard before ... caesarean kidnapper. Here's an old example.

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My new favorite time-waster: "25 Best True Crime Books"

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More links in the theme

Murder victim's brother wants book pulled from shelves

SEATTLE -- Local true-crime writer Ann Rule is being haunted by an old murder case that she wrote about....

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A man incarcerated for 29 years for rape, now exonerated by DNA

A fascinating interview with Raymond Trowler as only the BBC could do it

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Book Review: Blood Secrets

Those personal details take Blood Secrets from being a technical true crime text book and elevate it up to a popular memoir about an interesting life ....

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Slaying of Yale's Annie Le subject of new book; possible motives examined

The 247-page paperback is the latest entry of the "St. Martin's True Crime Library" by St. Martin's Press....

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CLEWS Your Home for Historic True Crime named one of 50 top criminology blogs

The funniest true crime writers?

We say laugh in the face of evil.

Or that could be the motto of  true crime writers who can't resist cracking up, even though.

So I received a note from a true crime author and lecturer with an interesting genre question.

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Dear Laura:

The Missouri Writers' Guild has asked me to give a talk in April of 2011 at a breakout session. The person organizing it wants me to talk about "Writing True Crime With Humor."

I plan to talk about my book, and I plan to talk about yours. I am going to re-read Jimmy Breslin's The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Can you think of other true crime books that used a great deal of humor? Please give it some thought and let me know what you come up with. I've got time to prepare and do this right.

Sincerely,

(An Author Friend)

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I take the occasion to list some of the true crime authors who can make me both laugh and cry ( of course reserving the right to amend this list) .

I think of:

* Keven McQueen, whose books are so hilarious that I once dropped one in a fit of laughter

* Edmund L. Pearson, which is precisely what made him one of the most famous true crime writers of all time

* William Roughead, ditto

Which true crime authors do you think of?  

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A quote from the inimitable William Roughead.... to follow when I've found my vade mecum....

 

New study tries to explain why "women read true crime"

Why do women read true crime? Well, men read it too, but mostly it's women who go for it. This is true of virtually everything, but a new study (available online for free for a limited time) sets about proving that women read and enjoy them more and asks that old question: Why?

Unfortunately, the authors begin their supposedly scientific work with a goofy fallacy. They claim that true crime has become extraordinarly popular "since the publication of In Cold Blood." That is ridiculous. True crime has been extraordinarily popular in English for at least 500 years.

Setting aside this absurd beginning, the study has some interesting things to say. This paper points out that women read true crime to:

1) Learn the motives and methods of murderers and to prevent becoming victims; some books contain defense tactics and escape tricks. The Stranger Beside Me is cited. I think this is true, at least for younger readers.

2) Learn about the psychology of violence and understand the warning signs. (This is true, too. As Diane Fanning wrote in her latest, Mommy's LIttle Girl: "We want to know why, because until we do, we cannot do anything to prevent it from happening again to another child. We have to believe there is a way to prevent such a death, or we slide into an endless pit of despair. Our only hope is knowledge, awareness of the red flags that portend disaster and an ability to recognize the warnings in real time.")

This study was fascinating but I was a bit disappointed. It contains a lot of assumptions about women and a lot of assumptions about this genre.

The true crime genre is vast. It is older than the printing press. It has had many a heyday.

It also has many discrete sub-genres. Fans are very specific in their reading tastes. The reader who snatches up the latest biography of Al Capone does not reach for the latest Ann Rule. Some eschew serial killer books, or outgrow them.

Speaking for myself, I'll happily plunk down $7 cash for any spousal murder story, but you'll have trouble getting me to read even a free book about a big heist. What strongly appeals to one true crime fan is  snubbed by the next.

This study also does not attempt to explain the popularity of Snapped or the enduring fascination with such anti-heroines as Belle Gunness or Lizzie Borden.

Bottom line: True crime is older than some experts think and it's too big for generalizations.

True crime on ebay

On ebay you can navigate to Books -- Nonfiction -- True Crime. There are 4,600+ active listings at this moment on Ebay N.A. - and our friends in Australia have 1700 offerings on Ebay Australia. I'm thus distracted by curiosities I've never heard of before, and paperbacks sold in lots of 20! ....