CLEWS Your Home for Historic True Crime

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.

Books and links

Gold Medal Killer (Marquette Books) by Diana Britt Franklin is a recommended story, a fast and fascinating case study.

The murderer at issue is Ohio State University Professor James Snook. He distinguishes himself in the pantheon of mistress-killers by boasting an Olympic gold medal. He is the only recipient of same to be executed for murder.

Professor Snook is a classic character, the lecherous professor. As his own Dean would later say of him, he was "a delinquent who for many years had carried the title of full professor in a great university. Under the academic cloak, he carried on affairs so secretly and skillfully that not even his most intimate associates discovered them...." (Read: psychopath.)

The exceptionally brutal manner in which he killed his last young mistress is shocking even to the jaded 21st-century student of crime. No less scandalous is the admitted killer's testimony on the witness stand that in a phrase could be called the "rough sex defense." In other words, the killer himself used his testimony to savage his victim's reputation.

Needless to say this case in its day sold some newspapers and inspired some impressive allocution from the trial lawyers.

Author Franklin very much impressed me with her award-winning book The Good-Bye Door about Anna Marie Hahn, which also so happens to be the all-time best-selling book on this site. Kudos to the author for finding another fascinating story from the annals of Buckeye history.

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And some links recommended by our fellow aficionados of true crime ....

An interesting review of Monster by Allan Hall

Top 5 True Crime Reality Shows

links in the theme

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.
--Emerson

I once felt bad about the size of the pile of books on my nightstand, but now I am reconciled and take comfort in the fact that I will never run out of good true crime books to read and review. When I die, I'll have a half-dozen sitting there. In the good long meantime...at least I'll never have to resort to reading the fiction books that Simon & Schuster keeps sending me over my protest. Up next are new true murder stories by Diana Britt Franklin and Harold Schechter. Here are more recommended books and links.

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One of the best essays I've ever read about psychopaths, I had to have a hard copy of this article by Ian Mulgrew for the Vancouver Sun... Multiple murderer Kembo joins the ranks of bloodthirsty psychopaths who repel but fascinate

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Amanda Knox: Seattle author talks about 'Murder in Italy' (on Candace Dempsey's book)

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The Daily Beast comes up with the Best True Crime Books

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I think the best term for this review is back-handed.

'Presumed Dead,' by Henry K. Lee (reviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle)

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Convicted milk-shake murderer Nancy Kissel to be Retried - TIME

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Book by journalism professor traces birth of forensic science in Jazz Age New York

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'Flawless' - A Chronicle of a Diamond Heist - Boston Globe   

Celebrating One Million Hits

Last week this website celebrated a milestone with 1,000,000 hits. Some of the searches that rolled the odometer are perennial favorites --

Caril Fugate

Martha Beck

Lizzie Borden

Alice de Janze

The Lawson Family Tragedy

Deadwood history

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

Favorite links in the theme

The favorite submissions of true crime writers and readers....

TIME Magazine on Phil Spector: Phil Spector and the New Film About His Lovin' Feelin'

Ask lovers of true-crime sensation who Phil Spector is, and they'll say he's the dotty old recluse who killed actress Lana Clarkson...

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From the Philadelphia Enquirer: Chandra Levy: True-crime tale

...two Washington Post reporters who fingered Guandique as the killer in a 2008 series have written Finding Chandra, an adroit true-crime narrative ...

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From an Examiner: Murder at Yale: Controversial new book chronicles Connecticut crime  

A veteran true crime author, Sands has refuted those assertions, stating that she felt the story was compelling and worthy of reaching a wider audience. ...

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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....

 

Grace Humiston, Lady Detective, Rescued from Obscurity

CLEWS featured a bit of the story of an extraordinary female attorney in New York by the name of Grace Humiston in How the Feminine Sherlock Holmes Solved the Disappearance of Ruth Cruger. Now I am advised that a new book will feature more of her story. I received this lovely note from the author announcing a tale with Grace Humiston in a prominent role. I had never heard of the Stielow case before but it certainly sounds as though it, too, deserves to be rescued from obscurity.

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Dear Ms. James:

I remember some time ago you were bemoaning the lack of any authoritative details on the life of Grace Humiston. Thought you might like to know that my new book SLAUGHTER ON A SNOWY MORN: A Tale of Murder, Corruption and the Death Penalty Case that Revolutionized the American Courtroom (Icon Books; Amazon) helps to set the record straight.

It tells the harrowing story of Charles Stielow, an upstate New York farmhand who, in 1915, was condemned to Sing Sing's death row for a double murder that he didn't commit. He was a victim of phony expert witnesses, crooked investigators and a brutal third degree interrogation that produced an alleged confession. Stielow had four dates with the chair, once coming within 40 minutes of being executed before a stay was phoned through to the prison. Stielow's plight sparked considerable controversy and Grace Humiston was asked to investigate. Going undercover, Grace set out to find the evidence that might save Stielow.

What she and others unearthed was shocking. Ultimately their efforts provoked a gubernatorial inquiry into the case, one that resulted in Stielow being pardoned and led directly to the establishment of modern ballistics analysis. Grace Humiston's pivotal role in this landmark case if fully examined, as are details of her extraordinarily colorful life. She really was a remarkable woman. The book is being published on July 15, 2010.

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CLEWS gives its best wishes to author Colin Evans for his especially good taste in subjects.

Best links in the theme

Neglect your blog for a few weeks and people think you're dead. Sheesh.

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New on the shelf: Satan's Playground

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Oregonian Reporter Fired After Diane Downs Story Appears in Glamour

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Philip Carlo's Air Brush With Death

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Ann Rule's Diane Downs Sequel: The Daughter

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Who's stalking whom? Biographer Joe McGinniss feeds the fire of Palin feud

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Amazing what some people will do for their dissertation....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/27/bradford-murders-man-charged

(from E.J.)

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Perdue signs ban on graphic crime pictures

http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/052210/new_642624391.shtml

 

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Mistrial declared in Ryan Widmer bathtub murder case

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100601/NEWS010702/306010056/Widmer-jury-resumes

A New Borowitz Book

One of my very favorite authors, honored true crime historian, essayist, collector, philosopher, and retired trial lawyer Albert Borowitz, has penned a book that explores the intersection of music and murder. It is of course from Kent State University Press. The book is Musical Mysteries: From Mozart to John Lennon. I'm sure already that as a read it's meticulous and...um... fun.

 

Borowitz's Blood and Ink: An International Guide to Fact-Based Crime Literature (Kent State University Press, 2002) is the best book ever written on its subject.

Before H.H. Holmes, there was... Harry Hayward

A recent article in the Minnesota Monthly brushed the dust off the story of a little-known serial killer who is believed by the author, Jack El-Hai, to be the earliest identifiable American serial killer.

For an excerpt, check out The Killer Who Haunts Me.

Best Links in The Theme

DNA clears Cleveland man imprisoned since 1981

Photos; Not Bitter ;    From student paper   ; From the Times Online

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Cullen's Columbine takes the top prize  

 Edgar winners 2010 

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 Ann Rule`s "Small Sacrifices" and the Golden Age of True Crime

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Ohio Prisoner turned Prison Historian

By Joe Blundo of the Columbus Dispatch

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Bonnie & Clyde's Joplin hangout is available for rent...

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The CSI Effect: How TV Influences True Crime

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Dr. Zeo Zoe Wilkins made headlines in the Emporia Gazette.  

Sordid True Crime Story Connected to Jesse James

A Postcard from Braintree

So I received a fascinating note from author James D. Livingston (who, when not professoring at MIT, writes true crime stories and soon-to-be published Arsenic and Clam Chowder: Murder in Gilded A ge  New York, which comes out in July) who writes of Sacco and Vanzetti and Amy Bishop.

(By  James   Livingston)

      It is my luck to live in South Braintree, less than three miles from the site of the 1920 robbery/murder for which Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in 1927. Considering the historical importance of this case, I had always been a bit surprised there was no historical marker at the site, but Braintree officials had apparently felt this was not something the town should be proud of.

One local historian had been arguing with them for over 20 years, and yesterday, on the 90th anniversary of the crime, he finally got his way. A small monument was erected, not to Sacco and Vanzetti, but in memory of the two murder victims. There was also a panel discussion of the case at the town hall last night, and an exhibit has been assembled. It includes, among many other things, the steel cage in which S & V sat during their trial and their death masks. In the panel discussion and the long Q&A following, all the experts seemed to agree that S&V did not receive a fair trial, and were probably convicted more for being gun-toting anarchists than for any clear evidence linking them to the Braintree crime.

In 1977, on the 50th anniversary of the executions, Governor Mike Dukakis issued a formal proclamation that they were unjustly convicted (but was criticized for not reaching out to the families of the victims, which Braintree has now done). The issue of whodunit still remains unclear, as it often does in cases of true crime.

Since this case of historical true crime is as least as famous as those of Lizzie Borden and Jack the Ripper, I thought you might be interested that Braintree is finally coming to grips with some of the darker aspects of its history. Today it is in the news again as the town in which Amy Bishop, the professor who recently shot and killed several of her colleagues at the University of Alabama, shot and killed her brother back in 1986. It was ruled accidental at the time, but the case is now being re-examined as a result of the Alabama shootings.

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