Archive for the 'True Crime' Category



I Wish True-Crime Books Were Written Better

Published on January 23, 2009

Those plump little mass-market books about actual murders comprise the bulk of the true-crime genre. For every gorgeously written nonfiction account of homicide — every In Cold Blood, as it were — you’ll find a thousand of the more pedestrian kind whose covers usually shout “Illustrated with shocking photographs,” churned out monthly by St. Martin’s [...]


THE OFFICER’S WIFE, by Michael Fleeman
(St. Martin’s, $6.99; release date June 27, 2006)

Published on May 11, 2006

True-crime fans are a separate subculture. Yes, we read other kinds of books too, but a guilty incomparable I-know-what’s-coming thrill springs from these quickie page-turners that follow certain conventions: each covers a fairly recent American crime of passion in extreme detail, usually starting with a graphic description of the crime scene and then delving way, [...]