CLEWS Your Home for Historic True Crime

Author links and Dillinger

True Crime author interviews are now being posted at CBS’s 48 Hours Mystery website. The first author exchange is with Sandra Harmon, author of Mafia Son. (The press release for the book is here.)

Meanwhile Diane Fanning answered a lot of reader questions recently about her forthcoming Caylee Anthony book on True Crime Book Reviews. 

Dillinger Film; Festival in St. Paul – The film bio of John Dillinger is attracting incredible attention. Last week I found myself in Chicago, where every fourth taxicab had Johnny Depp’s picture on it.

Kurt Loder of MTV took the long view of the film. One of the most interesting reviews of the film I’ve seen so far was penned by a Ben Flanagan of the Tuscaloosa News, who writes: “Fight your urge to visit Wikipedia this week to find out the fate of infamous gangster John Dillinger. Unless you already knew the bits and pieces of his troubled but engrossing story by reading a book or watching an A&E special, Michael Mann’s newest film chronicling the former public enemy might do a real number on you….”

I wish I was a bit closer to the action this month. An historic courthouse in St. Paul, MN will be the scene of several events from July 10 to 28, 2009, coinciding with the release of the movie Public Enemies.

The Public Enemies Festival will feature author lectures, exhibits, and a reenactment of the trial of Dillinger’s girlfriend, Evelyn Frechette. Events are free but space is limited so RSVP to Kate Thompson, kthompson@landmarkcenter.org.

Friday, July 10 – Author Lecture – Bryan Burrough, Public Enemies, Courtroom 317, noon

Saaturday, July 11 – “Public Enemies: A Retrospective” Exhibit & Memorabilia Evaluation, 10 am - 4 pm, Courtroom 326

Wednesday, July 15 and Thursday July 16 - Trial Reenactment of John Dillinger’s Moll, Evelyn “Billie” Frechette, 7 pm, F.K. Weyerhaeuser Auditorium

Tuesday, July 28 -Joint Author Lecture on Gangland History: Paul Maccabee and Ellen Poulson Courtroom 317, 7 pm – 9 pm

Zeo Zoe, back in the headlines again

Dr. Wilkins made headlines in the Kansas City Star for years as that publication followed her wild marital shenanigans. Eighty years after her murder, she's made headlines in the Star again in a nice writeup on my book by Conger Beasley Jr  (who I am told is "no slouch").

Meanwhile, Booklist blessed it with a star, and author Robert Waters was also kind enough to give it a nod.

I'll be in Kansas City on July 15 at the Plaza Branch library, where I'll speak at 6:30 "On Gold Diggers, True Crime, Librarians, and Jesse James."

Thoughtful journalism on forensic science (and celebrating 800,000 hits)

The Miller-McCune Center for Research, Media and Public Policy is funding investigative journalism. Well, hurrah for them! It used to be that news organizations performed this critical role, but even with 24 hours a day to work with, they've abdicated their responsibilities.

Some of the in-depth reporting that this think tank has done is in themes of interest to the likes of us. A few recent reports: 

Keystone Cops at the Police Lab: Compromised crime laboratories are a national scandal that can't be set straight until the labs are independent of law enforcement.

As a Detroiter, I found this report absorbing. The crime lab here was shut down, the county prosecutor remarking that if the public knew what was going on there, we would be outraged....

Why Fewer Murder Cases Get Solved These Days: A new study by three FBI officials suggests that cooperation — whether by witnesses or even other departments — is the key to closing more murder cases; by Lewis Beale.

Re-Mapping Forensic Sciences Future: A critical report from the National Academy of Sciences calls for national standards in forensics science, validation of new technology and crime lab ethics; by Sue Russell.

Bias and the Big Fingerprint Dust-Up: Cognitive neuroscientist Itiel Dror finds that analysis of fingerprint data by human examiners can be ruined by unintentional bias. But he offers some relatively simple fixes that can improve the odds of reliable results.

And a CLEWS milestone, this site has rolled 800,000 hits.

The art above is the cover of True Crime True North: The Golden Age of Canadian Pulp Magazines.

Favorite links in the theme

Marcia Clark on Small Towns The famous OJ prosecutor wrote an essay for the Daily Beast: Why Child Killers Love Small Towns. It made me wonder where she grew up.

Green River Comic?? From Publishers Weekly: Entertainment Weekly reporter pens graphic novel on the Green River Killer. And more on that comic.

The Anglo Addict I love the theme of this site offering thoughts on the best in British true crime.

Do Not Fictionalize, Part XXIX I guess we can add another critic to the list of those who don't like it when authors thinly fictionalize true crime cases.  Notes a recent review of a fiction title based on a true story: "[The author] calls the book a novel, but it’s puzzling why she made the decision to write a fiction account. If anyone went to the trouble to write a narrative of the murders, why not make it a true-crime book?"

Fatty Arbuckle Redux  A Hollywood man, a pretty actress, a mysterious homicide- long before there was Phil Spector, there was Fatty Arbuckle. No author has touched the case in nearly two decades. But that may soon change. Joan Myers, who has written a fascinating essay about the case, is working on a new look at the Arbuckle affair. She has researched it for years, discovering along the way that some of the previous books about the case are laden with errors and nonsense. The real story, she says, is much more interesting.

Drew Peterson Book Carlton Smith is the author writing a Drew Peterson book per Publisher's Lunch (subscription required).

A visit to Kearney, MO

These are  photos from my recent visit to the James Farm in Kearney, Missouri, where I signed copies of my book The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son and also enjoyed a day's worth of activities as part of the annual reunion of the Friends of the James Farm.

The James Farm as it appears today.

The left end of the house is original, the rest a very late addition.

 

At the New Hope Baptist Church with "Revered Robert James," a/k/a Pastor Russell Hyatt of Woodland Baptist Church in Liberty, MO. If my local pastors were as enjoyable as he, my shadow would cross a church threshold much more often.

 

Based on a true story, this pair of storytellers conjure Cole Younger and Frank James in their "Wild West" show. They proved it was possible to entertain a crowd with talk about your outlaw days when you can't actually admit to being an outlaw.

With author and bookseller Harold Dellinger at the James Farm museum.

Christie Kennard & the John Newman Edwards Award.

More pictures from the reunion

Genre news

The genre abounds with summertime fare, including two new books in the theme that both so happen to be Michigan stories. Both are books I think we'll be hearing about. . . .

Seventeen-year-old Robin Adams vanished in 1976. It took the better part of a decade to find her.

A new book about a bizarre and complicated murder case that was eventually solved is earning rave reviews. It sounds particularly interesting to me because the story comes from Caro, Michigan, in the "Thumb" of Michigan, where I was born and raised and where my family has lived since the 19th century.

And, okay, maybe the place has some... quirks. As the author said in a recent interview, “We don’t run out of bizarres here.”

Murder in the Thumb[Amazon; B&N] is by Richard W. Carson, who has the journalism bona fides to recognize an unusual story when he hears one and to tell it well.

The author is a former editorial page editor for the Columbus Dispatch and editor at the Huron Daily Tribune.  And he selected this story, of all the ones he must have heard and worked in a newsroom, as the most book-worthy. That's something.

I think I'll be hearing more about this book, as I've gotten note about it from several people who recommended it.

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I am glad that the University of Michigan press put its impratur on a new book about the Bath school massacre. I know a few dozen journalists who ought to bone up on their history with this title, the ones who failed to reference this crime when covering more recent examples of school violence. School massacres have so often been erroneously declared the "first" or "worst" by journalists who are not familar with the disaster that took place at Bath, Michigan.

It's the true but nearly forgotten story of a madman who killed 45 people -- most of them children -- with a bomb. He blew up the school. There is a lot of bad information about the case out there (Wikipedia is one place to find it), so I hope this new book sets the record straight.

Arnie Bernstein is the author of Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing [Amazon; B&N], and he has a website for the book (and a Facebook page - which I hesitate to link to - is everyone on Facebook? Do I have to learn a new interface? Sigh.)

 

Saturday at the James Farm

On Saturday, June 13, 2009, I'll be at the James Farm in Kearney, Missouri to talk about my modest contribution to the literature of the family whose principals need no introduction.

At 9 a.m., I'll talk about how I found the story of Dr. Zeo Zoe Wilkins and Jesse James Jr., sign books, and present my research for donation. The boxes of materials I collected to write The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son will go to the Milton F. Perry Library there at the James Farm (now owned by Clay County).

There is an entire day of events planned for Saturday as it's the annual reunion of the Friends of the James Farm. On the intinerary, besides my book from 9 to 11, are:

11:30 Memorial Ceremony

12 noon The "Jesse James Was My Neighbor" Tour of historic sites connected to the family, with lunch at the New Hope Church

4:00 Annual Friends Meeting

5:00 Writers Contest and Awards

6:00 Banquet

7:00 The Cole Younger & Frank James Wild West Show

At some point in the day I'm hoping to steal over to the Trysting Place, 2425 Park Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri, and sashay through the lobby of the Muehlebach Hotel. Whether I get around to these side trips or not, Saturday promises quite an extravaganza for students of the James Gang, and I'm looking forward to a day of interesting conversations.  I'll try to remember to take plenty of photos to share.

Favorite recent links

Some interesting links in the theme, in no particular order.... I'll spare you the Detroit is Dying links this week.

Wall Street Journal on true crime blogs

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203771904574173874199242710.html

A nice mention of mine, Women in Crime Ink, and Steve Huff's True Crime Report.

Vessels of Rage: The Secret History of Alcoholism http://www.jamesgraham.bz/alcoholism.html

John Waters Does Not Collect Serial Killer Art. (He got it for Christmas) http://www.fairfieldweekly.com/article.cfm?aid=12927 Bless his heart, did we ever think he did? And will he ever do any more true crime stuff?

Film revives interest in fascinating female killer http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/mar/30/books/chi-ap-wi-killerprostitute  From the Chicago Tribune: a new film about Barbara Hoffman, who might remind you of Kristin Rossum

‘LaBarre Murders’ examines a grisly history in New Hampshire http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090329/BOOKS/303299982  An interview with journalist and author Kevin Flynn. This book is already on my Get list.

Dysfunctional lives and their outcome http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/mar/29/dysfunctional-lives-and-their-outcome/entertainment/ An interesting review of the book Bluegrass: A True Story of Murder in Kentucky by William Van Meter.

AAA members get a 15 percent discount at Barnes & Noble http://www.autoclubgroup.com/michigan/savings/partner_results.asp?vendorID=3985&zip=48034

New book news and links

So I knew my boys were spending too much time on my computer when my three-year-old pointed out the Desktop shortcut he made to his favorite Nick Jr. game -- well, that, and I'm three weeks behind on my book deals & news emails!

An amazing number of true crime titles debut this summer, and I'll be posting details here throughout the coming weeks.... Many of my favorite true crime books have beach sand between the pages, too.

Here are some links in the meantime....

Michigan crime historian Mardi Link, whose first true crime book, When Evil Came to Good Hart [see the CLEWS review], has already had more than one print run, has begun a blog (while working on her second book). On her site, Rusty Gun, she "explores cold cases, cockamamie theories, and chicanery." My favorite post so far: The best opening sentences in the true crime genre.

I'm currently reading War of Words by Simon Read, which is a history of the San Francisco Chronicle. Before you think that's dry, the book begins its look at boom-days journalism with a shooting and a hanging, and it recently won the Grand Prize at the inaugural San Francisco Book Festival.

Jack the Ripper - solved again? Why, he was an invention of the tabloid press, per the tabloid press! 

Belle Gunness, the movie? That's the word.

DNA matters - except when it doesn't?

Expanding on a bit I wrote here a while ago, I posted an essay today at Women in Crime Ink questioning some cases in which DNA should have exonerated several people -- but the opposite happened.

It's never easy - if it's even possible - for  commentators to reach strong conclusions on a particular criminal case if they didn't see the trial (or at least read the transcript). But some cases are so cut-and-dry, thanks to DNA, that they can. Even from afar, the conviction of Juan Rivera for the murder of Holly Staker is troubling, and unfortunately it symbolizes a class of cases that undermine our trust in the system. 

Busy authors, many links

True crime author Aphrodite Jones kinda disappeared for a while, but she's to get her own series on Investigation Discovery.

Jeff Kaye, a former police sergeant from Reno, pulls no punches in his first true crime book. Beware of the Cable Guy: From Cop to Serial Killer involves the case of serial killer David Middleton - and the author does not spare his brothers in blue as he explained in a recent interview.

Bonnie and Clyde redux: Jeff Guinn, a journalist from Fort Worth, wrote Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde and earned a nice review in the Dallas Morning News.

True crime author Tom Basinski had a chance to talk about his latest book, Cross Country Evil, with a local station.

Ann Rule's book Too Late to Say Goodbye is coming to the small screen, to star Rob Lowe as Bobby Corbin. Meanwhile, a new author explains why"I So Admire Ann Rule!"

Seventeen Magazine issued a true crime compendium for its readers, proving that we do indeed get hooked on this stuff at an early age.

A CNN producer thinks that having bloggers attend murder trials is "actually good for our justice system." I think so too, but I don't think it matters in the end. No amount of press or blog coverage seems to have had any impact on a series of scientifically indefensible murder cases in Illinois, as I'm posting about later today at Women in Crime Ink.

10% off B&N and a review of Father of the Year

10% off coupon If any of the books mentioned here are too appealing to resist, and if you order them from Barnes & Noble, here's a 10% off code that gives you a discount on one item. Barnes & Noble gave me permission to share the coupon code: N3K4N8W. It expires soon; details are here.

A Review of 'Father of the Year'

The city of Las Vegas thought so highly of resident Bill Rundle that, at one point, he was actually named Father of the Year. The irony was not lost on the women in his life. One by one, he treated them to abuse and abandonment, and before he was done, he managed to be charged for a couple of deaths.

A new book out from Berkley about the Rundle case, Father of the Year [Amazon; B&N], contains an extraordinary level of detail because the Father of the Year eventually gave a confession - partly, anyway.

As the author describes the defendant:

Bill Rundle was a mean, coldhearted son of a bitch by the age of twenty-nine, and the tragedy of his life so far was that it hadn't had to be this way. Unlike a lot of criminals, Rundle had been given a pretty great shot at succeeding in life. He'd been born into a loving family, and showered with affection and care. [His parents] had tried to groom him for college and gave him every opportunity to succeed in North Hollywood. But Rundle preferred lying and gambling and chasing girls and drinking....

This book had me thinking again of the criminology theories developed by Cotton Mather, strange as that may sound. Harold Schechter's True Crime: An American Anthology included some of the Puritan minister's gallows sermons.  Mather also made careful note of the lamentations of condemned men and women as they went to the gallows. Of one doomed criminal, Mather noted,

And one of them, said, That his Disobedience to his Parents, had brought this misery upon him. His Father, he said, gave him Good Instructions, when he was a Child; but he Regarded them not. He would not go to a School, when his Father would have sent him to it. He would not go to a Trade, when his Father would have put him to one. After his Father was Dead, he would not be Subject unto them that had the Charge of him; he ran away from Them; and after that, he ran away from several Masters. Thus he Ran into the Jaws of Death.

And back to our modern example. Given the fact that Bill Rundle admitted being a chronic liar, a cheater, a leech, a self-confessed specialist in "flim-flam" who started early by fudging his school report cards, faking his entire college career for his unsuspecting parents, doing "a little collecting" for the mob, doling out "brutal" treatment to the many women in his life, and confessed in detail to what he did to his last wife, one has to marvel that, after all that, he stopped short.

Though the book does not solve every riddle presented by this man, it certainly held my attention for the day-and-a-half it took me to devour it. The author is Glenn Puit, a journalist who found several marvels in the criminal courts of Vegas before moving recently to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This is his third book, and a fourth is coming out in the fall. I was particularly impressed by the first strange tale he told [see the CLEWS Q&A with the author], while at the same time I half-hope he finds the U.P. a tad less exciting a place for a true crime writer with a knack for finding such unusual stories.

Big book giveaway winners

So five CLEWS readers have won a free copy of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher in the first CLEWS book giveaway, to be mailed to them by the publisher.

To enter the drawing, each was asked to submit the name of their favorite-ever true crime title. I put all the names in a hat and drew five. The winners, and their answers, are below. If you see your name here, your address has been sent to the publisher and you should get your book in the mail in due course. If you don't see your name, I'll keep your entry for the next book giveaway!

And the winning entries are....

W.H. (anonymous): "My favorites include In Cold Blood, Serpentine, and Blood Will Tell.  Right now, The Devil in the White City is my favorite because I now live in Hyde Park, Chicago;  and when I am not obsessed about if Obama is planning on disrupting my weekend with the extra security, I tour White City and Leopold and Loeb sites."

Candi Smith: "My vote is for Lizzie Borden, Arnold R. Brown, 1992, Dell. Although reviewers say 'the author massaged' Lizzie's testimony, the fact of her axe-wielding, mentally retarded half-brother just can't be swept under the rug that easily.  Having read most everything out there about Lizzie, this is the only explanation that satisfies my reason, my logic and my gut."

Graham Trott: "The Killing Of Julia Wallace by Jonathan Goodman. This ground-breaking investigation by the British master is a consummate exposition of the ultimate (spousal?) murder and crime conundrum."

Venice Miller: " Of the hundreds of true crime books I have ever read, my favorite is Predator by Jack Olsen. This book reads like a novel, but is even better because it's true, as catastrophic a story as it is. The way Jack Olsen wrote it makes me feel like I know the characters in the book on a personal basis. He so engrossed me with the story of this rapist's life that I feel I at least have an inkling of why he might have committed his crimes. I was so enthralled by the story, I didn't want it to end."

Dave Elkin: "It was tough but Fatal Vision comes in second but I still give the nod to Helter Skelter. I picked the latter due to the fact that the book was very well researched and brought to you the horror of the act, and though Manson was certainly the man in charge, he never actually killed anybody. He still should have gotten the chair, but good old CA decided that the death penalty was cruel and unusual. I have also read a number of Ripper books, but one does not stand out in my mind. Helter Skelter won a 1975 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime book, which is a strong comment as well."

Links in the theme

McMurder is a website that documents every murder that has taken place at one of the restaurants since the 1940s. What an odd theme. It's very strange to me that people want to hold McDonald's accountable for crimes that take place in or near their restaurants. As a society we should be more worried about the menu.

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If you've ever found yourself wondering how on earth jurors can convict people of horrific crimes in the face of DNA evidence that is clearly exclupatory, you can look no further than here.

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ABC's 20/20 program is looking for interesting crime stories. (I suggested Father Robinson's case but was told that "we just did a DNA show.")

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A literature and culture professor's manifesto argues that we should read the books we want to read instead of forcing ourselves to improve our souls with the so-called classics. In her book The Solitary Vice: Against Reading, Mikita Brottman champions the virtues of the true crime genre while rolling her eyes at the "reading is indispensable" messages we've all had drilled into our heads since early childhood. There's more on this book in a thoughtful review by Joe Clark.

This I've got to read. As the spouse of a man who hasn't read anything but repair manuals in twenty years, and as someone who long ago discarded the Pulitzer Winner list as a guide to my local library (instead just heading straight for the true crime section), I think I'll appreciate her point that one does not have to be a voracious and eclectic reader to have a vibrant, interesting inner life.

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Literary blogger Cullen Gallagher, who appreciates old hard-boiled stories and cover art, came across the collected works of his favorite authors, Murder Plus, and wrote a nice tribute to the book. The stories are non-fiction crime pieces written for the old true crime magazines.

Ohio Innocence Project takes on Father Robinson's case

The Ohio Innocence Project has formally entered an appearance as co-counsel for Father Gerald Robinson. The appearance, filed on April 28, is expressly "For Issues Relating to DNA."

The Ohio Innocence Project, consisting of law faculty and students from the University of Cincinnati College of Law, includes  experts in DNA evidence -- specifically exculpatory DNA evidence in murder cases.

As one director of the program remarks, "We're not accepting these cases unless we really believe they [the defendants] are innocent."

And as the project's co-founder remarked, "“It’s our goal to never accept the word of a prosecutor, judge, or trial court."

I told them about the DNA evidence in Father Robinson's case a couple months ago. And they get it. They understand that when a male DNA profile is recovered from the bloody fingernail scrapings of a strangulation victim, that DNA evidence, if it doesn't match the man convicted of the crime, is in fact exculpatory.

A hearing is coming soon in his case. We can count on the prosecutor to oppose the Ohio Innocence Project's DNA testing requests. In a recent piece in the Toledo Blade, the prosecutor can be seen spluttering and saying nothing of the DNA evidence in the case except that he welcomes further review of the DNA and is confident that it does not exonerate Father Robinson.

We'll see about that.

Others are watching this case closely, including another who noticed that the Toledo Blade is quite partisan and does not tell both sides of the story. I'm not alone in thinking that numerous journalists and true crime authors have "a vested interest in Father Robinson never being found innocent."

What does it mean that the prosecutor "welcomes further review" of the DNA? Does this mean he will finally agree to run the DNA profile recovered from Sister Pahl's body and clothing through the FBI CODIS DNA database and compare it to Coral Watts and any other suspect in the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl? And if he is going to stipulate to the testing, I wonder how long it will be before we may have an answer.