Lee Harvey Oswald Archives - Ron Franscell

"SOURTOE COCKTAIL CLUB is a world-beater of a tale.” —Ivan Doig, celebrated author of 'This House of Sky'

Ivan Doig

“THE OBITUARY is a damn near perfect mystery!” —John Lescroart, NYTimes bestselling mystery author

John Lescroart

“Ron Franscell’s masterful storytelling strikes hard at the heart.” —Denver Post

Denver Post

“Ron Franscell’s ‘THE DARKEST NIGHT gets everything right …” —C.J. Box, NYTimes bestselling mystery author

C.J. Box

The San Francisco Chronicle listed ANGEL FIRE among its 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century West

San Francisco Chronicle

“Ron Franscell takes you there ... completely.” —Ann Rule

Ann Rule

“Ron Franscell spins one masterful tale after another…” —W.P. Kinsella, author of 'Shoeless Joe' (adapted as the Kevin Costner movie 'Field of Dreams')

W.P. Kinsella

“Franscell’s themes involve a fresh approach to our rural roots as a font for the elusive American spirit." —USA Today

USA Today

"SHADOWMAN is a thrill ride ..." —Legendary FBI profiler John Douglas

John Douglas

“If any modern crime writer should bear the mantel of the late, great Jack Olsen it is Ron Franscell... nobody does it better." —Dr. Vincent DiMaio, renowned medical examiner

Vince DiMaio

“In my view, Ron Franscell is one of the very finest and most exciting true-crime writers in America." —Vincent Bugliosi, Manson prosecutor and author of 'Helter Skelter'

Vincent Bugliosi

“Ron Franscell has always been in the upper echelon of true-crime authors." —Gregg Olsen, #1 NYTimes bestselling true-crime author

Gregg Olsen

"[SHADOWMAN] has the ghostly unease of a nightmare." —Michael Cannell, author of 'Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber and the Invention of Criminal Profiling'

Michael Cannell

“One of the finest true-crime writers I’ve ever read." —Craig Johnson, NYTimes bestselling author of the Walt Longmire Mysteries

Craig Johnson

"[Ron Franscell] reminds the rest of us who write in this genre how it ought to be done.” —Jeff Guinn, #1 NYTimes bestselling author of 'Manson' and 'The Road to Jonestown'

Jeff Guinn

by Ron Franscell

Digging up Lee Harvey Oswald

Sixty years ago today, JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was gunned down by Jack Ruby in Dallas. Here’s an excerpt from my Edgar-nominated true crime MORGUE: A LIFE IN DEATH, which […]

by Ron Franscell

10 Photos of Dead Criminals (with a Charlie Manson bonus)

Back in the 19th century, when photography was young, post-mortem images of dead loved ones was fashionable as a way to remember the deceased. But it also became a way […]

by Ron Franscell

10 Texas Crime Facts You Didn’t Know

Texas is so big that its long history of crime—from outlaw days to today—is damn near impossible to know completely. The hard part of compiling a list of 10 obscure […]

by Ron Franscell

The flags of our killers

In the last couple football seasons, Americans have exhausted a lot of very personal energy arguing about our flag. What it stands for. Whether it’s bigger than us. What respect […]

by Ron Franscell

Waxing Brazilian … a new edition

Ponder the enigma of a writer who can’t read the words he’s strung together. No, I’m not having a stroke. I simply cannot speak, read, or write Portuguese. And that’s […]

by Ron Franscell

16 Pages of Shocking Photos! (Did you peek?)

WARNING: Some morgue and crime-scene photos appear in this essay. Funny story. Not long ago, I was telling a fascinating little yarn about the autopsy of a deranged killer whose […]

by Ron Franscell

Morgue: A Life in Death

2017 EDGAR nominee! Now in US paperback from Picador and and various foreign languages around the world. Forensic science is booming. TV dramas, books and movies have made morgues cool. […]

by Ron Franscell

Outlaw Texas

Winner of 2010 EDITOR’S CHOICE AWARD TrueCrimeBookReviews.com Texas rightfully claims a celebrated place in the “wildest” West of both myth and reality, but nobody has ever written a travel guide […]