Welcome to ronfranscell.com!

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

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

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

"[SHADOWMAN] has the ghostly unease of a nightmare—
as atmospheric and unnerving a story as you’ll ever read."
—Michael Cannell, author of 'Incendiary: The Psychiatrist,
the Mad Bomber and the Invention of Criminal Profiling'

“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'

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

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

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

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

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

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

"[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'

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

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

by Ron Franscell

Lost & Found: A WWI dogtag goes home after 104 years

This spring, a French metal-detecting buff found the artifact a young doughboy unintentionally left behind in a muddy camp on the Western Front

by Ron Franscell

A father, a son, and a river at the edge of the land

My father-son memoir The Sourtoe Cocktail Club, about our Yukon odyssey to the literal edge of the Earth to find a cocktail containing a mummified human toe, was published in 2011. It is a deep—and often funny—contemplation about whether I was still relevant to my teenage son after a divorce. On Father’s Day, eleven years later, it seems appropriate to contemplate it again.

by Ron Franscell

Something novel

Unable to go out into the world during Covid, I turned inward. How could I use what I’ve learned in decades of true storytelling and journalism? How can I still write a provocative book without leaving the safety of my home and imagination? The answers changed the arc of my writing.