“Meticulously researched guide book into the baddest of the bad
in LaLa Land. Franscell confirms what history has always known:
Los Angeles is the ‘Queen of Angels’ and the ‘King of Devils.’ Highly recommended!”
—STEVE HODEL, NYTimes bestselling author
of “Black Dahlia Avenger” and
former LAPD homicide detective
Los Angeles is where America’s dreams and nightmares got all tangled up. Sunny days dissolved into noir nights. In this otherworldly place of seemingly everlasting life, death could have an otherworldly quality, too. In a city where anything was possible, even the ghastly could happen. In a land where illusion and reality were inseparable, so are fake immortality and authentic death.
It’s all distilled to its purest form in Los Angeles. Where else does a list of a city’s top five most recognized citizens include a mass murderer? Where else are ordinary inhumanities turned to entertainment? Where else is the line between reality and fantasy so razor thin? This book takes you there.
Now you can stand in the footsteps of Manson, the Hillside Strangler, the Night Stalker, the Black Dahlia’s killer, and the Onion Field slayers. You can see the crime scenes where Hollywood’s weird history took fatal turns for O.J. Simpson, John Belushi, Ramon Novarro, Phil Hartman, Dorothy Stratten, Sal Mineo, and so many others. You can wander among the graves of victims, criminals, and great lawmen (and -women). It will point the way to the precise location of some of America’s deadliest made-for-TV crimes, like the 1974 SLA shootout and the Christopher Dorner manhunt. And you’ll read about cases you never knew existed but that sent out grim, ghostly ripples that have washed across decades.
New from WildBlue Press
Praise for CRIME BUFF’S GUIDES™
“It’s a breezy, guilty-pleasure read—perfect for summer vacations because you can put it down and pick it up without losing your place (but you won’t want to put it down). For those of us who seek true-crime stories, it’s a fascinating look at the dark side of [Arizona].” —Tucson (AZ) Sentinel
“Well researched … Armchair detectives will enjoy the entertaining tales, but the book’s purpose is to take the readers to the scene of the crime.” — Albuquerque (NM) Journal
“The ultimate guilty pleasure book.” —San Antonio (TX) Express-News
“There’s the brutal, the wacky, and the mysterious crimes solved and unsolved. … Outlaw Los Angeles is one of those books you can’t put down. Every page seems more interesting than the last, and when the reader finishes reading it, he wants to contact the author and ask for Outlaw Los Angeles II.” —KIDNAPPING, MURDER & MAYHEM
“Little-known details peppered throughout the book are what readers of true crime long for. Now, tourists and adventurers alike can also take this new brand of D.C. tour. Whatever their interests, they’re in for a real treat — and they’re bound to learn something new.” —Publishers Marketplace
“The Crime Buff’s Guide to The Outlaw Rockies is a fascinating and macabre tour of crime locations and criminal acts where the body count is as high as the altitude. Readers will be reminded that the Wild West was really wild — and that it still is. Ron Franscell is a thorough and unflinching guide. This book is hard to put down and voyeurs with GPS units should be both thrilled … and weirded out at times.” — C.J. BOX, New York Times bestselling author of COLD WIND and BACK OF BEYOND
“Ron Franscell knows where the bodies are buried!” — BUFFALO (WY) BULLETIN
“As a crime writer, Ron Franscell knows the feeling well … to understand a crime, you have to do more than just read about it in a book or hear about it in a history class. You have to go there.” — AURORA (CO) SENTINEL
“One of the best true crime writers going today, Ron Franscell has provided in OUTLAW ROCKIES a fascinating guide to help true crime buffs locate the crime scenes that made the Old Wild West wild, as well as those of the most notorious of modern day homicides. In a lengthy series of well-written ‘mini-stories’ that also provides the GPS coordinates and addresses, OUTLAW ROCKIES takes the adventurous reader on a historical tour from the haunts of Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch to the Denver home of a radio shock jock gunned down by white supremacists. I can imagine legions of true crime fans with Franscell’s book in hand standing in these places, contemplating in real life what the characters of history saw and experienced.” — STEVE JACKSON, bestselling author of MONSTER
“Truly original in style by combining short stories for crime lovers with a easy-to-follow travel guide, Ron Franscell’s [CRIME BUFF’S GUIDE] books just can’t be topped.” —TrueCrimeBookReviews.com
“A real life true crime scavenger hunt guide to take you on an adventure … perhaps of a lifetime.” —Readers Favorite