The entangled histories of 'In Cold Blood' and narrative journalism

Lecture: 9:30am to 11am on Feb. 20
Book-signing immediately afterward
Casper College (WY) Humanities Festival
Music Building’s Wheeler Hall
Admission is free

Ron Franscell, who has been called one of the exciting voices in narrative nonfiction by some heavyweight authors like Ann Rule and Vincent Bugliosi, will deliver a lecture about how his particular style of crime journalism has roots in Truman Capote’s classic true crime, “In Cold Blood.”

Ron at grave of the Clutter family in Kansas, during research for his bestselling “The Darkest Night”

What happens when a writer tells an utterly true story using devices from the fiction-writer’s toolbox? It’s a technique pioneered in the first modern true crime, a “nonfiction novel” called “In Cold Blood.” An Edgar nominated crime writer—and Wyoming native—explores the entangled histories of true-crime books and literary nonfiction, up to and including his own narrative writing as a Denver Post journalist and author of two bestselling, true accounts about wicked Wyoming crimes.”  2020 Casper College Humanities Festival program

Ron’s lecture will be part of the three-day (Feb. 18-21) academic symposium, “Mystery, Mayhem, and Madness,” exploring those themes in literature, fine arts, anthropology, music, and social sciences.

Ron will sign copies of his books “The Darkest Night,” “Alice & Gerald: A Homicidal Love Story,” and others immediately after his lecture; books will be available at the event. He’ll also participate in a Casper College book club gathering at the campus’s Goodstein Library at Noon on Thursday, Feb. 19. Their book will be his 2019 true crime, “Alice & Gerald.”