Ron Franscell, Author at Ron Franscell

Book clubs: 10 Questions about ‘Deaf Row’

Does your book club feature a lot of awkward silences? Is the deepest question, “Did you like it?” Tired of meetings that are more about the furniture than the book? […]

by Ron Franscell

Which is harder to write … true crime or crime fiction?

My true crimes like SHADOWMAN and THE DARKEST NIGHT are the product of old-school research and investigation. I’m an old-fashioned reporter who believes in first-hand, up-close sensory experiences that tell […]

by Ron Franscell

I’m gonna miss you, Elsie Mae

I never met Elsie Mae but I wish I had. I don’t know too much more than last week’s obituary tells me: She taught grade school for most of her […]

by Ron Franscell

Hollywood veteran Jim Meskimen breathes life into DEAF ROW

When you read a printed book, you might imagine the different characters’ motivation, feelings, and emotions. You might even envision funny little mannerisms. But when you listen to an audiobook, […]

by Ron Franscell

DEAF ROW

Sequel DEEP END coming in 2026! FINALIST in 2024 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards in Crime Fiction! Retired to a small Colorado mountain town, ex-Denver homicide detective Woodrow “Mountain” Bell yearns […]

by Ron Franscell

New book trailer for DEAF ROW!

Get a taste of the new thriller that suspense superstars Anne Hillerman, CJ Box, and John Lescroart are raving about! Then go pre-order DEAF ROW at your favorite bookstore and […]

by Ron Franscell

Philly’s ‘Boy in the Box’ finally gets a name after 65 years

On Feb. 25, 1957, a naked, emaciated boy between 4 and 6 years old was found dead in a cardboard box in a wooded area in northeast Philadelphia. He’d been […]

by Ron Franscell

‘Chilling’ new DEAF ROW cover unveiled!

A great book cover elicits an emotional response. And if it’s done well, a reader will feel the same while reading the book. In the case of the new cover […]

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.

by Ron Franscell

Beware of fast, easy answers about Uvalde’s tragedy

WHY is a natural and human question. I’m not a psychologist, I’m a journalist who has spent a career exploring what some evil, disturbed humans can do to fellow humans. […]

by Ron Franscell

Montana, Wyoming tour set for ‘ShadowMan’

In May, Ron will hit the road with “ShadowMan” on a book tour in Montana, the epicenter of the grim crimes recounted in this new bestseller. (There’ll be some stops […]

by Ron Franscell

So you wanna be a crime writer, eh? Forget these myths

You’ve been exposed to so much Hollywood crapola that I’m surprised you aren’t already on Ducky’s slab.

by Ron Franscell

Today’s the day! ‘ShadowMan’ is now in bookstores everywhere

The secret of my success as a writer is that I never pick a story I can screw up. “ShadowMan” struck me as such a story. To me, its power […]

by Ron Franscell

Patty Nieman narrates ‘ShadowMan’ audiobook

“I’m an actor by training and a lover of words by nature,” she says. “I want to build the bridge that travels from the author’s intent, through the text, to the reader’s imagination.

by Ron Franscell

SHADOWMAN: An Elusive Psycho Killer and the Birth of FBI Profiling

The entangled tales of a harrowing crime and the introduction of the FBI’s newest forensic tool: criminal profiling

by Ron Franscell

You’ve Got Mail: A letter that changed everything

Satchell Paige, the great baseball pitcher and philosopher-from-left field, once said, “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” I’ve never been sure what he meant. Do your best […]

by Ron Franscell

Pioneering criminal profiler Howard Teten (1932-2021)

Today, I received word of the passing of Howard Teten, the pioneering criminal profiler who plays a front-and center role in my upcoming true crime book, “ShadowMan: An Elusive Psycho […]

by Ron Franscell

Pre-order SHADOWMAN in bookstores everywhere

We know you have many choices for your reading pleasure … so you can pre-order Ron Franscell’s upcoming true crime at your favorite bookseller here.

by Ron Franscell

Missing White Woman Syndrome and the silence of minority advocates

The Gabby Petito case has stirred fascination, sympathy, and a hornet’s nest of unrest about “Missing White Woman Syndrome,” an accusation that racist white media prefers stories about pretty Caucasian […]

by Ron Franscell