The day I planted Dermot Healy’s potatoes
The potato patch behind Dermot Healy’s stone cottage wasn’t much bigger than a parking space, but the Irish winter had left it dog-eared and bedraggled. “The first thing,” Dermot said as […]
Read More…Author: Ron Franscell
52 years ago this week, a different terrorist unleashed himself on New Orleans
This was excerpted from Ron Franscell’s DELIVERED FROM EVIL, a book that explores the lives of 10 ordinary people who survived mass killers. One of those monsters was a racist […]
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A new year already? But …
Ready or not, a new year is about to begin, even though it doesn’t seem like that long ago when the “old” year started. An amateur philosopher friend of mine has […]
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In defense of Ebenezer Scrooge
I originally wrote this essay as a newspaper column in 1995. It appears here today with a few minor but festive updates because, well, Scrooge is timeless. No businessman in […]
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The Ladder Guy
My son Matt visited over Thanksgiving. He helped me with some little household repairs and improvements that were beyond my skills and reach, then helped us put up our Christmas […]
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The Blessing Jar
“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” —SATCHEL PAIGE I lived a hundred lives last year. The curious wanderer, the angry plumber, the heartbroken son who refused to […]
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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 […]
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We’ll always have mass murder
This essay was originally written just two days after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in 2012. Last night’s tragic shooting in Lewiston, Maine, makes me want to re-run it, as […]
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Miracle on County Road 34
The end of the year always inspires me to put things in order. Last night, I was rearranging the scattered piles of books and papers in my office when I […]
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5 Yuletide Crimes: Death doesn’t take a holiday
The song says it’s the most wonderful time of the year—but it has historically been a lot less wonderful for some. Crime doesn’t take a holiday. In fact, evil celebrates […]
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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
This boy died far away for a country that wasn’t his
A few years ago, I was contacted by the friend of a friend of a friend. He had a strange request: Could you help this French guy find the descendants […]
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How many serial killers are out there? You’ll never leave home again
One of the world’s most celebrated forensic psychologists called this morning, just to chat. It was a casual conversation. Richard and I talked about the weather, his latest case, Scotch […]
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Everything I need to know, I learned in Little League
Essayist Robert Fulghum once surmised that everything he ever needed to know he learned in kindergarten, but I was a slow learner. Maybe Little League was just the beginning of […]
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How many murder victims can you name? Go …
Because you’re here right now, it’s safe to assume you’re fairly conversant in matters of mass- and serial-killing. You know your Mansons from your Bundys, right? Well, it’s Monday and […]
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How many times can one life change?
SHADOWMAN cover revealed!
10 Los Angeles Crime Facts You Didn’t Know
The darker side of a city built on dreams and illusions is sometimes obscured, sometimes elevated to mythic proportions. In a place where the words Manson, Night Stalker, and Black […]
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What if Huck Finn had helicopter parents?
Summer is over and you know what that means, right? No, not the start of school! It’s time for helicopter parents to lift off. Thanks to technology, these moms and […]
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5 Book Terms That Can Make You Sound Brilliant (or Stupid)
I’ve been astonished at the number of people who have expressed some trepidation about communicating with an author out of fear they’ll misuse a word (or never send fan letters […]
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Is true crime dead … or just choking on its own blood?
For many years, acquisition editors in New York have justified their rejections of true-crime manuscripts by saying, “Sorry, but true crime is on life support”—mostly as a way of letting […]
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What crime writers do I read? Here’s one
It’s one of the most common questions I get from a roomful of readers: Who’s your favorite author? Fact is, I don’t have just one. And they’re all over the […]
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All writers and readers share one profound thing
Our most profound ideas are often very simple. This one was delivered unto me by a humble, small-town Texas bookseller and scribbler as we sat among his stacks and stacks […]
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Place matters
For writers who grew up in the West the landscape is unconsciously woven into our storytelling. It’s natural because that’s what we know. And it’s the thing that makes our […]
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