Can you spot the killer?
Winston Mosely murdered New York bartender Kitty Genovese in an infamous 1964 knife attack that raised questions about the role of bystanders in crime. When he died in prison this […]
Read More…Author: Ron Franscell
Outlaw Los Angeles
“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 […]
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Eyeball tattoos (and other prison brainstorms)
More contributions to the betterment of the world have come from prison than you might imagine … or want to imagine.
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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 […]
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‘Lost’ pieces of ‘The Darkest Night’
Tomorrow, THE DARKEST NIGHT celebrates eight years since it was first published in paperback. Almost immediately it became a bestseller and readers continue to find it in great numbers today. […]
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10 Ideas for Loving a Creative Person
For a long time, I resented that my mother accused me of being a dreamer—”accused” being the operative word. To her, it was less than I was capable of. To her, […]
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A message from the past
As I write this, my birthday is still about 13 hours away, but my first birthday well-wish has arrived from the other side of the world. It comes from my friend […]
Read More…What would be your last meal?
Your last breath is only a few hours away. The governor isn’t going to call. People are gathering outside to cheer your death. The Death Row chaplain has run out […]
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Voices in my head
Every crime writer has heard this little heckling voice, usually from the cheap seats, but sometimes from inside his own head. It isn’t always loud, but it’s often piercing. My […]
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Welcome to ronfranscell.com!
For more than 16 years, you’ve watched Ron’s career blossom right here, growing from just two books when we first launched in 2003 to 17 (and counting). Now, www.ronfranscell.com is […]
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16 Pages of Shocking Photos! (Did you peek?)
WARNING: Some morgue and crime-scene photos appear in this essay. Funny story. Not long ago, I was telling a fascinating little yarn about the autopsy of a deranged killer whose […]
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The radicalization of Luke Skywalker
A long time ago in a library far, far away, a mythologist named Joseph Campbell conceived the notion that all of humanity’s stories—from cavemen’s fire pits to religious myths to […]
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Never lost, always home.
We have lost the sense of story in most of our mass media. We express every unfinished thought, take pictures of our food and our cats and ourselves. So when a genuine story comes along, it feels … different.
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Crime buffs only!
If you’re into true crime and history, you’ll love Ron’s Crime Buff’s Guides! There’s no better way to explore the crime history of places like Texas, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Arizona, […]
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The origin of “hunker down”
Every hurricane season, two words pop up like a tropical depression in the Cape Verde Islands: hunker down. As a survivor of Hurricane Rita, which smashed into Gulf Coast Texas […]
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Mystery of the Booth Mummy
Ready to play Gumshoe? While researching THE CRIME BUFF’S GUIDE TO OUTLAW TEXAS, I came across the intriguing story of the long-lost mummy of John Wilkes Booth … or at […]
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Morgue: A Life in Death
2017 EDGAR nominee! Now in US paperback from Picador and and various foreign languages around the world. Forensic science is booming. TV dramas, books and movies have made morgues cool. […]
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The Darkest Night
A modern true-crime classic listed by the New York Times as Wyoming’s most powerful crime writing! On a chilly autumn night in 1973, 11-year-old Amy Burridge eagerly rode with her […]
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Angel Fire
No. 74 among the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century West San Francisco Chronicle A haunting tale of two brothers on separate odysseys of self-discovery. Twenty-four years after […]
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The Deadline
Among Top 25 Best Crime Fictions of 1999 POISONED PEN Former Chicago Tribune crime reporter Jefferson Morgan is living his life-long dream of running a weekly newspaper, The Winchester Bullet, […]
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The Obituary
When a world-renowned forensic anthropologist journeys to Winchester, Wyoming, to examine the long-dead remains of a woman who claimed to be Etta Place — the Old West’s most mysterious and […]
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Delivered from Evil
True Stories of Ordinary People Who Faced Monstrous Mass Killers and Survived Who’ll speak for the dead in some of America’s deadliest mass killings? In rare instances, only the survivors […]
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Evil at the Front Door
Part of the NYTimes bestselling Notorious USA series! Louisiana – famous for its Mardi Gras, spicy cuisine, and Dixieland jazz – is also the scene of some of the most […]
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