BLOG Archives - Page 2 of 7

‘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

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 […]

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

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 […]

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

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

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 […]

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

How many times can one life change?

One horror haunts another … and how they are tangled in one intimate book

by Ron Franscell

SHADOWMAN cover revealed!

Look for this cool new jacket March 1 at a bookstore near you

by Ron Franscell

Pain & memory: The birth of Angel Fire

“Pain is the price we pay for memory. It’s some kind of sin to forget what hurts, as much as it is to forget what makes you smile. Suffering has […]

by Ron Franscell

New book trailer for SHADOWMAN

Just a taste of Ron Franscell’s chilling tale about a real-life nightmare … and how it changed forensic history

by Ron Franscell

Set your DVR for ‘Alice & Gerald’ on Oxygen network

They killed at least five people and damn near got away with it. Then a lucky break changed everything.

by Ron Franscell

You can pre-order ‘SHADOWMAN: An Elusive Psycho and the Birth of FBI Profiling

The pulse-pounding account of the first time in history that the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit created a psychological profile to help catch a serial killer

by Ron Franscell

Happy Earth Day! Ira Einhorn loves you to death

In the 1970s, smelly hippie guru Ira Einhorn had been a radical protester during the Vietnam War and a co-founder of Earth Day. The burly, unkempt college professor spewed New Age nonsense to lure naïve young girls to his bed. One of them was Holly Maddux.

by Ron Franscell

The Resurrection of Elmer McCurdy

Elmer McCurdy was a two-bit outlaw, a wannabe desperado who overshot the Wild West and landed in the 20th century. Nobody knew his name, and nobody in the Oklahoma Territory […]