Crime Buff's Guide Archives

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

10 Creepy Places … Right Next Door to You

Maybe you’d like to take a casserole over to the new neighbors in the murder house? Maybe that kid in the serial killer’s old home could mow the grass this […]

by Ron Franscell

How pioneer rocker Gram Parsons went up in flames

One night, Gram told his friend Phil Kaufman that when he died, he wanted to be cremated and his ashes sprinkled over the Cap Rock outcropping in the park. Kaufman took it as a solemn responsibility.

by Ron Franscell

Every generation has its bogeyman

Excerpted from The Crime Buff’s Guide to Outlaw Los Angeles (2017, WildBluePress) Every generation has its bogeyman. Before 1969, maybe it was Adolf Hitler. After 2001, Osama bin Laden. […]

by Ron Franscell

New book trailer for Outlaw Los Angeles

Can you come out to play? Click here … if you dare. Buy it now

by Ron Franscell

Whistling in the graveyard

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” —William Faulkner So the would-be mass murderer at Ohio State University this week was apparently inspired by the hateful words of American-born cleric Anwar […]

by 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 […]

by Ron Franscell

Outlaw Washington DC

Includes Maryland and northern Virginia Washington D.C. isn’t known as the “District of Crime” or “Murder Capital of America” for nothing. Though the capital city’s motto is “justice for all,” […]

by Ron Franscell

Outlaw Pennsylvania

From America’s first school shooting in the 1700s to modern-day serial killers, a new book from a bestselling crime-writer and a local historian covers the fascinating gamut of mayhem in […]

by Ron Franscell

Outlaw New Mexico

OUTLAW NEW MEXICO continues the popular series that critics, true-crime fans, historians and travelers have hailed as “the ultimate guilty pleasure,” “thorough and unflinching,” and “the best damn crime travel […]