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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How to recognize a toxic narcissist—and survive
According to the Mayo Clinic, narcissistic personality disorder — related to sociopathy under the umbrella term Antisocial Personality Disorders — is a mental condition in which people have an inflated […]
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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
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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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 […]
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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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10 Mugshot Tips for Your Next Arrest
Police have taken mugshots of accused criminals almost since the beginning of photography. Why? So they’ll recognize you when you commit future crimes … and for their never-ending amusement. But […]
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Who’ll write the first true crime about murder in outer space?
It’s Hollywood sci-fi stuff. A simmering personal feud between two astronauts plays out across the frozen Martian crust … or maybe there’s a rape in the claustrophobic quarters of the […]
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10 Texas Crime Facts You Didn’t Know
Texas is so big that its long history of crime—from outlaw days to today—is damn near impossible to know completely. The hard part of compiling a list of 10 obscure […]
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What’s in your DNA? Just a killer grandma? Or gold for exploiters?
At dinner recently with an IT professional, the conversation drifted into our inexorable plunge toward the mass retailing of our privacy—from intimate data collected by smartphones, Alexa, and your own […]
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10 Wyoming Crime Facts You Didn’t Know
A killer’s dead eyeballs? A truant teenager who kills a mass murderer? A lady serial killer? You’ve been warned. Reading this list will probably change the way you think about […]
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Atticus Finch and the #MeToo movement
You know the story: A young lawyer named Atticus Finch is appointed to defend a black man against rape charges in Depression-era Alabama. His defense is vigorous, but ultimately futile […]
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History repeating? Anita Hill, Kavanaugh … and George Hennard
While he ate alone at a small table, he watched the TV over the beer cooler. The evening news was replaying yesterday’s clips of the Senate hearings into […]
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Stealing pennies from dead kids’ eyes
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” —Rahm Emanuel, Obama aide and Chicago mayor Today, the Left is outraged that the Right has instantly politicized the murder […]
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For writers, endings are beginnings
“I hate writing; I love having written.” —Dorothy Parker Once upon a time, early-day typesetters recognized the end of a newspaper story when they saw “XXX” at the bottom of […]
Read More… The Black Dahlia dissected again
Today, it’s been 71 years since Elizabeth Short’s grisly parts were discovered in a vacant Los Angeles subdivision, sliced cleanly in half and posed lasciviously. This obscure waitress suddenly became far […]
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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. […]
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Explore Outlaw L.A. with us at True Crime Uncensored
Listen live at 2pm Pacific time on Saturday, June 10, by clicking here. Where better to kick off the new CRIME BUFF’S GUIDE™ TO OUTLAW LOS ANGELES than at the Los Angeles-based […]
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New book trailer for Outlaw Los Angeles
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 […]
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Vincent van Gogh: Suicide or homicide?
Among the historic, infamous, and heartbreaking deaths we explore in the brand-new book MORGUE: A LIFE IN DEATH (St. Martin’s Press) is the presumed suicide of the troubled genius Vincent […]
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Click here to see somebody die
Would you click to watch someone die? Maybe you just did. The proliferation of cameras—smartphone, news, surveillance, security, webcams, dashboard, GoPro, cops’ body-cams, and “old fashioned” digital models—means the moment […]
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Goodreads picks MORGUE for May!
Goodreads has recommended MORGUE: A LIFE IN DEATH among its best May books! This is a coveted honor. If you’re among the 39 million (or so) active and engaged readers who […]
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