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 those the days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, too. You already know that burglars, muggers, identity thieves, and carjackers run rampant during the holidays, […]
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The entangled tales of a harrowing crime and the introduction of the FBI’s newest forensic tool: criminal profiling
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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 cared much. In 1911, Elmer was 31 years old, usually drunk, and flat broke when he decided to hold up a train. His booty: $46 […]
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How long did you think it would take me to find a good true-crime story in my new digs, the tiny village of Placitas in northern New Mexico? Yeah, well, I never bogart a good yarn. This’ll blow your mind. In the 1960s and ’70s, Placitas was a far-out satellite in the hippie universe, man. […]
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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 the relative safety of Wyoming. Here are 10 sometimes disturbing—and always fascinating—crime-related facts about the Cowboy State you’ve probably never heard of. 10. THE EYES […]
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“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 a reporter’s typed page. Since “XXX” was also Latin for the number 30, the end of a typewritten story came to be signified by “-30-” […]
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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. But for those 30 or so years in between it was unquestionably an aspiring musician, deeply damaged outlaw, and hippie Svengali named Charles Manson. On […]
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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 True Crime Uncensored radio show, hosted by the legendary Burl Barer. Los Angeles is where America’s dreams and nightmares got all tangled up. Sunny days dissolved […]
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“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 al Awlaki, al Qaeda’s most powerful recruiter before he was obliterated in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011. A few years ago, I […]
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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, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Maryland than following your GPS to the scenes of a thousand crimes. Coming in 2016—Outlaw Los Angeles!
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Winner of 2010 EDITOR’S CHOICE AWARD TrueCrimeBookReviews.com Texas rightfully claims a celebrated place in the “wildest” West of both myth and reality, but nobody has ever written a travel guide to the many sites related to the Lone Star State’s renowned outlaw past … until now! Whether you’re a day-tripper, a true-crime buff or a […]
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‘The best damn crime travel series ever published!” Just like the popular CRIME BUFF’S GUIDE TO OUTLAW TEXAS, this quirky and fascinating travel book literally takes you to the scene of the crime with photos, maps, histories and GPS coordinates! From the Wild Bunch and Tom Horn to Columbine and Ted Bundy, OUTLAW ROCKIES promises […]
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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,” D.C. has a darker side, including an extensive history of crimes and misdemeanors, some political and some not. The Crime Buff’s Guide to Outlaw Washington […]
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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 the Keystone State’s past. And it’s all there: Pennsylvania sites tied to the Sundance Kid, Doc Holliday, Ted Bundy, Al Capone, and Elliot Ness, among […]
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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 series ever published!” This rollicking romp across the historic New Mexico crimescape promises all the can’t-look-away allure of its predecessors … and a few surprises! […]
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OUTLAW ARIZONA 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 series ever published!” This rollicking romp across the historic Arizona crimescape promises all the can’t-look-away allure of its predecessors … and a few surprises! This […]
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OUTLAW ARIZONA and OUTLAW NEW MEXICO in a single volume! OUTLAW SOUTHWEST 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 series ever published!” This rollicking romp across the historic American Southwest promises all the can’t-look-away allure […]
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