novels Archives - Ron Franscell

"SOURTOE COCKTAIL CLUB is a world-beater of a tale.” —Ivan Doig, celebrated author of 'This House of Sky' Ivan Doig “THE OBITUARY is a damn near perfect mystery!” —John Lescroart, NYTimes bestselling mystery author John Lescroart “Ron Franscell’s masterful storytelling strikes hard at the heart.” —Denver Post Denver Post “Ron Franscell’s ‘THE DARKEST NIGHT gets everything right …” —C.J. Box, NYTimes bestselling mystery author C.J. Box The San Francisco Chronicle listed ANGEL FIRE among its 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century West San Francisco Chronicle “Ron Franscell takes you there ... completely.” —Ann Rule Ann Rule “Ron Franscell spins one masterful tale after another…” —W.P. Kinsella, author of 'Shoeless Joe' (adapted as the Kevin Costner movie 'Field of Dreams') W.P. Kinsella “Franscell’s themes involve a fresh approach to our rural roots as a font for the elusive American spirit." —USA Today USA Today "SHADOWMAN is a thrill ride ..." —Legendary FBI profiler John Douglas John Douglas “If any modern crime writer should bear the mantel of the late, great Jack Olsen it is Ron Franscell... nobody does it better." —Dr. Vincent DiMaio, renowned medical examiner Vince DiMaio “In my view, Ron Franscell is one of the very finest and most exciting true-crime writers in America." —Vincent Bugliosi, Manson prosecutor and author of 'Helter Skelter' Vincent Bugliosi “Ron Franscell has always been in the upper echelon of true-crime authors." —Gregg Olsen, #1 NYTimes bestselling true-crime author Gregg Olsen "[SHADOWMAN] has the ghostly unease of a nightmare." —Michael Cannell, author of 'Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber and the Invention of Criminal Profiling' Michael Cannell “One of the finest true-crime writers I’ve ever read." —Craig Johnson, NYTimes bestselling author of the Walt Longmire Mysteries Craig Johnson "[Ron Franscell] reminds the rest of us who write in this genre how it ought to be done.” —Jeff Guinn, #1 NYTimes bestselling author of 'Manson' and 'The Road to Jonestown' Jeff Guinn

by Ron Franscell

What if Huck Finn had helicopter parents?

Summer is over and you know what that means, right? No, not the start of school! It’s time for helicopter parents to lift off. Thanks to technology, these moms and dads can track their kids everywhere via numerous apps on their smartphones. They’re already hovering over the school bus, on the monkey bars, the college […]

by Ron Franscell

What crime writers do I read? Here’s one

It’s one of the most common questions I get from a roomful of readers: Who’s your favorite author? Fact is, I don’t have just one. And they’re all over the lot, from crime fiction to magical realism to true crime and some classic literary giants whose main attraction for me is simply the way they’ve […]

by Ron Franscell

A ghost in the machine, by Ron Franscell

Twenty years ago, in 1999, the Chicago Sun-Times’ legendary book editor Henry Kisor—who had fallen in love with my first novel Angel Fire—asked me to be one of 10 American authors who, upon the centennial of Ernest Hemingway’s birth in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, would write about Papa’s life and influence. I was […]

by Ron Franscell

Let me tell you about my first time

I started reading young. I fell in crazy-mad love with books, or at least became addicted to the way they made me feel. I began to wish that I could use words to make other people feel things, too. So I wrote vivid (if imperfect) grade-schooler epics in spiral notebooks, then worked on every campus […]

by Ron Franscell

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 he handed me the spade, “is to turn the soil.” I’d come to Ireland to research a novel. Without a drop of Irish blood in […]