
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 […]
Read More…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 […]
Read More…This essay was originally written just two days after the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre in 2012. Last night’s tragic shooting in Lewiston, Maine, makes me want to re-run it, as […]
Read More…“Reminiscent of Charles Frazier’s ‘Cold Mountain’ … Ron Franscell’s themes involve a fresh approach to our rural roots as a font for the elusive American spirit.” — USA Today Twenty-five […]
Read More…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 […]
Read More…Hollywood actor, comedian, and impressionist Jim Meskimen—the superb narrator on DEAF ROW’s audiobook—offers some insights on some beloved celebrities who might be reading my new mystery.
Read More…Does your book club feature a lot of awkward silences? Is the deepest question, “Did you like it?” Tired of meetings that are more about the furniture than the book? […]
Read More…My true crimes like SHADOWMAN and THE DARKEST NIGHT are the product of old-school research and investigation. I’m an old-fashioned reporter who believes in first-hand, up-close sensory experiences that tell […]
Read More…I never met Elsie Mae but I wish I had. I don’t know too much more than last week’s obituary tells me: She taught grade school for most of her […]
Read More…The end of the year always inspires me to put things in order. Last night, I was rearranging the scattered piles of books and papers in my office when I […]
Read More…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 […]
Read More…My father six months ago, so this blog has a special sentimental value to me this year. I hope you think about your dad when you read this. A long […]
Read More…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 […]
Read More…I originally wrote this essay as a newspaper column in 1995. It appears here today with a few minor but festive updates because, well, Scrooge is timeless. No businessman in […]
Read More…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 […]
Read More…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.
Read More…A few years ago, I was contacted by the friend of a friend of a friend. He had a strange request: Could you help this French guy find the descendants […]
Read More…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 […]
Read More…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 […]
Read More…You’ve been exposed to so much Hollywood crapola that I’m surprised you aren’t already on Ducky’s slab.
Read More…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 […]
Read More…“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.
Read More…The entangled tales of a harrowing crime and the introduction of the FBI’s newest forensic tool: criminal profiling
Read More…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 […]
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