"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

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Tag: true crime

by Ron Franscell

Peace, Love & Murder in Placitas

Bestselling crime author Ron Franscell, a Placitas resident, will talk about a shocking double-murder on a seemingly peaceful hippie ommune in 1970. Along the way he’ll tell some of the […]

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by Ron Franscell

52 years ago this week, a different terrorist unleashed himself on New Orleans

This was excerpted from Ron Franscell’s DELIVERED FROM EVIL, a book that explores the lives of 10 ordinary people who survived mass killers. One of those monsters was a racist […]

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by Ron Franscell

‘ShadowMan’ on Dead Air

Ron will talk about his true crime “ShadowMan: An Elusive Psycho Killer and the Birth of FBI Profiling” with co-hosts George R. Lopez and Ken DeCosta. Their KGRA Digital Broadcasting […]

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by Ron Franscell

We’ll always have mass murder

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 […]

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by Ron Franscell

Which is harder to write … true crime or crime fiction?

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 […]

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by Ron Franscell

5 Yuletide Crimes: Death doesn’t take a holiday

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 […]

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by Ron Franscell

Beware of fast, easy answers about Uvalde’s tragedy

WHY is a natural and human question. I’m not a psychologist, I’m a journalist who has spent a career exploring what some evil, disturbed humans can do to fellow humans. […]

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by Ron Franscell

How many serial killers are out there? You’ll never leave home again

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 […]

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by Ron Franscell

So you wanna be a crime writer, eh? Forget these myths

You’ve been exposed to so much Hollywood crapola that I’m surprised you aren’t already on Ducky’s slab.

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by Ron Franscell

Patty Nieman narrates ‘ShadowMan’ audiobook

“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.

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by Ron Franscell

SHADOWMAN: An Elusive Psycho Killer and the Birth of FBI Profiling

The entangled tales of a harrowing crime and the introduction of the FBI’s newest forensic tool: criminal profiling

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by Ron Franscell

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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by Ron Franscell

Pre-order SHADOWMAN in bookstores everywhere

We know you have many choices for your reading pleasure … so you can pre-order Ron Franscell’s upcoming true crime at your favorite bookseller here.

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by Ron Franscell

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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by Ron Franscell

How many times can one life change?

One horror haunts another … and how they are tangled in one intimate book

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by Ron Franscell

SHADOWMAN cover revealed!

Look for this cool new jacket March 1 at a bookstore near you

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by Ron Franscell

New book trailer for SHADOWMAN

Just a taste of Ron Franscell’s chilling tale about a real-life nightmare … and how it changed forensic history

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by Ron Franscell

Set your DVR for ‘Alice & Gerald’ on Oxygen network

They killed at least five people and damn near got away with it. Then a lucky break changed everything.

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by Ron Franscell

Happy Earth Day! Ira Einhorn loves you to death

In the 1970s, smelly hippie guru Ira Einhorn had been a radical protester during the Vietnam War and a co-founder of Earth Day. The burly, unkempt college professor spewed New Age nonsense to lure naïve young girls to his bed. One of them was Holly Maddux.

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by Ron Franscell

The Resurrection of Elmer McCurdy

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 […]

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by Ron Franscell

Peace, love … and murder

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, […]

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by Ron Franscell

The entangled histories of 'In Cold Blood' and narrative journalism

Lecture: 9:30am to 11am on Feb. 20Book-signing immediately afterwardCasper College (WY) Humanities FestivalMusic Building’s Wheeler HallAdmission is free Ron Franscell, who has been called one of the exciting voices in […]

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by Ron Franscell

The best true-crime books of all time? Maybe not

Last weekend, USA Today published a Goodreads list of the “Best True Crime Books of All Time.” There are some truly great books on the list, compiled from various Goodreads […]

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by Ron Franscell

Murderabilia, the podcast: ‘Hey, buddy, want some Manson toenails?’

The term “murderabilia” was coined by my friend Andy Kahan, who advocates for crime victims for Crimestoppers of Houston. But the word is actually more innocuous than Kahan’s feelings about […]

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