Le mystère de Praslin est résolu. Après des années d'études aboutissant à un coup de génie, j'ai découvert le véritable mobile des crimes impliquant Théobald de Choiseul-Praslin, duc de Praslin et Fanny Sebastiani-Praslin, duchesse de Praslin. Cette nouvelle théorie du cas répond aux questions centrales. Cela concorde avec toutes les preuves. Cela explique complètement la conduite de tant de personnes qui, pendant si longtemps, nous ont tous déconcertés. Je parie mes dents de devant que la majorité des lecteurs du livre que je termine actuellement seront d'accord. J'attends mon passeport pour ..read more

Death in the Tiergarten: Murder and Criminal Justice in the Kaiser's Berlin (Harvard Univ. Press 2004; WorldCat) is a really nice history of the courts of Berlin, Germany's capital since 1871. It stands out in the genre of court histories because it's very well written; it looks at the German capital courts from 1891-1913, the first book in English to do so; and it captures scenes and sayings of remarkable lawyers, judges, and parties in a review of the most sensational cases.  One fascinating example is the murder of a night watchman by a pimp and a prostitute, Hermann and Anna Hein ..read more

I liked the recommendations of this young true crime fan  who put together a fantastic true crime reading list.... while simultaneously amusing me with the idea that the popularity of true crime is a new phenomenon. Ha! "Since the mid-2010’s, the true crime boom has been growing and growing with no sign of stopping," says Mariah Koeneke. That's true except I would change the year to 1621 and say, "Since 1621, the true crime boom has been growing and growing with no sign of stopping!" But I nitpick. Here is a great list written by Mariah Koeneke for the Gateway (student newspaper) of True ..read more

Bernard O'Donnell was a true crime essay writer whose work appeared in magazines and newspapers around the world in the middle of the 20th century. I recognized his name when I found this tattered old 1950s paperback collection of his essays. What fantastic cover art! The artist is identified as Lou Marchetti. I found this gem at John King Books in Detroit, which is a reliable source of true crime wonders. The book is The world's worst women (Pyramid Books 1956).  I haven't found out much more about O'Donnell yet. He was born in 1885. I have now read and liked two books he wrote ..read more

"In revenge and in love woman is far more barbarous than man." - Nietzsche It is interesting to pull back from the study of individual cases to look at the broad patterns of crime and put the individuals in context. When women kill (SUNY Press 1996) by Coramae Richey Mann [Amazon ...  SUNY Press] from the SUNY Series in Violence reviews the research from the 1950s to the 1990s on female homicide offenders.  The author also did original research, studying hundreds of female murderers in six U.S. cities. Interesting patterns emerge that do not change much over time.   Of cour ..read more

My brother the killer: a family story by Alix Sharkey [Amazon GoodReads B&N HarperCollins] is an absorbing and well-written memoir by a journalist who staggered from the blow of having his younger brother arrested for a shocking murder. The disappearance of Danielle Jones, a pretty 15-year-old girl from Essex, was traced to her uncle, Stuart James Campbell, who sits in prison today for the crime, unwilling to cooperate. The book is riveting and brutally honest, from all indications. I was especially absorbed by the author's descriptions of a tough working class childhood, a searing an ..read more

Here is another solid entry in the bourgeoning genre of FBI profiler memoirs. A killer by design: murderers, mindhunters, and my quest to decipher the criminal mind (Hachette 2021) is by Ann Wolbert Burgess. In an informal, at-the-next-barstool tone, she relays stories of the early days of the development of formal psychological profiling of violent sex offenders. [Amazon B&N Goodreads] Burgess, with a background in psychiatric nursing, made a name for herself in the 1970s with groundbreaking research on rape victims and rape trauma syndrome. She was recruited by the FBI to study sexual ho ..read more

If there were a literary award for genre outliers, I might nominate Murder at Teal's Pond [Amazon Goodreads B&N] for the Barely True Crime Award because it manages to flout so many genre conventions in one short book.  The premise is an interesting one. The television phenomenon Twin Peaks had as its central question, who killed Laura Palmer? There was a real-life Laura Palmer whose murder inspired the show. The murder victim's name was Hazel Drew.  The TV show Twin Peaks was inspired by a 1908 case in which a pretty, young, single woman from Sand Lake, New York wa ..read more

Howard Engel, an award-winning mystery writer, studied true crime stories for years. Eventually his notebook reached a critical mass, resulting in this interesting book of curated true crime stories. The book is Crimes of passion: an unblinking look at murderous love (Buffalo, New York: Firefly Books 2002). I like this book for its full-throated defense of the true crime genre and its odd collection of cases known and obscure. True crime must be faithfully reported, the author reminds us as he explores the well-plowed fields filled with the likes of Ruth Ellis, Jean Harris, Juliet Hulme (Anne ..read more

Murdered by his wife: An absorbing tale of crime and punishment in 18th-Century Massachusetts by Deborah Navas (University of Massachusetts Press, 1999) tells the story of black widow Bathsheba Spooner.  It is one of my all-time favorite case studies and a classic in the true crime genre. The author's meticulous research and thoughtful yet concise narration make this a quick, interesting read about an important case. The author stated her commitment to making the record "as accurate as possible" to "do justice to the empirical truth in facts, as they come to be known, in order to intuit t ..read more