A Guide to Elizabethan Con Games Cosmopolitan Elizabethans were a circumspect bunch, given the number of cons at work in their midst. Feeding that pool of criminals was an unwieldy number of beggars and vagabonds forced out of home and livelihood by a range of factors in the 16th century, including inflation, public […]
Category Archives: True Crime
Spy Sites of New York: No One Saw a Thing
Spy Sites of New York: No One Saw a Thing Two patrons, each carrying a Macy’s bag, joined the lunch crowd at a midtown diner. They sat on adjacent counter stools, never acknowledging one another. One finished a roast beef sandwich and departed taking a bag. Several minutes later the other, who had pie and […]
My Favorite DC Scandal: The Case of the Congressman and the Argentine Firecracker
My Favorite DC Scandal: The Case of the Congressman and the Argentine Firecracker There’s nothing like a good DC scandal—the crashing together of high politics and base motives, the cover-up, the slow drip of revelations. In my new thriller, Hour of the Assassin, one such secret drives the plot as a former Secret Service […]
Spy Sites of New York: Secrets of Seven New York Landmarks
From Spy Sites of New York: Secrets of Seven New York Landmarks Planning a trip to New York? Flying to JFK? Taking the train to Grand Central Terminal? Going to the Statute of Liberty? Visiting the Museum of Modern Art? Visiting the heights of the Empire State Building? Walking around Grant’s Tomb? Sitting in […]
Musings from Cassandra: Could the West Have Anticipated this Crisis?
Musings from Cassandra: Could the West Have Anticipated this Crisis? Joseph Stalin is quoted as saying, “The death of one man is a tragedy; the death of millions is a statistic.” Today he might say, “The death of one Iranian General sucks up the headlines, leaving millions to suffer the consequences in anonymity.” Continuing aggressive […]
AMERICA’S FIRST CELEBRITY SPY
Spy Sites of New York; A Guide to the Region’s Secret History by H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace with Henry Schlesinger chronicles espionage history in America’s leading city. During the Revolutionary War battles between the British and the Patriots for control of New York created stories about spy master George Washington, spy hunter John […]
THE SPY NEXT DOOR — WHO KNEW?
In their newly released book, Spy Sites of New York; A Guide to the Region’s Secret History, intelligence historians H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace with Hnry Schlesinger document the tradecraft used by Anna Chapman and other Russian spies to create identities and covers that enable them blend seamlessly into the U.S. urban environment. These […]
Shake the branches of family trees—you never what you might find…
Shake the branches of family trees—you never what you might find… When writing about crime and serial killers, I usually delve into the characters’ family, upbringing and environment to discover the root of their evil. In my books, I like to have a link to their past. I’m fascinated by heritage and family tree’s and […]
The Anatomy of a Serial Killer
The Anatomy of a Serial Killer (Author Katherine Ramsland took some time out of her busy schedule to talk to us about the anatomy, the behaviors and the pathology of serial killers) TSM: When did you first get interested in this subject? KR: My initial interest came from a serial killer operating in my hometown […]
Frederick Porter Wensley, Jack the Ripper, and Why You Never Want to be Second on the Stair Tower
Frederick Porter Wensley, Jack the Ripper, and Why You Never Want to be Second on the Stair Tower One of my favorite books on criminal investigations is nearly a century old. 40 YEARS OF SCOTLAND YARD was published in 1931 by Chief Constable Frederick Porter Wensley. I found an original hardcover in the back […]
Writing Serial Killer Thrillers
Writing Serial Killer Thrillers In this blog, thriller writer Rick Reed discusses writing serial killer novels. In the next blog he will discuss the various categories of serial killers, motivation, mobility, profiling value, importance of body count. In future blogs he will discuss the international aspects to serial killers. Rick was a homicide detective […]
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO POISONING
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO POISONING Growing up, I always knew that one day I’d kill someone with poison. That was partly because I was fascinated by Agatha Christie novels, in which poison often plays a prominent role. Alfred Hitchcock used it to wonderful effect in his films — think of how Ingrid Bergman […]