Just The Facts: The Attempted Murder of Theodore Roosevelt I’m basically a nonfiction guy, a journalist by trade. I believe in facts. I feel comforted by facts. Also inspired and served by them, as I shall explain. At the same time, I love fiction—to read and to write—because it takes me inside the facts, to […]
Category Archives: True Crime
Is True Crime Good for You?
Is True Crime Good for You? I never gave much thought to true crime until I began working on my new true crime anthology series. Suddenly it occurred to me that I’d been a consumer of true crime since my teens, though at the time I wasn’t conscious of the fact that all those […]
Ten American Pirates You’d Best Have Avoided When They Were in Their Prime
Ten American Pirates You’d Best Have Avoided When They Were in Their Prime Most of us think of 17th Century pirates as swashbuckling outlaws that wore eyepatches, drank grog and buried their treasure on desert islands. And while some pirates probably did lose an eye and most definitely drank watered-down rum, outlaws they were […]
The Mystery of Elizabeth Canning
The Mystery of Elizabeth Canning Elizabeth Canning was an eighteen-year-old maidservant who disappeared on January 1, 1753, returning to her mother’s house, emaciated and in a deplorable state, one month later. She told authorities of being kidnapped. Several arrests were made and Henry Fielding took her side. The accused were convicted, but the trial judge […]
For True-Crime Enthusiasts: The Belle of Bedford Avenue by Virginia A. McConnell
In today’s society, it’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of true crime, from the never ending stream of documentaries to the countless turning pages of books. But don’t worry, The Strand Magazine is here to point you in the right direction with this week’s new book review. Discover the story behind Florence Wallace […]
A Bible of Bad Men and Other Mob Tales
After growing up hearing mob tales and names from the Five Families, William Boyle reflects on what drew him to the mob genre and inspired some of his projects, such as his newest novel A Friend Is a Gift You Give Yourself. I grew up on the border of Bensonhurst and Gravesend in Brooklyn, and the […]
How to Write Convincing Spy Fiction About Highly Classified Subjects
How to Write Convincing Spy Fiction About Highly Classified Subjects Some spy writers have intelligence backgrounds – Frederick Forsyth, John le Carré, Graham Greene, Ian Fleming, and Jason Matthews come to mind – but for the rest of us, writing about the world of covert intelligence takes audacity. Every author knows the indispensable value […]
Deadly Motives: The Hedonistic Drive of Serial Murder
Deadly Motives: The Hedonistic Drive of Serial Murder There are several motives that drive serial killing as far as experts are concerned. Some are driven by missions such as ridding the world of what they perceive as a sin, or because they think they’re a higher being. Others are motivated by power or control over […]
Is Truth Stranger Than Fiction? It might be if you read about the talented Edgar Laplante
Is Truth Stranger Than Fiction? It might be if you read about the talented Edgar Laplante It’s often said that truth is stranger than fiction. Nowhere is the validity of this tired old adage demonstrated more emphatically than in the adventures of the once world famous yet now little-known Jazz Age singing star, Edgar […]
Three Things John Grisham’s The Confession Teaches Us About Wrongful Convictions
Three Things John Grisham’s The Confession Teaches Us About Wrongful Convictions A few years before John Grisham’s The Confession was published, I wrote a 50-page brief to a United States District Court judge asking him to declare the death penalty unconstitutional. I represented a client who was facing the death penalty, and I was […]
A Forbidden Family History: One Man’s Quest to Share His Great Grandfather’s Takedown of a Deadly 20th Century Italian Mob
A Forbidden Family History: One Man’s Quest to Share His Great Grandfather’s Takedown of a Deadly 20th Century Italian Mob All families have secrets. My family’s were hidden away in two cardboard boxes, wrapped in blue plastic and secured with packing tape by my father—which in my 12-year-old mind—made them more tightly guarded than […]
10 Surprising Facts About Al Capone and Eliot Ness
10 Surprising Facts About Al Capone and Eliot Ness AL CAPONE AND ELIOT NESS LIVED ON THE SAME STREET In 1923, Capone purchased a humble two-flat for his family on Chicago’s South Side at 7244 South Prairie Avenue. Five miles down the road, Eliot Ness—then a twenty-year-old student at the University of Chicago—lived […]