Mystery Melange

This Saturday, March 28, the Coronado Public Library will host the San Diego Writers Festival. One of the panels included in this one-day event is "Mystery Authors Writng Across Genres," moderated by Matt Coyle, with authors AC Adams, Dennis Crosby, Gary Phillips, and Caitlin Rother.


Also on March 28, the Northland Local Author Fair in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will feature author talks, panels, and signings. One of the featured panels is "Writing Can Be Murder," a chat with mystery authors Annette Dashofy, Liz Milliron, and Joyce Tremel. Registration is free.


On Tuesday, March 31, the Goshen Publish Library and Historical Society will present "Dangerous Minds: Women Who Write Crime." Mystery writers will talk about how mystery writers imagine the perfect crime, how they craft the ultimate whodunit, plotting murder (fictionally, of course!), building suspense, and bringing unforgettable characters to life.


The deadline is fast approaching for the Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award, an annual grant of $2,000 for an emerging writer of color administered by Sisters in Crime. This grant is intended to support the recipient in crime fiction writing and career development activities. The grantee may choose to use the grant for activities that include workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of the work. Grant information and submission requirements can be found via this link, but you'd better hurry since submissions are due by March 31.


Although I haven't seen such news hit the crime fiction community just yet, the AI controversy is already taking its toll on other genres. Case in point, the publisher Hachette cancelled the US release of the horror novel, Shy Girl, by Mia Ballard and withdrew the UK edition after weeks of online speculation about the novel’s origins, as reported by both the New York Times and The Guardian. Plus, late last year, two novels up for the prestigious Ockham New Zealand Book Award were disqualified on the basis of their AI cover art (which the authors in question claimed they weren't aware of).


The Guardian's Laura Wilson had a roundup of its recommended list of the latest crime fiction books, including Whidbey by T Kira Madden; Based on a True Story by Sarah Vaughan; Killing Me Softly by Christie Watson; The Dangerous Stranger by Simon Mason; and Astronaut! by Oana Aristide. Sarah Weinman did the honors for the New York Times, reviewing A Bad, Bad Place by Frances Crawford; My Grandfather, the Master Detective by Masateru Konishi; Still Life by Malin Persson Giolito; and The Tree of Light and Flowers by Thomas Perry. Plus, Paula L. Woods profiled new mystery titles for the Los Angeles Times, including Jackson Alone by Jose Ando; Cruelty Free by Caroline Glenn; The Exes by Leodora Darlington; and To Kill a Cook by W.M. Akers. Finally, Jordan Snowden profiled new mysteries and thrillers for the Seattle Times, including Masateru Konishi’s My Grandfather, the Master Detective, translated by Louise Heal Kawai; Sujata Massey’s The Star from Calcutta; Avery Curran’s Spoiled Milk; J.R. Thornton’s Lucien; Frances Crawford’s debut A Bad, Bad Place; and Kirsten King’s A Good Person.


This fall, Titan Comics is publishing Ian Fleming’s James Bond Signature Comic Strip Collection Vol. 1, a brand-new book bringing together the first seven feature-length James Bond newspaper comic-strip adventures, that originally ran from July 1958 to May 1961 and helped inspire the James Bond cinematic universe. The comics by acclaimed artist John McLusky gather Ian Fleming’s earliest literary adventures in comic strip form compiled into a hardcover edition with some additional unique features. The new James Bond book can already be pre-ordered directly through Titan Comics or via Ian Fleming's official website.


Writing for the Sleuthsayers blog, John Floyd shined a light on Pulpwood Fiction, which he notes "isn't an established genre, but it's a definite—and different—area of storytelling, one that focuses on the gritty, blue-collar people of the rural South, where the setting plays a central role."


Fans of crime fiction related to art heists may enjoy reading about the real-life Arthur Brand, a Dutch art detective who tracks down stolen masterpieces, sometimes called the "Indiana Jones of the art world."


In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews welcomed Rob Phillips, an Emmy-winning sportswriter covering the Dallas Cowboys, whose debut novel, Stakeouts and Strollers, won the Minotaur Books/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Award; Deborah Kalb spoke with J.R. Thornton about his new novel, Lucien, a psychological drama in the tradition of Patricia Highsmith and Donna Tartt, and Kalb also interviewed Michelle Kaminsky about her new book, Murder on the Trail: Mysteries, Deaths & Disappearances in National Parks.

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:


THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES
 
Benjamin Bratt (Andor) has signed on to star alongside Viola Davis and Jason Clark in Ally Clark, the new thriller from Amazon MGM Studios. The film will take viewers from the towering skyscrapers of New York City to the sweltering bayous of Louisiana and the icy peaks of Alaska, following investigator Ally Clark (Davis) as she embarks on a perilous inquiry into an international conglomerate following the suspicious death of a close friend. Phillip Noyce is directing from a script by Jose Ruisanchez and Irwin Winkler.


Netflix announced a new feature film, The Cackling of the Dodos, which will be directed by Jason Bateman (Ozark). The project follows small-town farmer George, who has a truly terrible day when he discovers a corpse chilling out in a grain bin and he is unwittingly forced into a chaotic, sloppy cover-up by his boss Denny. Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and Woody Harrelson (The People vs. Larry Flynt) will star in the movie, which is based on an original screenplay by novelist Rye Curtis (Kingdomtide).


Prime Video has unveiled a teaser for the sequel movie, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War, in which the everyday hero played by John Krasinski returns to the world of espionage for what its creators have called his “most personal and dangerous mission yet.” He is joined in the feature by new cast member Sienna Miller. Operating in real time with lives on the line and the threat escalating at every turn, Jack reunites with battle-tested CIA operative Mike November (Michael Kelly) and former CIA boss James Greer (Wendell Pierce). Their combined experience is the only edge they have against an enemy who knows their every move. Backed by an unlikely new partner – razor-sharp MI6 officer Emma Marlowe (Miller) – Jack and the team navigate a treacherous web of betrayal, facing a past they thought was long put to rest.


Searchlight Pictures has released the trailer for Wild Horse Nine, the latest film from Oscar winner Martin McDonagh. Per the official logline, "shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, CIA agents Chris and Lee are dispatched from Santiago to Easter Island by their bureau chief, MJ. Amongst the Island’s iconic statues, and as the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, Chris’s newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students threatens to send everyone’s trust to this remote island paradise sideways." John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell lead the cast as CIA agents Chris and Lee, respectively, while Steve Buscemi plays their bureau chief. Other cast members include Mariana di Girolamo, Ailín Salas, Tom Waits, and Parker Posey.


TELEVISION/STREAMING

South Africa’s International Emmy-nominated production house Both Worlds and Paris-based Paradoxal have entered into an exclusive rights agreement with bestselling South African author Deon Meyer to develop two of his most celebrated properties as premium TV series. Umzingeli (The Hunter) is a contemporary, multi-territorial spy thriller centered on Thobela "Tiny" Mpayipheli, a KGB- and Stasi-trained assassin whose character spans four of Meyer’s novels. Now living under a false identity in Bordeaux, he’s put his past behind him — or so he believes. Noah Stollman (Fauda, Our Boys) is attached as lead writer and showrunner. The other project is Dead at Daybreak, an adaptation of Meyer’s breakthrough novel and winner of the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policère. A noir series set in Cape Town in 1996, at the cross-section of the old South Africa and the new, it centers on Zatopek van Heerden, a former cop turned private investigator — a man trying to rebuild himself in a country doing the same.

James McAvoy is leading a Sky adaptation of comedian Frankie Boyle’s novel, Meantime. McAvoy is joined by Benedict Wong, Mark Bonnar, and Christopher Eccleston in the project, which follows Felix McAveety (McAvoy), a full-time addict whose best friend is found murdered in a Glasgow park, leaving him as the police’s most convenient suspect. In a fog of intoxication and paranoia, Felix sets out to clear his name, enlisting the help of an aging former Detective Inspector turned crime novelist (Josette Simon) and a chaotic friend (Jamie Michie).

Universal Television has optioned Lights Out, the bestselling sports thriller by former national TV reporter-turned-author Elise Hart Kipness, for development as a series. The story follows a former Olympic athlete and sports reporter who isn’t sure how much more tumultuous her life can get. She’s been put on temporary leave from her job, then NBA superstar Kurt Robbins is killed, and the prime suspect in his murder is none other than his wife…and Kate’s best friend. Kate knows that Yvette’s marriage wasn’t exactly stable, but her friend is no murderer, and Kate is determined to prove it with her own investigation. While she tries to salvage Yvette’s life, Kate’s own personal and professional lives continue to unravel—and then her estranged father suddenly reenters her life as a detective assigned to Kurt’s homicide case.

Krysten Ritter has teamed with writer-producer Steve Yockey (The Flight Attendant, Dead Boy Detectives) and Berlanti Productions for Retreat, a series adaptation of her novel of the same name. Retreat is an ongoing hourlong darkly comedic thriller featuring Liz Dawson (the role intended for Ritter) — a chameleon-like grifter who is always in control — until she’s cornered into assuming the identity of a wealthy dead woman in Punta Mita, Mexico. Suddenly, Liz finds herself in the middle of a sun-bleached Hitchcockian mystery, desperate to keep up her act. And then people start dying.

Lang Fisher (The Four Seasons, Never Have I Ever) is currently in development on a TV adaptation of the Elle Cosimano novel, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, at Peacock. The story follows a struggling novelist and single mom, on the verge of losing custody of her kids, who is mistaken for an assassin and offered life-changing money for one kill. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first book in Cosimano’s popular book series, “Finlay Donovan Mysteries,” which has a total of six books, with a seventh due to hit stores this month.


Prime Video has renewed the hit thriller series Cross for an eight-episode third season. Created by Ben Watkins and based on James Patterson’s bestselling novels, Cross stars Aldis Hodge as the brilliant and complex detective Alex Cross. Season 3 will continue to expand the high-stakes world of the iconic character, according to Prime. In addition to Hodge, Matthew Lillard, Isaiah Mustafa and Alona Tal, Season 2 cast includes Jeanine Mason and Wes Chatham, alongside Samantha Walkes, Juanita Jennings, Caleb Elijah, Melody Hurd, and Johnny Ray Gill.


Production has begun on Season 5 of Netflix‘s The Lincoln Lawyer, based on the books by Michael Conelly, with eight new recurring stars: Diane Guerrero (Doom Patrol) as Natalia, Teresa Maria (Narcos Mexico) as Tina Perez, Richard Cabral (Mayans) as Benny Perez, Steve Howey (Shameless) as Brian Cunningham, Patty Guggenheim (Twisted Metal) as Allison Finch, Corbin Bernsen (L.A. Law) as Richard Finch, Chris Diamantopoulos (The Sticky) as Frank Silver, and Iker Garcia (The Pitt) as Rafa Wagner. Additionally, Cobie Smulders has been promoted to series regular. In Season 5 of The Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller’s world is upended when the half-sister he never knew existed, Emi (Smulders), comes to him with a plea to help free a wrongfully convicted woman. In a season defined by blood ties and buried secrets, Mickey takes on a grueling habeas petition to overturn a six-year-old murder conviction, but the deeper he digs, the more nefarious the forces arrayed against him become.


Lorenza Izzo (Hacks) is set as a lead opposite Taylor Schilling and Michiel Huisman in NBC‘s crime drama pilot, What The Dead Know, from Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. Written by Beth Rinehart, the procedural is based on former New York City death investigator Barbara Butcher’s memoir of the same name. What the Dead Know centers on highly intelligent, hyper-vigilant death Investigator Ava Ledger (Schilling) as she teams with the NYPD to solve their toughest cases. Izzo will play Det. Danielle Castillo, a computer crimes specialist with the NYPD who has recently been reassigned to homicide. Huisman portrays William Grant, an experienced NYPD homicide detective who thinks justice is simple – black and white.


Felix Solis (The Rookie, Ozark) is the latest to join the cast of NBC‘s The Rockford Files reboot pilot, which also includes the previously announced cast led by David Boreanaz, and also includes Michaela McManus and Jacki Weaver. The project is a contemporary update on the classic series of the same name. Newly paroled after doing time for a crime he didn’t commit, James Rockford (Boreanaz) returns to his life as a private investigator using his charm and wit to solve cases around Los Angeles. It doesn’t take long for his quest for legitimacy to land him squarely in the cross-hairs of both local police and organized crime. Solis will play Rockford’s best friend, Nitty, who turned his life around and became a successful South L.A. defense attorney. Weaver plays Rockford’s longtime trailer park neighbor; she’s a tough, outspoken activist and think-tank analyst. McManus plays Kate, an East Hollywood detective whose romantic relationship with Rockford got complicated after he publicly accused fellow officers of framing him.


PODCASTS/RADIO/AUDIO

DP Lyle and Kathleen Antrim interviewed best-selling author Adam Plantinga on the Get to Know podcast about his life, career, and his latest book which is nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel.


Murder Junction hosts Vaseem Khan and Abir Mukherjee welcomed  bestselling thriller writer Sabine Durrant to discuss her latest novel Dead Heat, and her delight in setting her murder thrillers in sun-soaked destinations.


Samantha Dooey-Miles chatted with Paul Burke on Crime Time FM about her debut thriller, Under the Hammer; satire; the housing crisis; daytime TV; para-social relationships; marketing; stalkers; rage and humor.

NPR's Book of the Day podcast featured two new murder mystery novels that let readers into hidden worlds: one underground (Ruby Falls by Gin Phillips) and the other among the wives of serial killers (The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives by Lizzie Pook).


Debbi Mack's latest guest on the Crime Cafe podcast was Graciela Kenig, discussing her debut novel, The Plans They Made.


Michael Frost Beckner joined Bruce Dravis on the Spybrary podcast to unpack Kaleidoscope; the Spy Game universe; CIA family legacies; his influences; moral ambiguity; and the hidden machinery of intelligence.


In the latest episode of Meet the Thriller Author, Alan Petersen interviewed Chad Boudreaux, a former U.S. Department of Justice insider turned thriller novelist, including his latest novel, Mob Justice: A Scavenger Hunt Thriller, which takes readers into the modern Chicago mafia.


On the Poisoned Pen podcast, host John Charles interviewed two different authors, Mark Stevens discussing Two Truths and a Lie, and Megan Chance talking about her latest, The Vermillion Sea.

Sunday Music Treat

I heard my first steel drum band when I attended the World's Fair in Knoxville as a tot in 1982. These musicians are pretty amazing, and can carry off some pretty complicated tunes, like an arrangement of the "Hallelujah" chorus from Handel's Messiah. Here's a version by the Invaders Steel Drum Orchestra from the Dollywood Festival of Nations:

And for a kick of historical fun, check out another version via a clip from the David Frost show that also featured Liberace.

Quote of the Week

 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Black Stage

On a paperback copy of The Black Stage by Anthony Gilbert dating from 1955, there was this bit of biographical info regarding Gilbert:  "Little is known about the author except that his books are among the most popular stories written today." In fact, the identify of the author remained a secret for several more years until it was finally revealed that Anthony Gilbert was the creation of Lucy Beatrice Malleson who had already been writing straight Victorian fiction under the pseudonym of Anne Meredith. Ordinarily, I would tend to suspect that Malleson was simply trying to be successful in a traditional masculine field, except that even before she was unmasked, she had a tendency to wear collars and ties.

Malleson was born in London in 1899 and managed to bypass her mother's designs for her daughter to become a schoolteacher, publishing her first book (with the pen name J. Kilmeny Keith) by the age of 26. It was upon seeing a comedy-thriller play by John Willard that she decided to try crime fiction, choosing the name Anthony Gilbert. Her first successes in the genre and with that name came in 1927 with The Tragedy at Freyne which led to ten total novels featuring Scott Egerton, a young British political leader who solved crimes on the side. In 1936 she started a new series with Arthur G. Crook as a protagonist and dropped Egerton. Crook would go on to star in 51 of her some 69 total crime fiction novels (which doesn't take into account her non-genre works; she was nothing, if not prolific).

Her character Arthur G. Crook was, indeed, a character. In an era defined more by Lord Peter Wimsey, Inspector Alleyn, and Albert Campion, Crook is an early prototype of Colombo, a middle-aged beer-drinking Cockney barrister wearing off-the-rack suits with a messy office in a shady part of town. He usually enters into a case after a client has practically already been convicted, then conducts an investigation that ultimately lays a trap for the real culprit. His techniques are at turns brilliant, at turns unorthodox and borderline unethical, and he's not in the slightest afraid to come across as rude.

The Black Stage takes its title from Shakespeare's framing of night as the time of crimes, and surrounds the Vereker family who returns from the second world war to the family home only to find the weak-willed widow owner in the clutches of a younger man, Lewis Bishop, with designs on her diamonds. Thus the stage is set for every member of the household to become a suspect in the unsurprising eventual demise of Bishop. Crook himself doesn't appear until half-way through, when he's hired to defend Anne Verker, the young woman who was found standing over the body with a gun in her hand. There is no courtroom theater here, but a variation of the re-enactment theme with Crook announces he'll stage the murder scene twice, once to show how his client couldn't have done it and another to show how the murder really occurred.

Malleson/Gilbert is known for skillful plotting, which is light on violence, and an engaging supporting cast, characteristics present not only in her novels but in several short stories which appeared in anthologies and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. The omniscient POV can get a bit dizzying to contemporary sensibilities and some of the writing is definitely of its time. Still, it's interesting to read the world today:

And if he put 'em in his pocket, quite apart from ruinin' 'em, there was the chance the police 'ud ask you to turn your pockets out, and just think what an ass you'd look with your pockets weighted down by another fellow's fags. Why, in a country like this one, it's almost enough to hang you out of hand. What you want, when you're looking for diamonds,' he added forcibly, 'is a strip to the buff policy, ladies and gents. And then an X-ray to make sure no one's doin' a swallowing act. If you ask me, I think there's a better explanation about the box bein' full than just that Bishop was feelin' generous. I think those cigarettes were put there to hide something else.'

Gilbert's novel 1941 The Woman in Red, about a secretary whose employer drugs her and tries to drive her mad to cover up a murder, was dramatized on CBS radio and made into two films, My Name is Julia Ross (1945) and Dead of Winter (1987) in which Gilbert was not credited. She was also a founding member of the British Detection Club and received a Queens award for her short story "You Can't Hang Twice."

Mystery Melange

William Kent Krueger was honored with the Founder’s Award at this past weekend's Tucson Festival of Books. The award is given in recognition of an author’s “literary achievements that have captivated our imagination and bodies of work that serve as inspiration to readers, writers and book lovers everywhere.” Previous recipients have included Elmore Leonard, Larry McMurtry, Richard Russo, Billy Collins, and Craig Johnson.


The Lambda Literary Organization announced the finalists for the 38th Lambda Literary Awards, or "Lammys," which celebrate outstanding LGBTQ+ voices in literature. The shortlist for Best LGBTQ+ Mystery include:  A Queer Case by Robert Holtom (Titan Books); Every Sweet Thing Is Bitter by Samantha Crewson (Crooked Lane Books); Girl Falling by Hayley Scrivenor (Flatiron Books); Mirage City by Lev AC Rosen (Minotaur Books); and The Case of the Missing Maid by Rob Osler (Kensington Publishing Corporation).


Speaking of Willaim Kent Krueger, he and three other authors are in the running for the Minnesota Book Awards, Genre Fiction this year. The finalists include:  Apostle's Cove by William Kent Krueger (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster); Broken Fields by Marcie Rendon (Soho Press/Penguin Random House); The Codebreaker's Daughter by Amy Lynn Green (Bethany House Publishers/Baker Publishing Group); and The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens (Mulholland Books/Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group). The four authors will take part in a "Meet the Author" panel on March 21 at 2pm at the George Latimer Central Library in St. Paul. Winners in all categories will be revealed on May 6 at the Annual Minnesota Book Awards Ceremony.


Len Deighton, the British author whose subversive spy novels helped redefine the genre in the 1960s, has died at the age of 97. Best known for his debut, The Ipcress File, Deighton went on to write more than 30 books over a career spanning four decades, and was often compared to John le Carré. Published in 1962, The Ipcress File was an immediate success, selling millions of copies worldwide. It introduced readers to an unnamed sardonic, working-class intelligence officer who stood in stark contrast to the glamorous archetype embodied by Ian Fleming’s James Bond (Dr No, the first in the Bond film series, was released in the same year). The novel’s success led to a film adaptation in 1965, starring Michael Caine, and decades later, the story was revisited in a 2022 television adaptation starring Peaky Blinders’s Joe Cole.


Author Lauren Milne Henderson also passed away this week, at the age of 59. Also known by her pen name Rebecca Chance, she was an English freelance journalist and novelist, whose books ran the gamut from thrillers and mysteries, to romance and young adult. In the crime fiction realm, she was best knowm for the seven novels in her Sam Jones mystery series and the Scarlett Wakefield Young Adult mystery series, under the Henderson name, while under the Chance name, she published several thrillers and "bonkbusters." Tributes were posted online via Ayo Onatade at Shots Magazine, Janet Rudolph at Mystery Fanfare, and from Greg Herren.


Storm Publishing is launching Notorious Press, a true crime imprint to be led by Claire Bord, Deputy Managing Director at Storm Publishing, who previously published Gregg Olsen’s bestselling Detective Megan Carpenter series and acclaimed titles American Mother and Starvation Heights at Bookouture. Olsen, a two-time Edgar Award-nominated author widely recognized as a defining voice in true crime, will spearhead the list. Notorious Press will launch in October 2026 with Ordinary Wife, which tells the chilling story of American serial killer Lyda Trueblood. The book is co-authored by Gregg Olsen and his daughter, Morgan Olsen, marking the first collaboration between the father-daughter duo.


IDW Publishing has announced it will launch a new imprint for crime genre comics in May. IDW Crime will kick off with three new series, beginning in May with Seven Wives #1, created by Zoe Tunnell and artists V Gagnon and Tesslyn Bergin. Eisner Award–nominated writer Joey Esposito and artist Valeria Burzo’s Killer Influences #1, about a murderer who partners with an aspiring true crime influencer, will follow in July. Another new series of the serial-killer variety will arrive in September, with Amy Chase and artist Savanna Mayer’s Fixation #1, which "blends true crime tension and thrills with razor-sharp commentary on fandom and toxic addictions."


The folks over at Writers Who Kill contributed their "Favorite Crime or Writing Reference Book(s)."


In the Q&A roundup, Crime Fiction Lover interviewed Alex Gerlis, author of espionage novels set during World War II, including his latest, The Second Traitor. Crime Fiction Lover also chatted with Sarah Yarwood-Lovett, an ecologist-turned-author, who brings her experience to bear in her latest novel, The Pledge, featuring her ecologist protagonist, Dr. Nell Ward.

Author R&R with Michael Jacobs

Originally from Long Island, New York, Michael A. Jacobs moved to California to attend Occidental College. Upon graduating from Loyola University School of Law, he was employed as an associate attorney with a Los Angeles civil litigation firm. In 1975, he began his career with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. During his time in the DA’s Office, he spent a total of 25 years working in nearly every vertical trial unit including 13 years in the Homicide Division, which he supervised for three years. After leaving the Office in 2006, he commenced a private civil law practice in Orange County and began work on Trackrs (Task Force Review Aimed at Catching Killers, Rapists, and Serial Offenders). He is presently working on a second nonfiction book about his experience working in our criminal justice system.

His first book, TRACKRS: On the Cold Trail of a Serial Killer is the true account of the modern-day pursuit of a serial killer who terrorized Orange County, California in the late 1970s. The victims were young females living alone in apartments, who were sexually assaulted and brutally murdered. Beginning in October of 1995, Orange County deputy district attorneys Michael Jacobs and Mel Jensen focused on a review of other homicide cases that took place in three cities in Orange County and were strikingly similar. 

There had already been a conviction in one of the cases, with the defendant in state prison but always maintaining his innocence. Jacobs and Jensen doubted he was a serial killer and finally obtained a DNA profile after months of delay caused by the Orange County Sheriff's DNA Laboratory's refusal to process evidence from four of the crime scenes. Based on that updated evidence, a potential new suspect was named—a former United States Marine sergeant convicted in 1980 of the kidnapping and rape of a thirteen-year-old girl. On June 14, 1996, three detectives from the Costa Mesa and Tustin police departments traveled to Avenal State Prison to interview the suspect.

Michael stops by In Reference to Murder today to talk about writing the book:

The primary challenge in writing TRACKRS was to take a case, or, as in this situation, a series of cases, that were very fact intensive and then to write a book having it read like a fiction action thriller, as in creative nonfiction. Easier said than done.

TRACKRS is about six sexual assault murders that occurred in Orange County, California in the late 1970s. The cases were finally resolved and the actual perpetrator caught in 1996. An innocent man had been wrongly convicted of one of the murders in 1981. As a result of the renewed investigation, he was finally freed after serving nearly sixteen years in prison.

As one would expect in most cases about six serial killings, I had a wealth of information to utilize, all of which I deemed necessary. I not only had the contents of my original trial “murder book” but also had the complete jury trial transcript, law enforcement reports from six different agencies, the defendant’s complete Marine Corps records, transcripts of the defendant’s recorded statements, numerous interoffice memorandums and communications with government agencies and laboratories, as well as the new investigation reports done by the Orange County TRACKRS (Task Force Review Aimed at Catching Killers and Serial Offenders) project.

In addition to the documentation of the six cases, I also had a complete record of the defendant’s extensive legal history, the defendant’s complete “C” file from state prison as well as the reports and records from a prior rape and kidnapping (for which he had already been convicted) another rape that could not be charged because of the statute of limitations, and an assault with a deadly weapon on another inmate committed during a previous state prison commitment.

Because of this wealth of documentation and data, there were difficult decisions that needed to be made—especially with verbatim passages from the trial transcript. I found each chapter needed to be edited (I had a terrific editor) and this often involved shortening and sometimes deleting and rewriting entire passages. I still ended up with an over 500-page first draft but found it difficult to cut out anymore. What makes TRACKRS different from other of the true crime genre is its high degree of authenticity and “in the trenches” details which I believed a true crime reader would appreciate.

While searching out and compiling the necessary ingredients for TRACKRS, inevitably I was finding that much of my initial draft was reading too much like the police reports or coroner’s files I was relying upon. This seemed especially true when reading certain passages out loud. I knew that writing a story that read like creative nonfiction would be a challenge. I ended up relying to some extent upon the writings and style of four of my favorite authors.

John Grisham, Joseph Wambaugh, Vincent Bugliosi, and Martin Cruz Smith are writers I admire but never try to emulate. A common denominator of all four? They write “page turners.” That's what I wanted TRACKRS to be, but I knew I couldn’t copy their style of writing. I needed to develop my own. So, instead I observed how they would set a scene, how they would relate important circumstances, and how they would describe key characters in the story.

The only workable remedy for the issue of learning how to write creative nonfiction was rewriting, and a lot of it. I ended up writing 19 drafts of a 520-page manuscript before my editor and I were satisfied that TRACKRS was ready for publication.

Since the case of People vs. Parker was a death penalty case, under California law, relatives of the next of kin to the six victims were allowed to testify during the second stage of the trial: the Penalty Phase. Emotionally, this was the most difficult part of the trial to write about. The victims were all young and attractive females. They had been brutally murdered. Their relatives had a difficult time testifying, sometimes reading from notes, sometimes crying. At times I was certain there weren’t any dry eyes in the courtroom. I remember telling the trial judge before their testimony, “We’re in for two difficult days.” He replied, “I know. I know." Since I was there, from start to finish, writing and reading TRACKRS certainly brought those moments back to me. 

You can learn more about Michael Jacobs via his website and follow him on Facebook and Goodreads. TRACKRS is available via all major booksellers.