Obsessed with True Crime discussion

Hopefully this is allowed and in the right place.

I'm curious what got you all into true crime. Maybe it was a specific case, maybe a certain book, or a show you caught on ID.

For me, I think I've always been interested in it because my mom was. She was (and is) very much a true crime fanatic, and she raised my sister and I with a lot of trust- trust that we could handle knowing about the evil in the world, so that we'd know how to handle it. I can't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure my first TC book was Cruel Sacrifice by Aphrpdite Jones. The Shanda Sharer case occured pretty close to home and I was around the age of Shanda herself when I read it.

I have never read an Aphrodite Jones book and I will have to look into the Shanda Sharer case. I have loved mystery's since I was a kid but my obsession into true crime came started with the tv show Unsolved Mysteries back in the late 1980's. Also Helter Skelter and the whole Manson family murders are etched in my brain as a small child--those hippies scared me silly.

Funny story, my mom was getting her hair done and there was a copy of Smoke, Mirrors and Murder by Ann Rule on the salon couch managed to read a third way through in one sitting and I've been reading her ever since

When we were 12 my best friend loaned me her mom's tattered copy of Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. My life was changed forever. I continued to read and love any TC story I stumbled across. I did not realize until almost 10 years later that true crime was an actual genre and I went over the cliff's edge for good at that point.

For me it was Truman Capote's book, "In Cold Blood", that got me started in the true crime genre. And shortly after that, a book about a woman who was beaten about the head and killed, rolled up in one of her own rugs, and rolled off the raised wooden patio and porch that overlooked the drop-off at the back of her home, somewhere in rural Connecticut. The culprit was most likely her demented mother-in-law, for whom she was the primary caregiver. Can't find the book, though. I believe it happened in Canaan, CT, or thereabouts, in the '50's or early '60's.

I was intrigued by stories I stumbled across in Italian archives, describing real murders in 17th-century Italy: for example, 2 reformed prostitutes who became nuns, then fled their convent and whose bodies (remarkably preserved) were discovered buried in a wine cellar with the rope still around their necks, in 1644-45; and several dozen wannabee widows in Rome, discovered to have shared a poison to kill off their good-for-nothing husbands in Rome in 1659. I ended up writing books about both cases (but to say more would be flirting dangerously with self-promotion).

My introduction to true crime was when a horrific murder happened about three blocks from where I lived. It was a big family, mom and dad and the oldest a boy and five more siblings. I guess the oldest boy was having issues of some kind but one night when his mother was entertaining her lady friend, they chatted it up and it started getting late. The oldest son invited her to stay overnight. I can't remember where the friend lived but it wasn't close by. This was all plotted before hand by the oldest boy. For some reason as the kids were getting their nightgowns and p.j.'s the routine is the family all had warm milk with cookies. He asked the visitor if she would like some but she turned it down and said she must get home. That saved her life. The 16 or 17 year old son put something in the warm milk so they would all go to sleep except for the baby. Soon everyone retired to bed and were fast asleep. That is when he quietly got what he needed which was an ax and bludgeoned his family. The only survivor was the baby who happened to be sleeping in an alcove he failed to check. It was the worst murder in this city but he was caught and charged with the murders. No computers or communication so when it flashed on the news everyone was worried. To my utter dismay there never was a book out about this case. That was my start. Oh, one more thing, my Grade One girlfriend started babysitting for this family as we grew into our teens. How ironic is that!

I never liked true crime - I preferred to live in a little bubble and pretend that bad things didn't happen. That is, until a murderer - a man I knew - decided to hide the fresh, dismembered body of his victim in a wooden crate underneath my family's house. We were all pretty traumatized when we discovered and opened the crate. That, plus my parents' experiences in the Holocaust, is the subject of the book I never in a million years thought I would write: The Crate: A Story Of War, A Murder, And Justice

Deborah wrote: "I never liked true crime - I preferred to live in a little bubble and pretend that bad things didn't happen. That is, until a murderer - a man I knew - decided to hide the fresh, dismembered body o..."

Deborah, this is something Stephen King might write about and to listen to your parents experiences in the Holocaust is a huge part of pretending that bad things don't happen. Oh my gosh, I put your book on my wish list Deborah and thank you for telling us about this horror! Heartbreaking!

It's an excellent read, Rita!

Fishface wrote: "It's an excellent read, Rita!"

I am sure it was Fishface and can't wait to get this book!

Rita wrote: "My introduction to true crime was when a horrific murder happened about three blocks from where I lived. It was a big family, mom and dad and the oldest a boy and five more siblings. I guess the ol..."

Rita, what was the name of this family?

Thank you Fishface and Rita!!


Rita wrote: "Fishface wrote: "It's an excellent read, Rita!"

I am sure it was Fishface and can't wait to get this book!"

Fishface wrote: "It's an excellent read, Rita!"

Rita wrote: "Deborah wrote: "I never liked true crime - I preferred to live in a little bubble and pretend that bad things didn't happen. That is, until a murderer - a man I knew - decided to hide the fresh, di..."

Deborah wrote: "Thank you Fishface and Rita!!


Rita wrote: "Fishface wrote: "It's an excellent read, Rita!"

I am sure it was Fishface and can't wait to get this book!"

Fishface wrote: "It's an excellent read, R..."

Your most welcome Deborah, and thank you too!

Had ambitions to be a Detective, sadly not possible now, so resigned to writing on the topic. My first book was Barry Cummin's 'Missing' have recently read another 'Where No One Can Hear You Scream' by Sarah McInerney.

Picked up a used copy of Wambaugh's The Onion Field as a teenager. I believe that was the first one, followed by The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story. True crime paperbacks were cheap and available at the time, so they became a go-to. Then, of course, I became a law enforcement officer, and it's kind of par for the course.

K.A. wrote: "Picked up a used copy of Wambaugh's The Onion Field as a teenager. I believe that was the first one, followed by [book:The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Inside Story|156..."

K.A., before you read The Onion Field and following the Stranger Beside Me, did you think about being a law enforcement officer when you were pretty young? I find it fascinating too and thought I would like to be an officer. I'm too much of a wimp for that challenge! Everyone here telling their thoughts is really interesting!

Rita wrote: "K.A. wrote: "Picked up a used copy of Wambaugh's The Onion Field as a teenager. I believe that was the first one, followed by [book:The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy: The Shocking Ins..."

Nope, never considered it. In fact I still didn't consider it until I was actually working for the US government and starting seeing what other people were doing. I wanted the autonomy and a non-desk job, mostly.

Zach wrote: "Hopefully this is allowed and in the right place.

I'm curious what got you all into true crime. Maybe it was a specific case, maybe a certain book, or a show you caught on ID.

For me, I think I..."

You got off to a great start for reading true crime. Aphrodite Jones is a favourite of mine too.

Two reasons:

I had an interest in reading about white-collar crime growing up in northern New Jersey, perhaps because of the glamorous, forbidden aspect of Gordon Gekko, etc from my early childhood. Den of Thieves, Predator's Ball, Enron, Catch Me If You Can...

When I was working on my first book - in history and energy at UNLV - I gradually discovered one of the people I had gotten to know wasn't who he said he was. I followed the story, and my history book evolved into a true crime caper, told THROUGH the setting of Las Vegas and the history the story touches on. It's called "Cleantech Con Artists: A True Vegas Caper" and it comes out in summer 2019.

I feel strongly that white-collar crime is not treated with nearly the outrage it deserves. I remember being told in high school (in 1979, I believe, a few months before Coral Watts killed Jeanne Clyne on her front doorstep across the street from a girl I grew up with) that shoplifting cost the average household $135 a year -- more than a month's rent for most people, the cost of a top-of-the-line color TV. How much do the Gordon Gekkos and the weasels described in The Big Short cost us in comparison to that???

I put all the blame on my grandparents. They were long time subscribers to Reader's Digest. They also lived in Arkansas and we went to see them every summer. If you want to know what there is to do in a small town of 300 people in Arkansas. A whole lot of nothing. My grandparents didn't even have a TV, it was hot muggy. So I read the Reader's Digest. Got hooked on the abridged novels. One of them was Serpico. I was hooked and Peter Maas is still my favorite TC author.

Craig wrote: "I was intrigued by stories I stumbled across in Italian archives, describing real murders in 17th-century Italy: for example, 2 reformed prostitutes who became nuns, then fled their convent and who..."

You can self-promote in the TC author folder. In fact I encourage it!

Lady ♥ Belleza wrote: "I put all the blame on my grandparents. They were long time subscribers to Reader's Digest. They also lived in Arkansas and we went to see them every summer. If you want to know what there is to do..."

Ahh, Reader's Digest is packed to the gills with crime. Not just the abridged books but lots and lots of individual articles. It was there I first read about John Mack, who did his utmost to kill a woman he didn't know with a hammer. He thought she was dead, loaded her in the back of her own car and drove himself in it to a restaurant. While he was having dinner she came to, found the keys in the ignition and drove herself to a hospital. He went to prison for life but somehow attracted a senator's attention, who sprung him from prison years early and gave him a job on Capitol Hill. I looked around in hopes of finding a book in case it was an abridged novel but have yet to find one. If this was never a book, I assume the article was in their "That's Outrageous!" section.

Lady ♥ Belleza wrote: "I put all the blame on my grandparents. They were long time subscribers to Reader's Digest. They also lived in Arkansas and we went to see them every summer. If you want to know what there is to do..."

I can identify, Bel. I grew up near a town of a thousand but my dad was a farmer so in the summer there was no one to play with except my 4 siblings. When I was around 10 my mom bought a set of World Book encyclopedias. I read all of them!!

I did not get into True Crime until I read Ann Rule, although I do remember reading In Cold Blood, Helter Skelter, A Death In White Bear Lake early on without realizing it was a genre. Most of my reading was romance or chick lit. I still didnt realize True Crime was a genre until I joined Shelfari and started an Ann Rule fan page there, which gradually turned into the True Crime group and the members there enlightened me. After a while, the chick lit all started to sound the same and now I rarely read fiction. Nonfiction rarely sounds the same.