The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

You have all no doubt heard about my compatriot Luka Magnotta, who brutally killed and dismembered a Chinese exchange student. Hungry for publicity, Magnotta posted his exploits on the web and was eventually arrested in Germany in an Internet cafe reading new stories about himself.

No doubt, there is already a true crime book in the works.

Do you think books like these encourage the likes of Magnotta? Do you think they exploit the victim?

It's human nature to be fascinated with crime, and true crime books have been out for centuries. But perhaps there should be a certain time period between the crime and the books, sort of like there used to be an acceptable mourning period before one remarried after widowhood.

Any thoughts?

I agree with you, Dean. I think waiting until all parties are gone is really the only acceptable time limit.

I am not sure about your last statement. Yes, I think psychopaths like Magnotta would kill anyway, but certain ones like him clearly crave the attention and I think the infamy of other gruesome grimes spurred him on. He had over 70 Facebook pages devoted to himself, he tried to become a porn star, started a rumor he was dating Karla Homoulka, but all failed to bring him the fame and attention he desired. Then he posted a video of himself killing kittens and started to get attention. Was it not then simply inevitable that he would graduate to killing a human and posting that on the Net?

And now he has plead not guilty (as if) and chosen trial by jury -- all, no doubt, to extend his fifteen minutes and provide more fodder for the inevitable book and, I am sure he is hoping, the movie.

You think the kittens says a lot? How about the website Gore posting Magnotta's video of the student's murder and subsequent sexual acts with the corpse -- and then, when the cops came calling, Gore claimed the posting was a public service, meant as a warning. Yeah, right. The website is called "Gore," not "Take Heed." They should face some sort of accessory-after-the-fact charge.

P.D. James put is so well when she said the attraction of crime novels is that they satisfy our fascination with the dark side while simultaneously offering us the comfort that the killer is always caught. Perhaps true crime does the same thing, at least when the killer is caught. Which is why I find the trend to glorify killers and other criminals in our entertainment so disturbing. What need are we satisfying now?