TRUE CRIME

Real-Life Stories From The

Bizarre To The Unbelievable

Whether through the pages of a bestseller book, a new cable network series, or a podcast serial, true crime is gaining in popularity among mystery fans. This list, compiled by Novel Suspects, highlights five real-life stories filled with intrigue and crime that range from bizarre to unbelievable to downright chilling. Enthusiasts of historical crime will be spellbound by the story of the 1961 plane crash that killed UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld in the Congo (pictured), recounted in The Golden Thread. Inside the NRA examines the inner workings of one of the country’s most influential political lobbying organizations, while Chaos is the captivating story of some little-known events surrounding the Charles Manson murders. These books represent a full spectrum of subjects and styles that the true crime genre encompasses—so get ready for some late nights of unputdownable reading.

MORE TRUE CRIME

Lolita Actress Says She Was

Abused By Film's Producer

Lolita. The mere mention of the name conjures up the Vladimir Nobokov novel about Humbert Humbert, who becomes obsessed with 12-year-old Dolores Haze, with whom he has a sexual relationship after he becomes her stepfather. Creepy in 1955 when it was published, it's even creepier today in a time of Nxivm and Epstein. What few people realize, however, is that while Stanley Kubrick was directing the 1962 film version, the young 14-year-old star—Sue Lyon—claims to have been seduced by 34-year-old producer James B. Harris. As author Sarah Weinman wrote last week in an article for online magazine Air Mail, Lyon’s role in the movie and Harris' improper contact with her launched her on a downward spiral of depression that has plagued her for the rest of her life. “My destruction as a person dates from that movie,” she says. “Lolita exposed me to temptations no girl of that age should undergo. I defy any pretty girl who is rocketed to stardom at 14 in a sex nymphet role to stay on a level path thereafter.”

Novelists Can Learn A Lot From

The Structures Of Songwriting

For someone who writes crime novels for a living, I’m jealous of anyone who can write a song. How can one person fit an entire story about love, sorrow, grief, joy, strife—even 18-wheelers and cheating—into a musical form that’s usually fewer than a hundred words? That’s why I found myself absorbed by this essay by writer Garry Rodgers, who lays out the three main song forms, and how they translate to the writing of a novel. “While listening to hours of songs with vocals ranging from Chubby Checker to Reba McIntyre to Celine Dionne to Brian Johnson, I felt a common thread,” Rodgers says. “All their songs—as varied as their voices and lyrics are—have defined structures. I decided to explore this and see how understanding song forms could benefit me as a novelist.” Noting that songs are ancient storytelling forms, he observes that “this primal people-connection still resonates and you, as today’s novel writer, can benefit by understanding timeless song-structured forms.”

Classic Radio Mystery Shows For

Every Crime Fiction Fan—And Writer

For more than 30 years I worked as a writer, editor, and publisher of entertainment-industry trade publications. One of the most fascinating projects I ever covered was the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, and while researching it I found myself mesmerized by the production process—from the first read-through to final taping. This list of “10 Classic Radio Mysteries Every Crime Fiction Lover Should Know,” compiled by Stephen Spotswood for CrimeReads, details many of my old-time favorites including The Shadow, Dragnet, Perry Mason, and Inner Sanctum, as well as the CBS series that hooked me in the first place. I still remember that cub-reporter experience, huddled with renowned director Hi Brown in an audio studio in mid-town Manhattan with actors Fred Gwynne, Teri Keane, Carol Teitel, and Ralph Bell. We taped two episodes that cold November day—In The Dark, which first aired January 8, 1981, and The Fountain of Truth, which aired twelve days later.

Rebecca Turns 80

The movie industry fell off a cliff in 2020, but 80 years ago Alfred Hitchcock gave us one of his first dark masterpieces, an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel Rebecca. Beginning with its opening line—“Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again"—the romantic psychological thriller deals with a naïve young woman (Joan Fontaine) who falls in love with aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) and soon becomes his second wife. They move back to Manderley, his grand mansion on the English coast, commanded by housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), a chilly individual who had been close with the first Mrs. De Winter, Rebecca. Shot partially in and around Carmel, California, it was Hitchcock’s first Hollywood project under contract, and du Maurier begged producer David O. Selznick to force him to be faithful to the book, since he’d taken liberties with another of her novels, Jamaica Inn. Rebecca was a critical and box-office success and received eleven Academy Award nominations, and won two (Best Picture and Best Cinematography). Read more here.

Emil and the Detectives

Sparked A Passion For Mysteries

I often credit the Hardy Boys with cultivating my passion for mysteries at the age of ten, but my interest actually began two years earlier, when my father took me to see a matinee of Emil And The Detectives. Because the boy in the film was about my age I instantly connected with it, and I remember literally sitting on the edge of my seat during the entire film. A week or two later I spent my milk money on a paperback copy of the book (adapted and translated from the novel by Erich Kästner and illustrated by Walter Trier) from the Arrow Book Club. While some of the plot had been changed—my first introduction to Hollywood adaptations—I re-read the book to the point that some of its pages became unglued and fell out. For those not familiar with the story, it concerns young Emil Tischbein, who travels by bus from his hometown of Neustadt to Berlin, carrying an envelope containing 400 marks that his mother had given him to deliver to his grandmother. Emil falls asleep during the bus ride and wakes up to find the money gone. Convinced the man sitting next to him stole it, he embarks on an adventure aimed at getting it back. It’s been decades since I’ve seen it, so I don’t know if it holds up over time, but if you have any young kids at home, it’s available on a number of streaming services.

Shaken And Stirred: RIP, Sean Connery

We will always think of him as the ultimate James Bond, and for many actors that would be more than enough. Sean Connery defined a character and a style while playing Ian Fleming’s incorrigible spy and master of seduction in seven successful films, roundly beating out six other actors as the overwhelming audience favorite in that role. But he was much more than that, having worked in 11 films before being given a shot to star in 1962’s Dr. No. After retiring from Bond flicks (the first time), the Scottish-born actor starred in dozens of movies in which he often had a supporting role. The Name of the Rose, A Bridge Too Far, Time Bandits, The Rock, and Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade are just a few of his more popular movies, and he won an Oscar playing Jim Malone  in The Untouchables. Born Thomas Sean Connery, he was raised in a one-room tenement in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh. He left school at age 13 and delivered milk, polished coffins, and laid bricks, before joining the Royal Navy. He later received an offer to play football for Manchester United, but opted instead to try his luck on the stage, landing a roll in the musical South Pacific. Read more…

Skeleton Key

...Coming February 2021

The summer after his world is devastated in Hurricane Blues, Jack Connor is stitching his life back together one thread at a time. His entire life has washed out to sea, the ghosts of his lingering PTSD are haunting his dreams, and he’s making ends meet tending bar while searching for long-term answers that will return some semblance of meaning to his soul. Despite his better instincts, he finds himself looking into the seemingly random shooting of a customer, a quest that not only causes him to reflect on why he continues to place himself in the path of danger, but also takes him on a reflective journey through personal redemption and atonement for past mistakes. Look for Skeleton Key, coming in February.