TRUE CRIME

L.A.’s Cecil Hotel Has A

Dark And Sordid Past

In February 2013, 21-year-old Elisa Lam disappeared from her room at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles. Family, friends, and police remained baffled about her whereabouts for two weeks, until her naked body eventually was found in a water tank on the roof, with most of her clothes and personal effects floating in the water near her. It took the Los Angeles County Coroner's office four months to release the autopsy report, which reported no evidence of physical trauma, and stated that the manner of death was accidental. Interestingly, a new four-part Netflix docuseries directed by Oscar-nominated Joe Berlinger reveals the former transient boarding house is no stranger to death and depravity. As part of his profile on Lam’s mysterious death he explains that, during the 1950s and 1960s, it had a reputation as a place where people would kill themselves by jumping out upper-floor windows. The Cecil also housed more than a few serial killers—including Richard “Nightstalker” Ramirez and John Unterweger—during the height of their murderous activities.

Forensics Expert Examines TV

And Film Crime Scene Investigations

Anyone who has watched a crime scene investigation in a movie or on TV—or written one into a novel or script—is somewhat of a student of forensic science. We know there are processes by which a CSI team collects and documents evidence, and we also know (or should know) that we are prone to get many things wrong, or totally ignore them for the sake of expediency. Think of the latest program you watched or book you read where someone attempts to calculate the trajectory of a bullet through a window, causes the inadvertent transfer of DNA from a sweaty brow to a piece of evidence, or improperly collects and documents of evidence in situ. Last year Wired launched a web series titled Technique Critique, which began as a dissection of actors’ dialects and accents, and has expanded to look at everything from crime scene analysis to quick-change disguise artists. This episode in particular takes a critical look at scenes in a number of TV series and films, including The Wire, NCIS (pictured, left), The Boondock Saints, Insomnia, Criminal Minds, and many others.

Nielsen Introduces Metrics To

Track At-Home Theatrical Viewing

Without question, Covid-19 has disrupted the traditional business model of theatrical film distribution both in the U.S. and globally, causing more and more commercial films to be released simultaneously to movie houses and streaming services. This evolution is forcing the entire media food chain—from studios to talent—to analyze the volume and reach of their audiences, measured in terms of such detailed household and consumer’s age, gender, and ethnicity. Last month, Nielsen announced a new Theatrical Video On-Demand (TVOD) measurement service as a way to capture viewing of movie releases, including detailed demographic and behavioral information beyond what standard box office metrics often provides. “As this unprecedented pandemic continues to influence consumer behavior, perhaps even through a prolonged state of recovery waves, being able to measure and help clients appropriately monetize new revenue streams has never been more crucial,” said Scott Brown, the company’s GM of Audience Measurement. One question that concerns studios and distributors alike: After life returns to a “new normal,” will audiences shift back to pre-pandemic behaviors of going to the theater, or will they prefer to watch streaming media from the comfort of their couches?

TRUE CRIME UPDATE

Horrific New Details In The

Murder Of Journalist Kim Wall

Most of us already know the horrific story of Kim Wall, the young journalist who landed an interview with an eccentric Danish inventor Peter Madsen in 2017 —and then was never seen again. An intrepid reporter who had chased stories to Haiti, Uganda, and India, Wall was intrigued by Madsen, a 46-year-old self-styled “inventrepreneur” who was locked in a battle of egos with other amateur rocket builders in Copenhagen. He eventually relented, and invited her aboard the 55-foot-long submarine he’d built with his own hands (and $200,000 of crowd-sourced funding). It was only supposed to be a brief interview—no more than an hour—but three hours after she boarded the sub her journalism partner, Ole Stobbe grew worried and contacted the coast guard. Air Mail reporters Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger reveal grim new details about what came next…and Kim Wall’s gruesome demise.

A Brief History Of Classic TV’s

Most Unusual Investigators

In the 1950s, when television was still in its infancy, many detective shows were holdovers from radio's golden age, when listeners were required to visualize settings and characters via “theater of the mind.” Many police officers and PIs were tedious, strait-laced, “just the facts” men (and very few women) whose singular characteristic was a thirst for justice. As the medium progressed into the 1960s and '70s, however, a funny thing happened: square-jawed, ramrod-straight, two-fisted cops gave way to some unusual and unorthodox investigators. Thus, we were given older detectives (Barnaby Jones), heavyset detectives (Cannon), cops in wheelchairs (Ironside), and a bunch of others. This trend soon gave way to even more eclectic and interesting characters, including a blind insurance agent in Longstreet, the mysterious Michael Alden in Coronet Blue, a racecar test driver named Ben Richards in Immortal, and news photographer Thomas Veil in Nowhere Man. Crime Read’s Keith Roysdon provides this short history of classic TV’s most unusual investigators—a good primer on what makes unique characters really stand apart from the has-beens and also-rans.

Ten Dynamic Detective

Duos In Crime Fiction

We tend to think of detective fiction in terms of a lone protagonist—cop, PI, or amateur sleuth—who singularly follows the evidence and clues to track down his or her suspect. Sometimes, however, two detectives are better than one. Ever since Sherlock Holmes and John Watson burst onto the literary scene in 1887, readers have enjoyed the back-and-forth banter and dueling insights that double investigators can provide. Author Joanna Schaffhausen, who has paired former crime victim Ellery Hathaway with FBI agent Reed Markham in four of her crime novels, recently wrote in Publishers Weekly that a second partner “provides a different perspective and a harmonizing voice that you won’t get with the lone, rogue detective. Partnering investigators of varying genders, backgrounds, and ages opens up the story and allows new clues to surface. I especially love male/female investigating teams, but I’m a sucker for any pair that packs a punch.” Here are ten of her favorite “dynamic duos.”

Mystery Shows About

Cool Women Solving Crimes

It's been brought to my attention that BunzelGram tends to focus on mysteries and thrillers that appeal more to a male audience. Tough guys, guns, car chases, and more tough guys. More James Lee Burke and Lee Child, not enough Gillian Flynn and Tess Gerritsen. While I definitely plead the fifth, I actually love a good mystery or thriller that features a strong female lead, which is why my curiosity was piqued when I found this list of “charming mystery shows about cool women solving baffling crimes.” Compiled by Crime Reads’ Olivia Rutigliano, it looks at programs that follow the following parameters: “First off, no men. Or, really few men. I really, really don’t want to watch a male detective have a female sidekick, even if she’s smart or the casting is vanguard. I want to watch someone whose successes mean something extra-personal to me. Second, these are fun shows, not super-dark or terrifying shows … Nothing upsetting. No serial killers. No sex crime. No violence against women. No true crime. No abductions or torture. You get the picture. The goal here is to be able to sleep at night.”

Skeleton Key

Is Now Available

"Raw, irreverent, and witty, Jack Connor is someone you want with you in a foxhole or the bloody back roads of South Carolina." —Former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen

“Sweeps you in with intrigue and authority and never lets you go.”—Michael Connelly

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“Bunzel peels away the layers of mystery like a master of the genre”—T. Jefferson Parker

“Lights up the Southern sky with taut, exciting action.”

—Michael McGarrity