Obsessed with True Crime discussion

A TASTE FOR MURDER by Frank Girardot and Burl Barer being released March 8

The Stranger She Loved: A Mormon Doctor, His Beautiful Wife, and an Almost Perfect Murder

The Stranger She Loved By Shanna Hogan. To be released Feb. 2.

One Breath Away: The Hiccup Girl - From Media Darling to Convicted Killer

One Breath Away by M. William Phelps. To be released Feb. 23.

If You Only Knew

If You Only Knew by M. William Phelps. To be released July 26.

Morgue: A Life in Death, by Dr. Vincent DiMaio and Ron Franscell, coming May 17, 2016. Now available for pre-order at your local independent bookstore or at Amazon.

The Trail of Ted Bundy by Kevin Sullivan coming out 22 March 2016.

Bitter Remains: A Custody Battle, A Gruesome Crime, and the Mother Who Paid the Ultimate Price by Diane Fanning - January 2016

Conviction: The Untold Story of Putting Jodi Arias Behind Bars by Juan Martinez - February 2016

Clifford Olson: The Beast of British Columbia by Elizabeth Broderick - February 2016

The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer by Skip Hollandsworth - April 5, 2016

ICE AND BONE: Tracking An Alaskan Serial by Monte Francis - April 19, 2016

There is no Goodreads listing for this yet but there is one on Amazon.

Edit: Link there now Ice and Bone: Tracking An Alaskan Serial Killer

Shelley wrote: "ICE AND BONE: Tracking An Alaskan Serial by Monte Francis - April 19, 2016

There is no Goodreads listing for this yet but there is one on Amazon."

An Alaskan serial? Like "The Lone Ranger" or "Flash Gordon"?

Fishface wrote: "Shelley wrote: "ICE AND BONE: Tracking An Alaskan Serial by Monte Francis - April 19, 2016

There is no Goodreads listing for this yet but there is one on Amazon."

An Alaskan seri..."'

LOL Thanks for the laugh.

Shelley wrote: "Bitter Remains: A Custody Battle, A Gruesome Crime, and the Mother Who Paid the Ultimate Price by Diane Fanning - January 2016

Conviction: The Untold Story of ..."</i>

<i>Shelley wrote: "[book:Bitter Remains: A Custody Battle, A Gruesome Crime, and the Mother Who Paid the Ultimate Price by Diane Fanning - January 2016

[book:Conviction: The Untold Story of ..."

Shelley -- how was the Clifford Olsen book? I lived in British Columbia when he was active. He tried abducting a friend of mine but she got away. This was early on. She went to the police with a description and his shiny gold business card, but because she had some drug issues, they never followed up.

Oh, I haven't read it yet but it is on my list. I only included it as it is a true crime released in 2016.

Boy oh boy, I hope the police have changed since then and now listen to the "marginalized"! I think this case and the pig farmer case really brought to light this issue. I have hope when I heard Trudeau is starting that task force to look into native Canadian missing persons cases.

Your poor friend. Bad enough for something like that to happen but to find out later he killed many must have been a shock!

Shelley wrote: "Oh, I haven't read it yet but it is on my list. I only included it as it is a true crime released in 2016.

Boy oh boy, I hope the police have changed since then and now listen to the "marginalize..."

Yes, the Picton case is truly horrifying. As for my friend, she developed paranoid schizophrenia and her baby was taken away from her. She tried to commit suicide by jumping off the 2nd Narrows Bridge. That landed her in Riverview, where she killed herself while under suicide watch. I may write a book about it one day because her whole, short, adult life was plagued by one failure by the system (law enforcement, mental health, justice) after another. So sad.

Do you remember the Bruce Blackman case in Coquitlam? The mass murder?

Janice,

I suppose we are having this discussion in the wrong place. Lady Belleza (moderator) can tell us if we are "doing wrong". :-)

No, I hadn't heard of the Bruce Blackman case but I Googled it and it's a very sad one, isn't it? A mentally ill man kills six members of his family. Another system failure.

Then...I went to see if there are any books on the case. There is one I found that had a lot of very good reviews and I put it on my TBR list.

Then...I went to read up on the author and it hit me. You are the author. Am I right?

A Voice out of Nowhere by Janice Holly Booth published in September 2013 (so definitely in the wrong thread) :-)

I worked in court at the time Bruce came through the system and that's how I became so involved. It's a really fascinating story which is why I finally decided to write it, after 30 some years. So tragic, so preventable, like most of these mass killings. Our mental health care systems -- in Canada and the US -- are so broken and utterly failing the most severely mentally ill among us.

You'd mentioned the missing Native women. Are you in BC?

No, Nova Scotia but my husband was born in Vancouver and we have family there. And I should have said unsolved murdered and missing native women...not just the missing. That whole concept of *some* people thinking of *some* murder victims as 'less dead' is so sad.

Shelley wrote: "No, Nova Scotia but my husband was born there and we have family there. And I should have said unsolved murdered and missing native women...not just the missing. That whole concept of *some* people..."

My goodness, I've been trying to get to Nova Scotia forever! I lived in BC until 1985 then moved to the US. For the last 2 years my partner and I have planned trips to NS, but they've had to be cancelled. Soon!

I read awhile back that there is a new task force to look into the missing and murdered Native women, but I haven't heard anything more. I always hold Canada's law enforcement to a higher standard, but unfortunately, they really failed on this one. So I hope they make up for it by focusing their best efforts on getting some answers and making some arrests.

I'm going to order the book about Clifford Olson. The reviews look good, but there are no "verified purchasers" so who knows. I'll look forward to reading your review!

The Clifford Olsen book is the last book (#12) in the Crimes Canada: True Crimes That Shocked the Nation series. I have read most of them. They are all about 150 pages or so long and they have been very good reads! They are also a part of the Amazon Unlimited program and $0 for anyone who is a member. If they review a book they got through the program, it doesn't show them as a verified purchaser for whatever reason.

That's good news -- I am a member! Thanks for the clarification on the "verified purchaser" issue. Didn't know that, good to know!

The series of short books called Crimes Canada: True Crimes That Shocked the Nation is to have 24 books in total; a new one each month. I thought it was going to be just 12. I am glad because I have found them to be quite good and they are $0 with Amazon Unlimited.

Here are the next three to be published:

Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women of Canada by Katherine McCarthy

Col. David Russell Williams: An Officer and Serial Killer by RJ Parker & Introduction by Katherine McCarthy

Purgatory in Isolation: The Story of Renee Acoby by Diana Montane

No links for them yet.

Thanks!

Hey i'm not an ogre!


How did that get here.

Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "Hey i'm not an ogre!


How did that get here."

lol I know you are not but I am trying to be good and follow the rules. :)

Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "Janice wrote: "I worked in court at the time Bruce came through the system and that's how I became so involved. It's a really fascinating story which is why I finally decided to write it, after 30 ..."

Hello M'Lady!

My thread was not meant to be a book promotion. I was interested in the Clifford Olson case, as a friend of mine was almost a victim of his. Then we got to Bruce, then we got away from him. I've enjoyed my back and forth with Shelley, as a fellow follower of true crime AND a fellow Canadian, which is sort of a jackpot for me! We love what you do here and all your efforts to corral chaos, or bleeding out between categories. But for me, this thread is strictly about Canadian criminals. Hope that's OK.

Well, the problem there is that you don't have as many criminals as we do in the USA! Might make for a very short discussion...

Fishface wrote: "Well, the problem there is that you don't have as many criminals as we do in the USA! Might make for a very short discussion..."

Good point! But one thing's for sure. When Canadians rattle off the track, it gets really ugly really fast.

All too true.

Actually this thread is about TC books released in 2016, we seem to have strayed. Let's try to get back to the subject.

Thanks!

At the end of the new Bundy book The Trail of Ted Bundy: Digging Up The Untold Stories there was a preview of a new Steve Jackson book called Smooth Talker: Trail of Death about a guy called Roy Melanson who was a serial rapist and considered a suspect in some murders (don't know him) but there is no listing for it on Amazon or Goodreads and the link to the publisher's page they provided doesn't work. I am thinking they weren't quite ready when the Bundy book was released today but I would imagine that's a new book to expect from Jackson in the near future.

Dixie mentioned this on another page. A new book: Possessed: The Infamous Texas Stiletto Murder by Kathryn Casey due out on September 27, 2016.

Looks good!

Newly released!! The History of the Barclay Hotel: A collection of true short stories both epic and tragic. Enter book giveaway for a signed copy. FREE Kindle Book Preview!

http://www.amazon.com/History-Barclay...

Paperback will be released on April 11th 2016...

To be released on April 29th: Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane: A True Story of Victorian Law and Disorder: The First Unsolved Murder of the Victorian Age by Paul Thomas Murphy.

Two of my favorite things in one book; true crime and Victorian England. Have definitely added this one to my TBR list.

Released January 11, 2016:
Gitchie Girl: The Survivor's Inside Story of the Mass Murders that Shocked the Heartland by Phil Hamman

Released March 15, 2016:
Alligator Candy by David Kushner

Both look interesting.

Shelley wrote: "Released January 11, 2016:
Gitchie Girl: The Survivor's Inside Story of the Mass Murders that Shocked the Heartland by Phil Hamman

Released March 15, 2016:
[book:A..."

Shelley, I read Gitchie Girl. The story was ok but as a true crime it is lacking. The author doesnt do a lot of leg work with this one. Just what he gleans from news reports.

Gregg Olsen has written another TC with Rebecca Morris. It is being released in July. I took this screen shot from Instagram. If it doesn't show up i'll fix it from my laptop later. "This title will be released on July 5, 2016."

A Killing in Amish Country: Sex, Betrayal, and a Cold-blooded Murder

Shelley wrote: "At the end of the new Bundy book The Trail of Ted Bundy: Digging Up The Untold Stories there was a preview of a new Steve Jackson book called Smooth Talker: Trail of Death about a g..."

Smooth Talker: Trail of Death by Steve Jackson **NOW AVAILABLE**

Thanks for the heads up!!! ;)

Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "Gregg Olsen has written another TC with Rebecca Morris. It is being released in July. I took this screen shot from Instagram. If it doesn't show up i'll fix it from my laptop later. "This title wil..."

I have it reordered. :0)
BTW I hate auto correct!

Dixie wrote: "Thanks for the heads up!!! ;)"

I live to serve.

For those interested, here are the winners of the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards in True Crime --

GOLD: Familiar Evil, by Rannah Gray (The Lisburn Press)

SILVER: Buccaneer: The Provocative Odyssey of Jack Reed - Adventurer, Drug Smuggler, and Pilot Extraordinaire, by Jack Carlton Reed and MayCay Beeler (Strategic Media Books)

BRONZE: Busting Bad Guys: My True Crime Stories of Bookies, Drug Dealers, and Ladies of the Night, by Mark Langan (MTL838)

Also, here are the nominees for the 2016 Edgar Award in the category of Best Fact Crime (winner TBA Apr. 28 by Mystery Writers of America):

Operation Nemesis: The Assassination Plot that Avenged the Armenian Genocide, 
by Eric Bogosian (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)


Where The Bodies Were Buried: Whitey Bulger and the World That Made Him
by T.J. English (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)


Whipping Boy: The Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year-Old Bully, 
by Allen Kurzweil (HarperCollins Publishers - Harper)


Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime, 
by Val McDermid (Grove Atlantic – Grove Press)


American Pain: How a Young Felon and his Ring of Doctors Unleashed 
America's Deadliest Drug Epidemic, 
by John Temple (Rowman & Littlefield – Lyons Press)

Bundy's lawyer in Utah, John Henry Browne, has a book coming out in August of this year called The Devil's Defender: My Odyssey Through American Criminal Justice from Ted Bundy to the Kandahar Massacre

Yet another new Bundy book was recently released: I Survived Ted Bundy: The Attack, Escape & PTSD That Changed My Life by Rhonda Stapley.

There have been quite a number of people who have claimed to have had run-ins with Bundy and I can't help but be skeptical but I will reserve judgment until after reading the book...sometime. Apparently she was interviewed on Dr. Phil Show yesterday. I may try and watch that.

Well, bear in mind that serial killers NEVER stop trawling for victims. Many of them do get away, and may never realize they were targeted at all. I'm reading one right now, The Trash Bag Murderer, written by a guy whose brother was chased through the neighborhood by two of their neighbors in a truck. The author himself cut this neighbor's lawn and was once asked in so that the homeowner could listen to his heart, a la Jeff Dahmer. He talked his way out of there, feeling very uncomfortable, but didn't realize just how dangerous the situation had been until that same neighbor turned himself into the police, saying he'd killed somewhere between 30 and 40 people.

Another tidbit: Wayne Williams, who never had a job in his life, put an average of 237 miles per day on his car, saying he was "scouting for talent" to start a singing group that would make him a zillion dollars. What he was doing was looking for little boys to kill. See The Atlanta Child Murders: The Night Stalker.

I've also read that serial killers also do 'practice runs', trying out different lies on people, never taking it further, just seeing how people react.

Janice wrote: "I worked in court at the time Bruce came through the system and that's how I became so involved. It's a really fascinating story which is why I finally decided to write it, after 30 some years. So ..."

Having read your book, Janice, it's looks as if it's not the system that was broken but the brain of the psychiatrist who threw some pills at him and never thought to require counseling or even a fog-the-mirror safety evaluation.

I have to doff my chapeau to your excellent bombshell ending, BTW...

Fishface wrote: "Janice wrote: "I worked in court at the time Bruce came through the system and that's how I became so involved. It's a really fascinating story which is why I finally decided to write it, after 30 ..."

THANK YOU for confirming my elevated and long-standing distaste for the man who could have derailed the whole, awful event if he'd insisted Bruce be committed on that first home visit. What trained professional would leave that heart-wrenching decision to people who were not only NOT trained in mental health evaluation, but who were also making (or not making) decisions under stress while fully in denial? I know hindsight is 20/20 but there should have been some censure of him in the wake of the debacle. Instead, he continued to work unhindered not just in private practice but for the justice system as well.

(And thank you not only for your high five, but throwing in a little francais. You stay classy Fishface!)

Now, here in the US of A, we can't commit someone involuntarily unless he is actively dangerous to himself or someone else or if he is incapable of caring for himself. Ongoing court-ordered treatment is VERY hard to arrange. Is that also true in Canada?

Yes, same thing here, with the obvious exception of someone who is actively psychotic, in which case an argument could be made that they are a danger to themselves because they are so out of touch with reality. But given the fact that there are no more mental institutions, it's kind of a moot point anyway. Like the US, there are precious few psychiatric beds available country-wide, either at a secure forensic facility or hospital. The medical and law enforcement communities are rallying to re-open some of the now-shuttered institutions, like Riverview.

Janice wrote: "Yes, same thing here, with the obvious exception of someone who is actively psychotic, in which case an argument could be made that they are a danger to themselves because they are so out of touch ..."

I really fail to understand how Ronald Reagan's shut-down-the-hospitals-and-leave-them-all-homeless policies appear to have leaked over the borders to other countries.

Alligator Candy
Published March 15th 2016 by Simon & Schuster

I just finished this book. WOW.

SouthWestZippy wrote: "
Alligator Candy
Published March 15th 2016 by Simon & Schuster

I just finished this book. WOW."

Good WOW or bad WOW? :)