At the cusp of the Post-American Age... In CALIFORNIA TWILIGHT: Essays and Memories of The End of The Golden State, journalist and author Mark Cromer makes his case that decades of political malfeasance and journalistic corruption of the American media helped upend the California way of life. Part reporter's notebook, part memoir and eulogy to The Golden State by a second-generation native, CALIFORNIA TWILIGHT is a collection of fast-paced … [Read more...]
ALL MY FAVORITE PEOPLE by Jill Rice Unveils a High-Stakes Romance of Revenge and Betrayal
We often meet our destiny on the road we take to avoid it. Eve Gardner was seventeen when she ran away from home. She bought a bus ticket to California, a place as far away from her parents as a road could take her. In less than a month, she had a new name, a husband, and a new country. Álvaro Castillo, the accountant for a dangerous drug cartel, had his own reasons for being on that bus. He was on the run, having just killed the man who … [Read more...]
Why Tell This Tragic Story?
Since writing the book, The Lewiston Shootings: An All-American Tragedy, I've been asked a number of times why I chose to write about this horrible event. I've also been questioned on social media for doing so and it's been suggested that I've capitalized on others' pain to profit for myself. The emphasis on my motivations for writing the book, rather than on the issues raised about why it happened and what can be done to prevent it from … [Read more...]
Lewiston Commission Final Report: “Several Opportunities Might Have Changed the Course of Events” (But Don’t Ask For Solutions)
After nine months of subpoenaing witnesses and documents and listening to a wide range of testimony during sixteen public hearings, the Independent Commission To Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston issued its final report on August 20th. The 215-page report, while substantive in details that led to the failure to stop Robert Card II from killing eighteen Mainers on October 25, 2023, did not make any recommendations on how to fix … [Read more...]
Face Off – How George Erik Marquardt Compares To Breaking Bad’s Fictional Walter White
My latest book, LETHAL DOSES: The Story Behind the Godfather of Fentanyl was released Tuesday, August 27, 2024. It's the true story of the man DEA called "the best and most dangerous clandestine chemist" the agency ever encountered. George Erik "Squeak" Marquardt, a high school dropout and self-taught "chemistry genius," became a professional criminal at age twelve and, in the sixty years after that, had "no occupation other than being a drug … [Read more...]
Out Now! LETHAL DOSES takes readers inside the twisted world of the man who brought fentanyl to America
On a cold afternoon in February 1991, a frightening new drug hit the streets of New York City, a synthetic narcotic marketed in packets labeled "Tango & Cash." As police scrambled to warn heroin users of the danger, the overdose victims began piling up in hospital emergency rooms and county morgues across three states. As a Drug Enforcement Administration agent said at the time, "We don't know yet who's putting this stuff out there, … [Read more...]
In Memory of Elizabeth Short, Otherwise Known as “Black Dhalia”
July 29, 2024 marked the centenary of Elizabeth Short's birth. Born in Boston, Beth, as she often preferred to be called, was the middle child of Cleo and Phoebe Short. She had four sisters: Virginia, Dorothea, Elnora, and Muriel. In 1930, Cleo's miniature golf course business tanked. He positioned his car close to a bridge to create the appearance of suicide. A houseful of women has its comforts, but Cleo's abandonment appears to have profoundly … [Read more...]
Robert Conlin on Why Our Judicial System Tolerates Misconduct and Negligence
Like many millions of Americans, I am hooked on true crime stories. Some see this collective fascination with true crime as an indictment of our current society, but let's remember that Truman Capote's In Cold Blood was an international bestseller when it was published nearly 60 years ago. And 40 years before that, the Leopold and Loeb murder case and the Lindbergh child kidnapping and murder engrossed the nation. Judging by the many … [Read more...]
