The artist known as Punch first gained fame as the world's greatest safe cracker who could punch open a safe in under sixteen seconds. He was also a master forger, vandal "aerosol artist" whose legendary street art inspired Sean Sullivan, aka Layercakeny, and the youngest and highest-ranking member of what the FBI first termed the YACS, now known as the Pink Panthers. He served sixteen years in prison, where his artistic talent made him an … [Read more...]
A Fatal Owl Attack Has At Least One Historical Precedent, Says Author Tiddy Smith
Kathlee Peterson, Durham, North Carolina, media attention, news, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, The Staircase, Netflix, Michael Peterson, Larry Pollard, owl attack, owl theory, Robert Schmidt, killed by an owl, forensics, investigation, animal attack A Fatal Owl Attack Has At Least One Historical Precedent, Says Author Tiddy Smith Kathlee Peterson, Durham, North Carolina, media attention, news, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, The Staircase, Netflix, … [Read more...]
In LOU AND JONBENÉT, Author John Wesley Anderson Reveals the Inside Story of the Failed Police Investigation Into the Kidnapping and Murder of JonBenét Ramsey
On Christmas Night 1996, six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in her family's home in Boulder, Colorado. A ransom note was found in the home, but it was hours before her father, John, found her body in the basement. She had been strangled with a garrote and her skull was fractured. The media sensationalized the tragic death of the "child beauty queen" and public speculation and rumors ran rampant. What followed was one of the most … [Read more...]
Author Tiddy Smith On ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘The Boys from Brazil’
In 1996, a sheep called Dolly was born. She was the first mammal in history to be cloned from an adult. For this reason, Dolly had three mothers: the one who provided the egg, the one who carried her to term, and the one who provided the DNA. It was a remarkable leap from science fiction to science fact. There's a tendency to think of Dolly as a duplicate, a carbon copy, of the sheep whose DNA was injected into the egg; as though Dolly … [Read more...]
Scholar and DEATH BY TALONS Author Tiddy Smith Answers “Who Is Larry Pollard?”
Thomas Lawrence Pollard, better known as Larry Pollard, was born in Durham, North Carolina in 1948. He was the son of Julia Davis Pollard and Forrest Pollard sr. Studying law at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, he would go on to work in some of the most prestigious legal counsel positions in the State. From birth, he was raised at a large stately home in Forest Hills. The address was 1902 Cedar Street, in the very same house where … [Read more...]
Gallery From Lou Smit’s Investigation | LOU AND JONBENÉT: A Legendary Lawman’s Quest To Solve A Child Beauty Queen’s Murder by John Wesley Anderson
EXCLUSIVE SLIDES USED IN THE INVESTIGATION Excerpts from Lou Smit's slideshow presentation are being published with the consent of his family and released for the first time. The slides are being made available with the knowledge and consent of JonBenét Ramsey's family in the hopes of bringing her killer to justice. CONTENT WARNING: The following materials contain graphic images of violence and abuse against a child and are intended for a … [Read more...]
Meet Memoir Author Jim Duke
VISIT authorjimduke.com Dropping out of high school to pursue the life of a cowboy in Texas, Jim Duke eventually bullshitted his way into college and attended University of Wyoming and University of Texas before finally earning a BS in Zoology and MS in Range Science on Mountain Goat Habitat in Alaska, both from Colorado State University. His taste for the wild has taken him to the upper Amazon, Patagonia, Madagascar, and mountain biking … [Read more...]
Author Margery Metzger On The Importance of True Crime Writing
A true crime writer walks a tightrope. Brutal crimes may be sensational, but most of all they are traumatic. The writer must balance facts of the crime about the perpetrator, the witnesses, law enforcement, the judicial, and the survivors. It is not easy to research this material and to sort through events to try to determine what is fact and what has been distorted either through time or one's own perspective. Perpetrators should be held … [Read more...]
GASPING FOR AIR: Book Two In The ‘Big Dogs Series’ by S.L. Ditmars
SL Ditmars writes another fast-paced, page-turning police procedural... I love the characters and the dogs, Ares and Addy, who make the story even richer... I very much and highly recommend this book. -K.L. Peacock, author of THE CROSSINGS series and Public Safety Writers Association Member About The Book JW North and his "big dog" Ares are back. This time North is a U.S. Marshall and member of the Serial Criminal Task Force. North, … [Read more...]
Crime Fiction Author S.L. Ditmars Answers: “Why are your bad guys so bad?”
If you have read my blog posts before, you know I spend a lot of time making my stories feel real and accurate. It is why I have such a large beta reader team. I don't want my books to be full of technical errors or too much jargon to be an enjoyable read. A friend asked me once, why do you have your antagonists kill the way they do? Do you really need that much violence, blood, or sex crimes? The simple answer is, no, I don't have to do that. … [Read more...]