Every crime writer has heard this little heckling voice, usually from the cheap seats, but sometimes from inside his own head. It isn’t always loud, but it’s often piercing. My 2008 true crime, The Darkest Night, recently enjoyed a revival on bestseller lists when its long-awaited digital edition was released a couple weeks ago. It's an intimate story of a monstrous crime against two of my childhood friends in the small town where we grew up … [Read more...]
True Crime Author Reflects On Cold Case
Woman's Powerful Courtroom Statement About Sister's Murder Shows Slow Justice Still Important To Families As I listened this afternoon to a weeping woman explain as best she could the impact the unsolved murder of her sister thirty-five years ago had on her and her family, I reflected once again on the fact that justice is not always about punishment. It is also about people such as that woman, and her family, having their day in court and … [Read more...]
VAMPIRE’S Sullivan Never Meant To Write About Bundy
Several days ago I wrote an article about real evidence, and how those personal items of murder can have an impact on the one holding and viewing such evidence. Mostly, the reaction will be positive, but there will be times when a sense of repulsion will surface based solely on what is confronting you. In the case of Richard Chase, there was one item that really turned me off. But most of it was interesting and contributed to my … [Read more...]
VAMPIRE’s Kevin Sullivan Reviews The “Real Evidence”
As a writer of true crime, it’s all about the research. It doesn’t matter if I’m writing a book or a three thousand word article it’s always about the official record. It begins and ends with the record. Of course, if you’re lucky, you’ll have living witnesses to interview, but even here everything gets filtered through the record. Not that the official record is infallible, mind you, because it’s not. But the better you know the case, the easier … [Read more...]
Sullivan Recreates Historic True Crime Tale With VAMPIRE: The Richard Chase Murders
From The Bestselling Author Of THE BUNDY MURDERS Comes The Story Of 'The Vampire of Sacramento' VAMPIRE is the tale of a diabolical, homicidal madman running amok, mutilating and murdering the unsuspecting residents in the quiet neighborhoods of Sacramento, CA. His diabolical and unrelenting desires, not just to kill his victims but to drink their blood, unleashed a terror within the city unlike anything the residents had ever known. Check Out … [Read more...]
RJ Parker Calls VAMPIRE A “Must Have”
"The Richard Chase Murders by veteran true crime writer and historian Kevin Sullivan is fraught with emotion and detail. I always admire an author who dedicates their project to the victims, and tells about who they were and not just the crime against them. This is a well-written book that was researched in person and facts gleaned from key players during and after the Chase murders. A must have book for all true crime enthusiasts … [Read more...]
Ron Franscell: Is true crime’s death exaggerated?
A few years ago, author Joe McGinniss, whose Fatal Vision is among a handful of acknowledged classics in true crime, pronounced the genre deader than Marley: “The last three books I’ve written have been about soccer, which nobody in America cares about; horse racing, which nobody in America cares about; and true crime, a genre that expired sometime last century . . .” If the genre is dead, it died fairly young. It hasn’t even been 50 years … [Read more...]
BOGEYMAN-Channeling In Cold Blood
Veteran true crime author Steve Jackson channels the well-established In Cold Blood tradition of absenting himself from the plot, like a journalist, while constructing a narrative, driven by action and dialog, influenced by novel-writing technique. Jackson’s gradually unfolding story feels familiar to anybody accustomed to reading police procedurals and crime thrillers. The horrifying aspects of Jackson’s narrative, of the very killer every … [Read more...]
BOGEYMAN-Steve Jackson-LATalkRadio
Steve discusses BOGEYMAN and his other books, as well as writing in general, with LATalkRadio hosts John Johnson and Dr. Estella Sneider. … [Read more...]
BOGEYMAN-Steve on True Crime Discussions
New York Times bestselling author Steve Jackson looks forward to joining the members of the True Crime Discussions group on Facebook to talk about BOGEYMAN. Mark your calendars for December 12 @ 7pm est. Read the book and come join us! … [Read more...]