True crime can be a terrifying inspiration, authors agree ‹ CrimeReads

True crime turns us all into gawkers, rolling slowly past a broken corpse on the sidewalk or staring at bloodstains on a bedroom carpet.

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I say this as someone who is ambivalent about true crime books, articles, podcasts, and television shows, and as someone who has co-authored four true crime books and was a panelist in a true crime session at the Bouchercon 2024 crime writers convention in Nashville in August . I wrote in one of those true crime books about how distasteful it is to use true crime as entertainment.

At the Bouchercon panel and at least one other true crime panel this week in Nashville, the genre found a ready audience. Our panelists came from diverse backgrounds in writing and spoke eloquently about the topic to an appreciative audience.

Our moderator, Claire Booth, and the other panelists other than myself, Emma C. Wells, Greg Lilly, Craig Robertson and Thomas Kies, all have extensive experience in writing both fiction and non-fiction. They told their most memorable true crime stories and sometimes they were stories that led them to write fiction or non-fiction.

I didn’t record our panel and can’t begin to understand all of the comments, but after Bouchercon I asked the panelists for their thoughts on true crime. Some elaborated, others let their initial description of their interests speak for themselves.

True crime as inspiration

Lilly’s May 2024 book, “Abingdon’s Boardinghouse Murder,” focuses on a notable crime from this Virginia town: the 1945 murder of a boarder, a World War II veteran, by a young widow who ran a boarding house.

“Helen Clark threw the gun under the neighbor’s porch and then took a taxi to go to the cinema with her teenage daughters in Bristol. When the body was found, after several contradictory statements, she settled on the claim that he shot himself four times, twice in the back. The Commonwealth of Virginia called it murder out of jealous rage. The process thrilled the nation,” Lilly said.

Lilly noted that when he moved back to Southwest Virginia after a few years in the country, a real estate agent offered to show him Abingdon’s infamous “murder house.” Lilly replied, “Hell no.” But the case never left his mind.

Kies based his novel “Whisper Room” on the murders of ten people, mostly sex workers, between the early 1990s and 2011 in the Gilgo and Oak Beach areas of Long Island, New York. Another Kies novel, “Shadow Hill,” was based on the still-unsolved murders of a billionaire couple in Toronto.

Wells, whose new book “This Girl’s a Killer” is about a female serial killer, was influenced by stories about men who killed in Louisiana – and Wells’s own proximity to those killing sites.

“It’s a really strange feeling to continue to live your everyday life knowing that there’s a serial killer on the hunt in your town and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Wells said.

Robertson, who has written 11 novels – most of them set in the poor streets of modern-day Glasgow, Scotland – was active in the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival. He was a journalist and has a fascinating connection to the 1980 murders of a man in Glasgow who killed his ex-wife, their four-year-old son and her brother: the killer’s sister gave him her brother’s belongings and made him the heir to one Apartment building effects of the murderer.

Booth, a former journalist like several other members of the panel, based her book “The False Prophet: Conspiracy, Blackmail and Murder in the Name of God” on a man who claimed to be the chosen one to announce the return of Christ, probably inevitably, resorted to extortion, kidnapping and killing.

I spoke about the 1985 murders of two teenagers in my hometown of Muncie, Indiana, a crime that led me to write not only numerous newspaper articles over the decades but also “The Westside Park Murders,” my co-authored book about it true crime from 2021 the historical press. I have already written about this tragedy for CrimeReads, so no further explanation is necessary here.

The Future of True Crime

The group of writers answered questions and spoke not only about their most fascinating cases, but also about the importance of focusing on victim survivors. It’s something that gets lost in a lot of true crime entertainment.

Booth agreed with me when she expressed concern about some true crimes today.

“I’m very concerned that true crime is often viewed as just entertainment that you blithely consume and then forget about,” she said. “People sitting around on a podcast chatting and gasping in horror may be entertaining, but I think that trivializes the causes and effects of the crime and is hurtful to the people who actually endured it.” It’s important , to remember that there were real people involved on all sides. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong to follow a side like the victim’s. But it’s really important to remember (and if you’re involved in true crime programming, show) that the effects of a crime, especially a violent crime, are far-reaching. When I wrote my book, it was important to me to show the impact on a community.”

When I asked Lilly for his recommendations for great true crime, he quoted some classics: “The spark that ignited true crime was ‘In Cold Blood’ and Capote’s dramatization of the people involved.” I love Deborah Blum’s “Poisoner’s Handbook” This shows the birth of forensic medicine. John Berendt’s “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” illustrated how culture, characters and setting merge into an immersive experience.”

Booth quoted a true crime book that I had never heard of but am now dying to read: “Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America” by Jill Leovy. “It’s a compelling look at gang killings in South Los Angeles, why they happen, the impact they have on a traumatized community, and the detectives trying to solve the murders. Leovy, a L.A. Times Reporter, is a master storyteller and her book is not only exceptional reporting, it is also a great read.”

Since part of our session focused on victims and perpetrators, it was appropriate that Wells cited the recent online debate about whether women would rather encounter a bear or a man while walking in the woods.

“It’s no wonder why women choose the bear,” Wells said. “All the women killed by these monsters should still be here, living their lives the way they want. That was taken away from them and I think about that often. A bit of that old fear has stayed with me over the years, and I find that I’m probably overprotective compared to many other people. All of this contributed to my debut thriller and the emergence of my main character – a strong, capable serial killer who takes out the trash. Cordelia is the killer we needed. I never mention these real-life cases – but they influenced me as a person and therefore my writing.”

When asked about the future of true crime, Lilly replied, “With the flood of podcasts and shows, the well-written, character-driven stories are going to fade away – the stories that don’t deal with gore or sensationalism.” By its very nature, a true crime film has enough Shock and lurid detail without being overhyped by stylized production companies or entertainment personalities.

“The elements of telling a story are constant. Quality books, podcasts, TV shows, articles, and blogs use the same form: (character) wants (goal) because (motivation), but faces (conflict). This is an archetypal narrative that appeals to the reader or listener. The character-driven true crime stories continue because they are relatable, including as a cautionary tale.”

Booth wondered about the future of true crime.

“Unfortunately, crime isn’t going away, so I don’t think the market for true crime is going to shrink any time soon,” she said. “Expansion could stop as some shows and podcasts go away. But people are fascinated and I think the right kind of true crime show – respectful, thoughtful, attentive to both cause and effect, not sensational – can shed light on the darkness.”