https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_6judSddQU Ira Einhorn - one of several killers featured in book. Please leave a comment about the trailer. What do you think? Do you like it? Always love feedback, and truly appreciate any book reviews like the "Advance Praise' reviews at the start of my book. See these reviews (and leave your own review) here. … [Read more...]
Do Female Psychopaths Differ from Male Psychopaths?
Since my latest book is about psychopaths, I've blogged several times about different aspects of the disorder - here and here for example. In my just released Privileged Killers, I probe the crimes and the court decisions of four homicidal men whom I find to be psychopaths. Female psychopaths There are females, too, in my book that might be seen as more psychopathic than sociopathic had they murdered. In my true-crime work, I generally cite research literature– especially DSM … [Read more...]
Stanford Serial Killer murders daughter of football legend
Somebody has recently been convicted of one of the killings attributed to the Stanford Serial Killer. He's John Getreu. But before getting into the case, a few words about why the case intrigues me. (A recent blog suggests why these cases intrigue most of us.) Stanford University played a big role in my life since it strongly supported the schools and youth programs in Palo Alto, California where I grew up. I rode my bike to summer jobs at Hewlett Packard's first HQ near Sand Hill Road … [Read more...]
Thoughts about “Clarice,” spinoff from “The Silence of the Lambs.”
I managed to catch the 2nd episode of the "Clarice" series recently. It channeled the Waco cult situation, also known as the Waco, Texas massacre. That was the controversial law enforcement siege of a compound that belonged to the Branch Davidian religious cult. In the 2nd episode, Clarice deals with Novak, the leader of a secessionist militia group, hoping to avoid the debacle that happened when the Waco cult compound caught fire during the G-men's … [Read more...]
Popular Culture and True Crime – Tutorial III – Why women are such true crime fans.
As part of our series on Popular Culture and True Crime, our final tutorial looks at why women seem such devoted true crime fans. Tutorials I and II dealt with the fascination with serial killer trading cards and murderabilia (the collection of mementos), respectively. While I've written about crime all my life, I wouldn't call myself a true crime fan. In fact, I'm new to podcasts and true crime radio and I rarely have time for true crime stories on TV. Writing's pretty time … [Read more...]
Popular Culture and True Crime – Tutorial II – Murderabilia.
In a recent blog (go here), I discussed the furor created by the creation of serial killer trading cards* back in 1992. A similar controversy has erupted over the growing practice of collecting artifacts and even bits of hair from those involved in serial killings. The controversy surrounding Murderabilia. It's an odd world where people collect and own bits of a stranger or infamous person, even if it's as innocent as a lock of … [Read more...]
Popular Culture and True Crime – Tutorial I – Serial Killer trading cards?
About the same time that Michael Aamodt, a professor at Radford University in Virginia, started cataloguing serial killers, trading cards popped up. Aamodt's Serial Killer Data Base, compiled with the help of students, is academic, respectable. See here for a prior blog re Aamodt's Radford work. Serial killer Trading cards are not respectable, at least they weren't back in 1992. They are still bought and sold on Amazon, Etsy, and Ebay. Aamodt's catalogue has over five thousand entries … [Read more...]