True Crime Fiction Menu: January Edition
What I've been consuming lately in the true crime and crime fiction universes
This just in! The 2024 Edgar Nominations dropped last week. The 78th annual awards will be celebrated in May, giving us all plenty of time to catch up on the true crime and crime fiction contenders. I hesitate to even share with you, dear readers, that I have read a grand total of zero of the six “Fact Crime” nominees.1 In penance, I’ll be making my way through them between now and the ceremony, and will keep you all apprised of my thoughts and predictions!
Give it a click!
An embarrassment of riches on the link front this month! It’s almost as if journalists and editors know how deep is my denial that this time next week, I’ll be lesson planning for my second week of the semester, and am eager for distractions! For your wrongful conviction files, Texas Monthly yet again makes the case that it is the undisputed home for provocative and thoughtful true crime journalism with “The Juror Who Found Herself Guilty” (sorry New Yorker). For your coming to terms with violent ancestry files, LitHub published a long read about family violence in Appalachia from New England Review. And for your I’m in the mood for a crime story that could be adapted into a poignant yet enjoyable limited series, let me introduce you to Matt Hutchinson.
Give it a listen!
Due to Winter Break, I’ve been blissfully NOT missing my three-hour roundtrip commute. However, that also means I haven’t been listening to nearly as many pods! What I have been doing is reading The Power Broker in order to listen along with the series 99% Invisible is running all this year about Robert Caro’s monumental biography of the notoriously influential and problematic urban planner and (unelected) public official. At a fresh 1200+ pages, a year is about as long as it will take. But I regularly reread The Lord of the Rings! You don’t scare me, Caro! And I feel confident including the book in this newsletter, as having even the scantest idea of what Robert Moses did to neighborhoods across New York City assures me that there will be (unpunished) crimes aplenty in his biography. Let me know in the comments if you’re reading/listening too!
Give it a stream!
I finished the three-episode Netflix series Escaping Twin Flames, and my verdict = better than it has to be! That value boost is due almost entirely to the creators’ decision to include interviews and insights from media and Queer Studies scholar Cassius Adair. Even if you’re not into the docuseries, I think we should all check out his books.
Crime Fiction Corner
I know the Elin Hilderbrand Extended Universe isn’t everyone’s bag, but I devoured her Paradise Trilogy while visiting my mom in Colorado, to the tune of a book a day. Was that because the average high was 3 degrees Fahrenheit over the long weekend? Possibly. But a crime and cover-up makes the plot go, so I’m including it!
I, along with the rest of the streamerati, have only seen the first episode of the fourth season of True Detective, but I’m cautiously optimistic! Showrunner Issa López is giving Nic Pizzolatto what I think we can all agree is a well needed break, and seems to be focusing her story on a few of my true crime fiction interests: missing and murdered indigenous women, and cli-fi horror. Plus, Jodie Foster!
I’ll close by saying S.A. Cosby’s All the Sinners Bleed is already the book to beat for my favorite read of 2024. Thanks, Obama.
I swear, I would listen to an eight-part investigative podcast on the process by which the Edgar Awards decided to call this category “Fact Crime,” a phrase used by precisely no one.
That’s one of my favourite books! Yes, there’s lots of crime, but the really affecting bits are simply to do with the amoral heartlessness of Moses’ bureaucracy. If the homes had to go to accommodate his highways, the homes had to go. Enjoy! - it won’t *feel* like 1200 pages, I promise!
I love Texas Monthly and have subscribed for years. They always have the most interesting, under the radar stories. I loved Elin's Paradise trilogy. Still beachy but different than all her other books. I thought her Winter Series was good also.