Serial Menace: Newer Mystery and Crime Fiction Novels on Serial Killers

Whisper in the Dark / by Robert Gregory Browne
When Detective Frank Blackburn discovers an unidentified young woman dead and with a pair of scissors in her left hand, he has a tentative hunch that the murder may be the work of Vincent Van Gogh, a notorious serial killer with an artistic bent. In need of a profiler who can provide some insight in the mind of the madman, Blackburn contacts psychiatrist Dr. Michael Tolan, a man with his own persona experience with Van Gogh—his wife was one of his victims. (FIC BROWNE)

Abomination / by Colleen Coble

Recently divorced detective Nick Andreakos is after a serial murderer whose been targeting young girls and women, When certain clues lead him to believe that his ex-wife Eve could be the killer’s next target, the case takes on another dimension. Eve has already had one close call with the murderer and seems to know that it won’t be the last time she sees the man known as Gideon. (FIC COBLE)

BoneMan’s Daughters / by Ted Dekker
In Texas, a malicious serial killer known as “Bone Man” has been stalking and murdering young girls. Meanwhile in Iraq, a high-ranking military officer has been captured and is being held captive by the enemy. In an effort to extort information, they’ve blackmailed their prisoner using the life and well-being of his wife and daughter back home in Texas—and there seems to be link between the captors and the Bone Man. (Also see The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker) (FIC DEKKER)

Born To Die / by Lisa Jackson
When two women who look remarkably similar to herself suddenly die of seemingly natural causes, Dr. Kacey Lambert chalks it up as a coincidence. But when it’s discovered that one of the dead bodies contained traces of poison, it becomes a murder case headed by Detectives Selena Alvarez and her partner Regan Pescoli. As more women, all resembling Dr. Lambert, are murdered under ever more brutal circumstances, both the detectives and the now targeted Lambert become more than a little anxious. (FIC JACKSON)

Still Missing / by Chevy Stevens

Real estate agent Annie Moresby never knew what she was getting into when she agreed to show a house to a mysterious stranger. The stranger turned out to be a psychopath who forcefully held Annie captive in a remote mountain cabin for over a year before she managed an escape. Only now her former captor, a serial killer, is still on the loose and he may be after Annie one last time. (FIC STEVENS)
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Bloodline / by Mark Billingham

A madman is on the loose in London. A very clever and very malevolent serial killer has been murdering the children of the victims of Raymond Garvey, a notorious serial murderer from the city’s past. Murder Squad Detective Tom Thorne is on the case and thinks he’s caught a lead when a pregnant woman is found murdered. But what he finds instead is an even more complicated puzzle than he’d previously been working on. (MYS BILLINGHAM)

Mister X / by John Lutz
Five years ago a madman brutally murdered six women, having mutilated their bodies and carving an X into their flesh. Then the murders suddenly stopped and ex-homicide detective Frank Quinn still can’t figure out why. That is, until a sister of one of the victims convinces Frank to reopen the now cold case. Now with the case renewed, the murders have started again. (MYS LUTZ)

The Snowman / by Jo Nesbo; trans. from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett
With the first snowfall of the season in Oslo comes the disappearance of a local woman from her home. In her yard has been constructed the figure of a distorted, sinister looking snowman. It doesn’t take Detective Harry Hole long to realize that this is only one in a string of multiple disappearances—disappearances which are almost certainly the work of a serial killer. (MYS NESBO)

187 (DVD) 1997 / a film by Kevin Reynolds; screenplay by Scott Yagemann; starring Samuel L. Jackson, Clifton Collins Jr., John Heard and Kelly Rowan

"Like you, I used to think the world was this great place where everybody lived by the same standards I did, then some kid with a nail showed me I was living in his world, a world where chaos rules not order, a world where righteousness is not rewarded. That's Cesar's world, and if you're not willing to play by his rules, then you're gonna have to pay the price."

High school science Trevor Garfield is one of a special breed of people with a sincere desire to teach. His is not just a passion to instruct his pupils on the wonders of the scientific world, but a deep need to influence the young lives he comes into contact with, especially the lives of those who are on the cusp of making potentially life-altering choices. It's not an easy job. At the Brooklyn school where he teaches, he struggles to maintain order in his always disruptive classes and walk the line between instructor and disciplinarian. When he's forced to give a failing grade to a student, a known criminal named Dennis Broadway, Garfield unwittingly unleashes a premeditated murder hit, a 187, on his own life. Attacked only hours later by a hooded assailant in the hallway, he's severely injured, almost dying prior to emergency rescue. Trevor is placed on stress leave to recuperate from the accident and, during the interval, relocates from New York to Southern California where he eventually offers his services to the public school system as a substitute teacher. He needs the paycheck and, well, he is a teacher. 

The new school he gets a chance at is little different from his former one. A woefully disorganized institution badly in need of repair, it's a place where the principals are defacto politicians who've never taught and the classrooms are hot, crowded cesspools of juvenile delinquents. The true students, the ones who have a chance are overshadowed by rambunctious riff raff, many of them active gang members, who willfully destroy school property and habitually threaten teachers with violence (like the one Garfield is replacing). It's not long before Garfield himself is threatened by a kid named Benito "Benny" Chacon, a graffito-tagger already under house arrest (an ankle bracelet on his left leg) who seems to enjoy terrifying his teachers and getting away with it--a pending lawsuit involving the school district has prevented his removal from the classroom. Other troublemakers, like Cesar, a less menacing version of the Benny, take center stage when Benny is notably absent from school. Cesar is actually someone Trevor thinks can be helped, seeing the kid as one of those caught-in-the-middle types. But what he finds is just the opposite. Some people, it seems, just don't want help.

187 was released to mediocre reviews, the critics hailing it as an unrealistic portrayal of urban high school life. Somehow this notion carried weight even with the screenplay written by a former teacher, Yagemann, who not only experienced documented cases of being threatened by students but worked under the supervision of a principal who'd never once taught in a classroom. Much of the drama is indeed laid on thick at times and the harsh thematic material involving the often unwinnable world of public education can be difficult to take in. There's also some awkward scenarios within the last third of the film which beg the question of plausibility. But aside from imperfections, there's an authenticity to the movie, its characters especially, which make parts of it undeniably brilliant. Jackson as Trevor and Clifton Collins Jr. in particular as the almost-too-believable Cesar (Collins Jr. then billed as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez), both of them converging into the same type of insanity as the film nears its conclusion, create a foreboding picture of not only the microcosm of formative education but of a world which rewards compassion and courage with contempt and corruption. It's a system which leads more than a few, many of them very strong-minded individuals, down the path of fear and frustration to a dead-end scenario of despair and contempt. (DVD ONE)

Mall: A Novel / by Eric Bogosian

A graduate of Oberlin College in Ohio, Eric Bogosian was actually born in Massachusetts to first generation Armenian-Americans. Following college, he moved to New York City where he's worked as an actor and writer and been called one of the most influential conventional playwrites of his generation. His 1987 off broadway play "Talk Radio", based on the real life of Denver Disc Jockey Alan Berg, won him a Pulitzer Prize with Bogosian later starring in the Oliver Stone film version of the same name. Another play, "suBurbia", about a group of slacker college-age kids who never left their hometown, was adapted to the big screen by Richard Linklater in 1996. Mall, published in 2000, is his first novel.

"The mall was the same, fully lit up but devoid of its warm-blooded content." (p. 243).

Malcolm "Mal" is a thirtysomething slacker who lives in his mom's basement. A speed freak who cooks his own methamphetamine, he's gotten so sick of his mother's consistent prodding and nagging that one day he shoots her dead, sets fire to his home and sets off to the local mall with a sackful of loaded weapons and a frenzied plan to implement further destruction. Among the shoppers and pedestrians on this particular day is Danny Marks, a jet-setting businessman with a fetish for underwear models and a penchant for peeping at girls in department stores. Danny's been scoping out the action in JCPenney's when he's caught by mall security and taken into custody. Elsewhere, Jeff is a mopy teenager who's just dropped another acid and is casually doing his people watching, sort of a habit of his, from a local bench. Donna is lonely housewife who's looking for a man and Michel, a Haitian immigrant, is a mall security guard who only wants to work hard and live honorably. As Mal and his personal armory converge on the mall and pandemonium invevitably ensues, all 5 characters, their needs and wants seemingly drawing them together, cross paths at the modern promenade of possibility in the most unlikely of ways.

Whether he's writing or acting, Bogosian seems to be at his best when he's jumping around from place to place at warpspeed. Something about a lot of characters, multiple backstories and a conflux of motivations converging over a very small window of time is where his ability really shines. "Talk Radio" and "suBurbia" were like this; both elucidating with candid, visceral authority the quiet desperation of malcontented middle-classers. But in the post-Pulp Fiction era, where hell-bent characters, drug-addled rage and trigger-happy lunatics are something to almost be expected in media of all forms, the approach can be risky. It doesn't matter. Bogosian's writing, his terse alternating sections thrust out by an omniscient narrator, ring true even as much of the time the action does the talking. Easy to read, with concepts and internal psyches that aren't hard to grasp, Mall is a candid look at the most normal of normal lives in the most pedestrian of places, illuminating a world in which we live and an atmosphere we think we know. (FIC BOGOSIAN)

The Butcher: Anatomy Of A Mafia Psychopath / Philip Carlo

Anyone who's seen the godfather won't soon forget Luca Brasi, the Don's personal hitman and one truly ruthless human being. Thomas "Tommy Karate" Pitera was the real life version. A brutal wingman, or capo, in the Bonanno crime family who allegedly killed 60 people, Pitera wasn't just a hired assassin, he was a carefully trained killer who specialized in particularly gruesome methods of murder. Born in Brooklyn in 1954 into a modest family whose reputation was both upstanding in the community and well-acknowledged within mafia circles, a young Tommy instantly found favor with mob heavyweights in the Bonanno family. The Bonannos were a well-known racketeering outfit who grew increasingly more into drug dealing with time. Street violence was always inevitable.

It wasn't until the mid-eighties when Pitera returned to the US after spending two years in Japan studying martial arts that the Bonannos began to fully utilize his skills. Pitera possessed a wide repertoire of aggressive fighting tactics, an efficiency in killing and a flare for surprise attacks. He was also a certifiable sociopath with no remorse or conscious about killing whomever, whenever, wherever. Often he would disguise himself in various wacky get-ups (priests, women, street vendors, etc.) to score a hit, admitting later that he just enjoyed the startling effects it would have on his victims. It wasn't long before Pitera was one of the most feared footsoldiers in New York City, lodging an estimated 34 murders over the course of only a few years.

His bloody rampage would come to an end in 1990 when the DEA got a hold of certain Bonanno drug clientele who led them to mob members and ultimately Pitera. Heading the operation was Jim Hunt, an agent who followed a lengthy trail of evidence and shady testimonials to catch Pitera and his crew after a set of severely sadistic murders--dismembered corpses were found in Pitera's apartment on the day he was indicted--caused an uncommon amount of commotion within the gangland syndicate. Author Philip Carlo knows his subject well. Having published several well-recieved books on the mafia already, his handle on the mob and its associations with the most extreme forms of violence is that of an experienced chronicler of the criminal element in society. This well-detailed depiction of this grisly bit of mafia history is enhanced by 16 previously unpublished photos and is as gruesome a portrait of a killer as it gets. (364.1523092 CARLO)

My Stolen Son: The Nick Markowitz Story / by Susan Markowitz

On August 6, 2000, 15-year-old Nick Markowitz was just looking to stay out of harm's way. Arriving way past his curfew the night before at his San Fernando home, Nick had barely managed to stave off what he knew would be a verbal berating from both his parents but especially his mom Susan who'd issued a foreboding "we'll talk about it in the morning" as Nick retreated to his room. Sneaking out of the house in the early morning hours, Nick intended to keep away from home and maybe spend some time at the apartment of his step-brother, Ben. Only no one ever heard from him as the hours crept by and he was declared missing by the following evening. Found a few days later by hikers at a gravesite in Santa Barbara, Nick's body had been shot six times with a Tec-9 handgun and buried haphazardly in an isolated part of the canyon.
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The grisly details of Nick's abduction, detainment and ultimate murder would steadily come to light as the evidence unraveled a truly shocking set of prior details about Ben Markowitz's own seedy lifestyle, his involvement in a particularly notorious Southern California drug ring and, ultimately, his fatal betrayal of a contemptible but ruthless 20-year-old drug dealer named Jesse James Hollywood. Ben and Hollywood had actually grown up as friends and even played baseball together in high school before the feud over drug money had turned them into enemies, a situation making Nick a victim of circumstance when he was kidnapped. Hollywood and his gang had actually happened upon Nick while they were cruising the area in search of Ben (in hiding out of a concern for his safety) and had initially taken the youth only to use as collateral so Hollywood could extract a rather hefty drug debt owed him. But as the situation escalated with the issue still unresolved, Hollywood put his impulsive plan into action first orchestrating the shooting of Nick, ditching his accomplices (including triggerman Ryan Hoyt) and relocating to South America where he would live under a false name and as a suspect (the youngest ever) on the America's Most Wanted list until his capture in 2005.



Jesse James Hollywood

The trial of Jesse James Hollywood ironically coincided with the movie debut of Alpha Dog, the story's filmed adaptation. And while the movie version starring Bruce Willis and Emile Hirsch is nothing spectacular, the story itself is another truly creepy episode in the ongoing saga of the drug subculture permeating every rung of our society. Susan Markowitz, who wrote the book with heavy dose of editorial aid, is understandably a very sorrowful individual, grieved by the loss of her only (biological) son and the preventable circumstances of the tragedy. But the book somewhat begs the question of where the responsibility lies. There's Hollywood and his gang of accomplices, Ben Markowitz whose dissoluteness and irresponsibility led to the kidnapping and, perhaps most aggregiously, the over 42 witnesses who saw the situation for what it was--the prolonged detainment of an individual against their will--but didn't see the threat of any real danger and thus didn't report it. And, though it's never explicitly stated, some of the blame must fall on the parents. Not only is it implied that the kids (almost without exception everyone involved was under the age of 21) were largely given free reign to experiment with drugs, many of the parents (the Markowitz's included) knew beforehand that Hollywood's father Jack grew and distributed his own Marijuana, that he had prospered off drug transactions with local kingpins and had absorbed his son into the "family business" at a young age. It was common knowledge that the younger Hollywood would do anything to avoid suspicion (364.152 MARKOWIT)

Southtown: A Tres Navarre Mystery / by Rick Riordan

Before he shifted gears to become an immensely successful children's author of such books as The Lightning Thief and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, San Antonio native Rick Riordan wrote mysteries. His Tres Navarre novels about a South Texas private eye didn't have much to do with children, fantasy or mythology and instead depicted the seamy underbelly of San Antonio with its hidden criminal element, showing the harsh, often violent conditions which went with the territory. Southtown is a crackerjack P.I. novel, detailing the aftermath of a violent prison break by five men, one of whom will stop at nothing to see his own brand of vengeance played out.

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The Floresville Five is what they're being called by the media. The five fugitives, 3 of which were serving life sentences for murder, are still on the loose after a prison break from the south Texas maximum security penitentiary. The escape was a bloodbath of an affair in which six men originally plotted a getaway in the prison chaplain's SUV; only the plan went horribly wrong leaving the chaplain, one of the fugitives and two guards behind as casualties. The mastermind behind the whole thing is a nasty character named Will Stirman, a former "coyote" who made a business of smuggling illegals across the border for his own nefarious purposes. Having been ripped off in a deal gone bad and having been caught in the process, Stirman was serving a life sentence when he burst out of the incarceration unit.

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This is bad news for everyone, but especially Erainya Manos, a private eye currently tied up in mostly boring, low-level work with what seems to be the same circle of San Antonio lowlifes. Erainya's former husband, the now deceased Fred Barrow, was part of the bounty-hunting team which originally put Will Stirman away. Only they didn't play by the rules. In addition to taking more than their share of the profit (some loose change gone unaccounted for), Barrow and his partner Sam Barrera accidentally killed two of the wrong people--Stirman's wife and son--and tried to cover the whole thing up with lies. Now, despite the fact that Erainya had virtually nothing to do with the whole mess, Stirman is out to get her and plans to use her son Jem for his purposes. Fortunately she's got a good friend and clever partner in Tres Navarre. A former English professor turned private detective, Tres will do anything and everything in his power to protect Erainya and Jem, even if it means endangering his own life.

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Riordan's skill at storytelling is on full display in this, his fifth Tres Navarre novel, after debuting the wily sleuth in Big Tequila and building his persona through The Last King of Texas. Navarre is the perfect vessel for the author to deliver his story, one well-layered with believable villains and even more believable good guys (most of whom have a hard time walking the straight line themselves). The book is also true to its setting, and Riordan's roots, as a work deeply entrenched in the culture and heritage of San Antonio and South Texas. Readers are sure to never be disappointed with Riordan's work and won't miss a beat with this, one of his best. (MYS RIORDAN)

The Bad Kitty Lounge: A Mystery / by Michael Wiley

Chicago PI Joe Kozmarski knows he's in for it when Greg Samuelson, a man with a long history of troubling issues and knack for misbehaving, hires Joe to help keep tabs on his wife Amy and her lover Eric Stone. But Samuelson isn't one for waiting patiently and promptly torches the car belonging to Stone while continuing to personally harass the couple who in turn try to hire Kozmarski as their own lookout. A sinister web of lies and deceit starts unfolding as further mayhem, including the dead body of a nun who worked with Samuelson, heats up Kozmarski's world leading the former police detective to uncover some incriminating secrets about his client's involvement in the arson case (now cold) of a long-since forgotten nightclub--The Bad Kitty Lounge. In the 1960's the lounge was a hip hangout for counterculture types who used the establishment as a prominent drug den before a fatal fire destroyed it.

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As Joe begins uncovering some startling evidence linking his clients with the place, more dead bodies start turning up as the case builds in treachery and dramatics. Wiley, author of the award-winning The Last Striptease, also featuring Kozmarski, hits the same exciting notes in this follow-up trailing his protagonist through Chicagoland and a maze of gritty intrigue, embittered relationships and dredged-up bad blood. Like most crime-fighters, the hefty drama of dealing with other people--all of them thoroughly undesirable characters--and their problems carries over into the personal side of things as Joe tries to balance his professional life with the tasks of caring for his aging mother and an adopted nephew. Crime buffs, mystery fans and readers in general will appreciate Wiley's feel for aspects of the big city and of Chicago's history and not-always-so-noble heritage. (MYS WILEY)

Cry, The Beloved Country / by Alan Paton

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"Cry, the beloved country,
for the unborn child

that is the inheritor of our fear.
Let him not love the earth too deeply.
Let him not laugh too gladly

when the water runs through his fingers,
nor stand too silent when the setting sun

makes red the veld with fire.
Let him not be too moved

when the birds of his land are singing,
nor give too much of his heart

to a mountain or a valley.
For fear will rob him of all

if he gives too much." (p. 102)
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"The truth is, our civilization is not Christian; it is a tragic compound of great ideal and fearful practice, of loving charity and fearful clutching of possessions." (p. 187)
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The Reverend Stephen Kumalo is a farmer and lay minister in the South African province of Natal when he one day receives a letter requesting his presence in Johannesburg. The message informs Kumalo of the whereabouts and ill condition of his sister Gertrude who, along with Kumalo's son Absalom (who'd originally been sent to search for Gertrude), have neither returned home nor contacted Kumalo and his wife since their departure ("When people go to Johannesburg, they do not come back" p. 38). Kumalo arrives in the capital to discover that Gertrude has taken up a life of prostitution and is now drinking heavily, having dissipated herself to the point of bedrest to the neglect of her young son. After convincing his sister to return home with her child, Kumalo begins to search for his son with the aid of Msimangu, an Anglican priest, first encountering his estranged brother John, a carpenter who's become involved in city politics, before catching on to Absalom's trail. Kumalo and Msimangu learn that Absalom has, among other things, been in a reformatory recently, that he's impregnated a young girl and is now under arrest for the murder (during a botched burglary) of Arthur Jarvis, a white anti-apartheid journalist and social activist who is also, coincidentally, the son of Kumalo's Natal neighbor James Jarvis.

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Paton's impassioned novel, published at the inception of Apartheid, is tremendous. A moving masterpiece to be sure, it is at the same time a universal fable of redemption, an ageless treatise on race, an anthemic paragon and indispensable treasure of world literature. Cry, The Beloved Country is among the most compelling of human stories, as breathtakingly poetic as it is stunningly captivating. Kumalo’s journey is the journey of one man and yet it is every man’s life. The gambit of emotion, the encumbrance of the human condition and reality of man’s coarse and conflicted nature unfolds with every encounter. Fear and joy, anger and love, selfishness and generosity, deceit and friendship, suffering and compassion are all envived in the context, capturing the reality of Paton’s South Africa and illuminating the problematic verisimilitude of the world at large. Historically, the book portrays the devastating effects of Apartheid on all South Africans, its blatant discrimination, internal destruction, and lasting impact as well as the resilient determination on behalf of a proud few to overcome their national blight. The author unveils human nature as a stubborn beast, but there is hope for South Africa. Man is an ignoble creature, but capable of compassion; imperfect and severely limited, but rich in hope and potential. It’s this truth which gives the novel its deft value, revealing life at its ugliest and its most redeeming, from degradation to transcendence, desolation to abundance, and wretchedness to beauty. (FIC PATON)

The Chameleon's Shadow / by Minette Walters

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After being wounded in Iraq, Lt. Charles Ackland is deported home to England to have reconstructive surgery on the left side of his face. Yet when multiple operations fail to re-create his once youthful appearance, the man Charles used to be, both on the exterior and internally, is essentially erased. Once a gung-ho alpha male with a zest for life, Charles has permanently withdrawn from the world, setting up for himself an existence of permanent emotional isolation and limited interpersonal contact. All former ties with family and friends, including his serious relationship with one-time fiance Jen Morley, are expediently eradicated. Soon his morose livelihood leads him into contact with the murky underworld of vice and sadism, a world in which a peculiarly diabolical set of circumstances leads Charles to be suspected in connection to a series of heinous crimes.

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Award-winning British mystery author Minette Walters delves into sinister territory in her latest standalone novel, showing the shadowy depths to which the human condition can sink. Charles may seem like a sympathetic figure early on, the deterioration of his physical condition and emotional plight peaking the reader's curiosity. But as the story evolves and events surrounding Charles' actions become more questionable, interest is taken to a different level where things aren't always what they seem. Walters has a knack for revealing the intricacies of relationships and her ability in portraying how trust is easily betrayed through malevolent personal motivations is nothing short of remarkable.

Blood Simple (1984) DVD / a Film by Ethan and Joel Cohen

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"Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else . . . that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an' down here . . . you're on your own."

In a remote town in rural Texas, a young man named Ray tends bar at a saloon owned by his boss, Marty Julian. Going on behind Marty's back--though not quite so discretely--is an affair between Ray and Marty's wife, Abby. Suspecting the adulterous tryst, Marty hires a private investigator to validate the fact and the truth ultimately comes to light. Intent upon retribution, Marty mulls his options only to have his plans interrupted by the same man he hired to investigate the affair, a man with an inherently violent and far more deliberate agenda.

Simple. Subtle. Visceral. The Coen brothers' directorial debut wasted no time in establishing their trademark imprint on the industry. While there's seemingly little out of the realm of the ordinary and almost no cinematic highlights, Blood Simple manages to visually tell a story in a way that's far more enticing than most action-packed blockbusters. Psychology and character-dimension aren't so much a part of things and motives are sometimes hard to discern, and yet the plot sequence is so diabolically imaginative, one can't help but be enamored by the effecting culmination of events. Locally filmed in and around Houston, the cinematography's another reason this movie works so well, widescreen footage of the flat, featureless landscape well-reflecting the eerie, desolate mood of the story.

And Then There Were None (Ten Little Indians) / by Agatha Christie

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One Little, Two Little, Three Little Indians . . .

Of the ten individuals invited for a weekend getaway on the island, one--at least--has be a real murderer; else who's responsible for the grisly, methodical killing off of each [remaining] guest as the hours tick by? The obvious suspect was, initially, the 'man' responsible for the whole event--owner of the island and host Mr. U.N. Owen who, in addition to being absent at his own party, is in fact 'unknown' to all ten guests. The invitations (hinting of feduciary compensation) could've been a way of luring his would-be victims, himself hiding out somewhere as the killer. But the small, featureless island would be hard place for a mouse to hide much less a man, to say nothing of the nearly vacant house that's been searched clean through. If it weren't for an impromptu broadcast over the phonograph accusing every guest of their own subverted murderessness, he might as well not exist at all. So if not Owen, then who? And how's 'he', the killer, going about all this?

After Midnight / by Richard Laymon

Perhaps not so well-known in the mainstream owing to his severity of subject matter, Richard Laymon's still managed quite a cult following among readers of the thriller genre. After Midnight follows a young woman's attempt to conceal her involvement in a murder after a run-in with a night prowler.


Her housemates away on vacation, Alice is left alone in the big house at the edge of the woods. But it's cool. She'll be fine if she just remembers to lock everything, set the alarm, and not get spooked by shadows, right? No dice. Terror soon materializes when a trespasser opts for a midnight swim in the pool...nude. Subsequently discovering her in the house alone, the intruder's attempted break-in coincides with a phone call--a wrong number of all things--causing Alice to lose sight of the would-be predator. Near hysteria and unwilling to summon the police (issues), Alice reluctantly accepts 'aid' from the calm-sounding stranger on the phone, who says he's 'just around the corner'. When ensuing events leave one man dead and another out to get her, Alice's only escape is a path more dangerous than she's ever encountered.

Emphasizing every connotation of the term, this book is downright creepy. Readers seeking a compendium to V.C. Andrews or Dean Koontz should readjust their appetites for Laymon, so graphic is the content. Yet it's Alice's manner as she 'puts things right' through a series of grisly undertakings which most invites or dissuades any sympathy. Far from a one-dimensional character, revelations about Alice never--never--fail to alarm as the story progresses.

While After Midnight isn't quite 'pulp', it still borrows heavily from the noir genre, inherent in its heightened suspense and amplified realism. And yet if things weren't so gruesome, it could almost be comedy. People die off or get mutilated but it's not as if there's a war on. The story's atmosphere is more run-of-the-mill, everyday ennui than murderous mayhem, a sentiment fueled by Alice's mood and demeanor more than the action itself.

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) DVD / w/ Alec Guiness & Dennis Price

Ostracized after a marriage of inconvenience, the now widowed Mrs. Mazzini (Mama) and son Louis continue to be dismissed by their titled family--the D'Ascoynes; an act ultimately leaving them both miserably poor and solely reliant on kind-hearted strangers. Percieving his lot as intolerable, Louis' resentment toward his cousins climaxes at their refusal of Mama's deathbed request: a burial in the family plot. Vowing revenge, he methodically enacts his long-pondered masterplan to eliminate each--8 in all--D'Ascoyne heir until the family dukedom is lawfully bequeathed to himself.

Elegant is the only way to describe Louis as he deftly 'cancels out' each relative, craftily infiltrating each victim without a whiff of foul play. As each successor is neatly removed, little stands in place of his 'legitimate' ascendence. But family members aren't all he infiltrates. On the side he maintains an affair with Sibella, a lifelong love who'd spurned his earlier marriage proposal in light of his 'low place'. Now unhappy with her current beau, she's desperate for Louis' attentions and ever curious of his goings-on.

Legendary leading man Alec Guiness (Star Wars original Obi-One) does the full-circle as all 8 D'Ascoynes, equally pompous and condescending at each turn. But its Price with his unaffected poise who steals the show as a remorseless Louis, never waivering from his genteel cordiality and self-assurance. 'Kind Hearts' is comedy, but not quite a dark comedy. The mood, like Louis, never once falters from its 'good form' and pretention, evincing nothing but a lighthearted romp through Victorian gentility.

Local True Crime Stories

Death Without Dignity: The Story of the First Nursing Home Corporation Indicted for Murder /
by Steven Long
This is a detailed account of the infamous 'nursing home' scandal involving six executives implicated in the murder of an 87-year-old woman and wrongful deaths of numerous other elderly patients. All of the horrific accounts of abuse and injustice within a corporate chain of Texas nursing homes are described as documented from the original Galveston DA’s investigation.


Sacrifice: The Tragic Cult Murder of Mark Kilroy in Matamoros: A Father’s Determination to Turn Evil into Good / by Jim Kilroy
The Kilroys of Santa Fe, TX enjoyed a fruitful life with their two sons Mark and Keith until Mark’s sudden disappearance shattered their livelihood. Mark was a third year pre-med student in 1989 when he disappeared during a Spring Break trip to South Texas. Nearly a month of searching availed nothing until officials crossed the border into Mexico and unearthed Mark’s dismembered remains. It was later discovered that Mark had been abducted by a drug cult and made the victim of a blood sacrifice ritual along with over 15 other people.


Out of Control: the Clara Harris Murder Case / by Steven Long
In 2002, Clara Harris became so distraught amidst her husband David’s extramarital affair that she ran him over with her car (twice) in the parking lot of a Houston-area Hotel. The case became a focal point for numerous 24/7 news shows. Harris was convicted and sentenced to 20 years pending appeal. An embarassingly deplorable made-for-TV movie aired soon after the trial.



“Are You There Alone?”: The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates / by Suzanne O’Malley
In 2001, the nation was shocked to hear of a Texas woman who drowned her five children in her home’s bathtub and then called the police to confess her crime. Andrea Yates was the wife of a NASA engineer and seemingly happy mother of five boys when the horrendous event occurred in 2001, prompting endless debates over her mental stability during the trial. She was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison.


Without a Trace: [Inside the Robert Durst Case] / by Marion Collins
Robert Durst was the son of a wealthy New York real estate mogul who, together with his brother, continued in the family business amassing a personal wealth into the billions. When Durst was seven, he reportedly witnessed his mother’s suicide; an event doctors later attributed to his bizarre and even schizophrenic behavior. It was his wife Kathleen who first disappeared in 1982 followed by the murder of his longtime friend Susan Berman in 2000 which first led authorities to suspect Durst of criminal behavior. Although questioned, he was acquitted in both cases only to be arrested for the murder of his Galveston neighbor Morris Black in 2001. Despite missing his court date and becoming a fugitive; he was let off again and given probation with a verdict of self-defense.


Mother Love, Deadly Love: The Texas Cheerleader Murder Plot / by Anne Maler
Another bizarre criminal case involving a Houston woman which spawned two TV movies, the Texas cheerleader murder plot made headlines across the country and brought the port town of Channelview into the spotlight. Wanda Holloway, the mother of a Texas high school student, wanted so much for her daughter to be head cheerleader that she hired an assassin to 'eliminate' the competition. The formulated plot almost succeeded until police caught and convicted Wanda for attempted murder, sentencing her to 10 years in prison (9.5 of which was served on probation).