True Crime Stories

When I started reading true crime books, like many, I really liked Ann Rule and her book, Small Sacrifices, was one of the first that I read. I am in the minority now, although not alone, in the fact that as time went on I began to not like Ann Rule's books at all. But, that is for another time. The Diane Downs story is sensational even today, more than thirty years after she committed her crime. To be fair, Diane Downs does have some supporters on her side, mainly her family, who believe that she has spent the last thirty-four years in prison for a crime she did not commit. But, to put it in perspective there are more people who believe Casey Anthony did not murder her child than there are that believe in Diane Downs innocence. Late in the night of May 19, 1983 Diane Downs pulled up at the Emergency Room of a hospital in Springfield Oregon. She, and all three of her children had been shot. Seven year old Cheryl was pronounced dead on arrival. Both eight year...

I have spent the last several days running down my list of cases to research before blogging about them. I actually have about fifteen cases that I researched and made notes for but did not post about. Why? Sadly they seemed so "routine."  I often see people complaining about for instance shows like 48 Hours and Dateline that "it is always a case of the husband." or things such as that.  For there to be a spousal murder case it seems as if any more there has to be a multi-layered plot in order for there to be generated interest.  It is sad, but it is also true. In fact, it is likely that I will end up doing one blog where many of the stories are told at once.  This story however, is one that I have been fascinated with for years. When I first became interested in true crime stories, like many, my favorite author was Ann Rule.  Admittedly I feel as her fame grew that she tended to put more of her own bias' into the stories.  Now some could argue th...

I tried to make every effort to separate my feelings in my book blog when I reviewed the book "In the Still of the Night" by Ann Rule.  I first heard about this case on a recent episode of I believe Dateline.  Ann Rule was on that show as well as Ronda Reynolds' mother, Barb Thompson and it talked a lot about their quest and their belief that Ronda was murdered, likely by her husband, or maybe by her stepson.  I had looked at a few articles on the subject at that time but that was a few weeks ago and once I started the book I stayed away from them so I could give an objective view on the book itself.  That blog can be found here:  http://mybookblogger-susan.blogspot.com/2012/05/in-still-of-night.html  It was a large struggle for me not to search for information while reading the book because I knew and felt that Rule's book was slanted towards one side and I also felt that it was full of holes.  To give Rule a small amount of credit, I realize that s...