Woman's Powerful Courtroom Statement About Sister's Murder Shows Slow Justice Still Important To Families As I listened this afternoon to a weeping woman explain as best she could the impact the unsolved murder of her sister thirty-five years ago had on her and her family, I reflected once again on the fact that justice is not always about punishment. It is also about people such as that woman, and her family, having their day in court and … [Read more...]
A small Iowa sheriff’s office comes up big in Ferak’s new book, DIXIE’S LAST STAND
(Seated: Shelby County Sheriff Gene Cavenaugh, with chief deputy Mark Hervey ) Photo Courtesy of The Harlan Newspapers As I set out to produce this story as an original True-Crime Feature for WildBlue Press, there was no shortage of angles. Questions about self-defense, justification and mandatory sentencing laws. The crime was bizarre given the length of time that Scott Shanahan's body was left in his bedroom. A body in the bed. A … [Read more...]
BOGEYMAN’S Jackson covers another heartbreaking Cold Case
The idiom "got away with murder" has come to mean something other than its literal definition. Figuratively, it's used to describe someone who was allowed to do something that others would be criticized or punished for--such as "he gets away with murder just because he's so cute." But to a true crime writer, especially one who often delves into Cold Cases, the original definition takes back it's original meaning with all of its brutality, sorrow, … [Read more...]
BOGEYMAN-Channeling In Cold Blood
Veteran true crime author Steve Jackson channels the well-established In Cold Blood tradition of absenting himself from the plot, like a journalist, while constructing a narrative, driven by action and dialog, influenced by novel-writing technique. Jackson’s gradually unfolding story feels familiar to anybody accustomed to reading police procedurals and crime thrillers. The horrifying aspects of Jackson’s narrative, of the very killer every … [Read more...]
BOGEYMAN-Steve Jackson-LATalkRadio
Steve discusses BOGEYMAN and his other books, as well as writing in general, with LATalkRadio hosts John Johnson and Dr. Estella Sneider. … [Read more...]
BOGEYMAN-Steve on True Crime Discussions
New York Times bestselling author Steve Jackson looks forward to joining the members of the True Crime Discussions group on Facebook to talk about BOGEYMAN. Mark your calendars for December 12 @ 7pm est. Read the book and come join us! … [Read more...]
BOGEYMAN-‘He stands on the edge of a foul dark pond …”
"He stands on the edge of a foul dark pond as the cold winds of hell howl around him. In his cruel hands, he holds a collection of shiny pebbles that represent every child he took, subjected to unspeakable horrors and pain, and then remorselessly killed in the most terrifying manner imaginable. With each murder, the monster, this bogeyman, this nightmare, tosses a pebble into the bottomless waters causing ripples of misery and devastation to … [Read more...]
Bogeyman – Throwaway Kids
Editor’s Note: Katlyn Sweet is the daughter of Detective Gary Sweet, one of the main investigators whose quest to catch serial child-killer David Penton is the subject of BOGEYMAN: He Was Every Parent’s Nightmare. She wrote this blog about her father's investigation and its impression on her then and now. A small child is abducted, scared, murdered and tossed onto the earth like she means nothing to this world. In fact, the small child is … [Read more...]
Bogeyman – Why I Chose This True Crime Story
Since the August publication of BOGEYMAN, I've frequently been asked how and why I chose this particular story to write about. I know what drives some of that: True Crime authors usually steer clear of stories about the murder of children, particularly those involving a killer who’s a stranger … a bogeyman. Sure there are the books in which the parents murder their offspring (and sometimes spouse), and we’re all justifiably horrified. But … [Read more...]
Bogeyman-A Man of God
Editor’s Note: Katlyn Sweet is the daughter of Detective Gary Sweet, one of the main investigators whose quest to catch serial child-killer David Penton is the subject of BOGEYMAN: He Was Every Parent’s Nightmare. This post involves her father’s prison interview with Penton and her reaction to reading about it in the book. Although detectives were 99 percent certain that Penton was the murderer of the young girls, he had no intention of … [Read more...]
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