Time of Death, How Investigators Really Pin Down the Hour
There is a line that shows up in crime fiction so often it has become a kind of comfort food:the medical examiner crouches over a body, glances at a thermometer, and announces,“Time of death, nine forty-seven p.m.” It is satisfying, it is tidy, it serves the story world. But it’s not how time of death […]
The Forensic File, David Berkowitz
When the Son of Sam case is discussed, attention usually turns to the demonic-dog claim,the taunting letters, and the question of motive. Those belong to the realm of psychologyand speculation, and they are the subject of the narrative companion to this file. This file sets motive aside and examines the Son of Sam forensic evidence […]
Meeting Strangers Safely, Online Dating and First Meets
Most people meet new romantic prospects with optimism, which is exactly as it should be.That’s a big part of what makes dating fun and exciting! The savvy dater also meets that optimism with a quiet checklist running in the background,Although I’ve never had the opportunity to date online. (I married before all that cameabout.) I […]
Pathology Trumps Intellect: A Cold Case, Forensic Genealogy, and the Killer Already in the File
The best part of a book event almost never happens on the main stage. It happens in the hallway afterward, chatting with other attendees as we trade war stories. This past February, at the Creepy Book Festival, I spent a good while talking with Troy A. Hillman, a retired detective and former CPA who […]
Forensic Files: Jeffery Dahmer
When Jeffrey Dahmer is discussed in popular culture, conversations often center on his psychology, his fixations, and the question of how he avoided detection for so long. Those are questions of behavior and motive. This forensic file examines the Dahmer murders through the lens of physical evidence, identification methodology, and procedural execution. The […]
Forensic Genetic Genealogy: A Crime Writer’s Field Guide
Marcia King’s mother kept the same telephone number for thirty-seven years. She kept the same house in Arkansas. She didn’t move. She didn’t disconnect. Marcia had hitchhiked out of town in 1980 and stopped calling, and her mother, like every mother in this position has done since the invention of the telephone, left the […]
Jeffrey Dahmer: The Crimes of Compulsion
Jeffrey Dahmer lived in a horror museum. When Milwaukee detectives stepped into Apartment 213 on the night of July 22, 1991, they walked into a nightmare. Human skulls arranged on shelves. A human heart wrapped in the freezer. Seventy-four Polaroids documenting dismemberment with the dispassion of a hobbyist cataloguing a collection. The case […]
What Bob Siders Taught Me About Justice and Closure
Bob Siders waited twenty years for justice. He never got closure. I met Bob while researching my standalone novel, Hole in the Woods, which was inspired by the real cold case of his daughter, Shannon. In the book, Shannon becomes a girl named Nina Laramie — a high school grad in 1989 who heads […]
What to Do If You Think You’re Being Followed: A Forensic Expert’s Guide
Let’s start with the truth:That feeling you get—that gut twinge when you sense someone is watching, tracking, or maybe even trailing you? It’s there for a reason. It’s called intuition. And it exists to protect you. As a forensic specialist and crime writer, I’ve studied many real-world cases where people ignored that early warning… and […]
Building Tension: How to Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seat
Why Tension Is Everything in Crime Fiction You know that moment when your heart is pounding, your coffee’s gone cold, and you have to turn just one more page—even though it’s 2:00 a.m.? That’s not just a great story. That’s tension keeping you up til all hours. Whether you’re binge-watching Mare of Easttown, reading Gone […]
