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RIP Ann Rule

BDBoop

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BDBoop
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SEATTLE — True-crime writer Ann Rule signed a contract to write a book about an unknown Seattle serial killer six months before he was identified as her co-worker Ted Bundy, who shared the night shift at Seattle’s Crisis Clinic.

The woman credited by her publisher with reinventing the previously male-dominated true crime genre by focusing on the victims has died at age 83.

Rule wrote more than 30 books, including “The Stranger Beside Me,” which profiled Bundy.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...95ba82-34fb-11e5-b835-61ddaa99c73e_story.html

I read every book she ever wrote. All other true crime authors pale by comparison. If you disagree, please tell me who you would recommend.
 
Sad news

I must say at times I have found her writing stilted, but that said works like "Green River Running Red" were very compelling. I certainly couldn't recommend a better TC author who was as prolific.
 
Syameese said:
Sad news

I must say at times I have found her writing stilted, but that said works like "Green River Running Red" were very compelling. I certainly couldn't recommend a better TC author who was as prolific.
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How about one who wasn't as prolific, since I'll be behind the curve anyway.
 
BDBoop said:
I read every book she ever wrote. All other true crime authors pale by comparison. If you disagree, please tell me who you would recommend.
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I read every book she ever wrote, too, and while I agree that most of her earlier books up to around 2000 were excellent, once she started on collections, her writing lost some of its lustre. Her work was more compelling when she wasn't churning them out as quickly, i.e. Small Sacrifices, Stranger, Bitter Harvest, And Never Let Her Go, etc., were all superior to her post 2000 works.

I don't agree that all other true crime authors pale by comparison. Jerry Bledsoe, Joseph Wambaugh, Kathryn Casey, James Nell, Joe McGinniss, Vincent Bugliosi...there are many whose work is just as compelling as Rule's. These are all authors Rule herself recommended. She never held herself up as superior to any other TC author.
 
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desertgal said:
I read every book she ever wrote, too, and while I agree that most of her earlier books up to around 2000 were excellent, once she started on collections, her writing lost some of its lustre. Her work was more compelling when she wasn't churning them out as quickly, i.e. Small Sacrifices, Stranger, Bitter Harvest, And Never Let Her Go, etc., were all superior to her post 2000 works.

I don't agree that all other true crime authors pale by comparison. Jerry Bledsoe, Joseph Wambaugh, Kathryn Casey, James Nell, Joe McGinniss, Vincent Bugliosi...there are many whose work is just as compelling as Rule's. These are all authors Rule herself recommended. She never held herself up as superior to any other TC author.
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Thank you. I only ever followed her, and this Phelps guy who is supposed to be comparable really actually isn't.

I now have some names to investigate.
 
BDBoop said:
Thank you. I only ever followed her, and this Phelps guy who is supposed to be comparable really actually isn't.
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M. William Phelps and Gregg Olsen have been bragging that they are comparable to Rule for years. Personally, I think their books aren't bad, but both their writing styles are pretty dry, which doesn't help make a compelling narrative. (Aside from Olsen's "The Deep Dark", which was fascinating and very well done.) Phelps has also written a few of his books while the trials were going on, before the verdicts were returned. That always baffled me-seems rather pointless to write a TC account if you can't include the final verdict. Leaves the reader hanging.

If you are looking for someone with a style close to Rule's in the Small Sacrifices era, try Kathryn Casey.
 
desertgal said:
I don't agree that all other true crime authors pale by comparison. Jerry Bledsoe, Joseph Wambaugh, Kathryn Casey, James Nell, Joe McGinniss, Vincent Bugliosi...there are many whose work is just as compelling as Rule's. These are all authors Rule herself recommended. She never held herself up as superior to any other TC author.
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His first book, The Onion Field was as gripping as any crime book, true or fiction, that I've read. After that, he fell off a bit but maybe only because The Onion Field set the bar so very high.
 
desertgal said:
M. William Phelps and Gregg Olsen have been bragging that they are comparable to Rule for years. Personally, I think their books aren't bad, but both their writing styles are pretty dry, which doesn't help make a compelling narrative. (Aside from Olsen's "The Deep Dark", which was fascinating and very well done.) Phelps has also written a few of his books while the trials were going on, before the verdicts were returned. That always baffled me-seems rather pointless to write a TC account if you can't include the final verdict. Leaves the reader hanging.

If you are looking for someone with a style close to Rule's in the Small Sacrifices era, try Kathryn Casey.
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Thank you. :)
 
SezMe said:
His first book, The Onion Field was as gripping as any crime book, true or fiction, that I've read. After that, he fell off a bit but maybe only because The Onion Field set the bar so very high.
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Agreed, although I think Echoes In The Darkness was pretty good. Same with McGinnis - Fatal Vision is a classic, but his other books didn't quite reach that high.
 
Was it Wambaugh who wrote about the early/first case of DNA being used to catch a rapist?

I will look into Kathryn Casey as well. Thanks, desertgal.

When I saw Ann Rule on one of the ID shows I watch, she looked very ill.
Sorry to hear she is gone. I read all of her early books.
 
I have a somewhat lessened opinion of Ann Rule's writings after hearing from a person chronicled in one of her stories. Either she went entirely by extremely inaccurate police records, or she used a lot of poetic license, because her tale bore little relation to the actual event.

The person telling me her version was in no way a suspect, and her version was a lot duller than what ended up in print. Seems less likely she'd be the one embellishing.
 
SezMe said:
His first book, The Onion Field was as gripping as any crime book, true or fiction, that I've read. After that, he fell off a bit but maybe only because The Onion Field set the bar so very high.
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I believe I have read most if not all of Ann Rule's books. The Stranger Beside Me was the one I found the most interesting. There are many good non-fiction crime authors, but I agree that Wombaugh's The Onion Field was among the best.

I got hooked on true crime novels with My Shadow Ran Fast (1964) by Bill Sands, and over the years found the mind of the murderer a very compelling subject for reading. Truman Capote's In Cold Blood (1965) is often considered the first of the genre, however.

When I ran out of American true crime in two libraries, I tried some British writers. For some reason, British murder stories are not as interesting as American ones to me.
 
deadrose said:
I have a somewhat lessened opinion of Ann Rule's writings after hearing from a person chronicled in one of her stories. Either she went entirely by extremely inaccurate police records, or she used a lot of poetic license, because her tale bore little relation to the actual event.

The person telling me her version was in no way a suspect, and her version was a lot duller than what ended up in print. Seems less likely she'd be the one embellishing.
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I also lost respect for her after talking to someone involved in a case she wrote about. She changed facts about the case beyond the usual 'names have been changed to protect the innocent'.
 
One-hit (True Crime) wonders?

Norman Mailer's "The Executioner's Song" actually convinced me about one thing I could agree with Mailer on.... He is one of the best American authors. This is a brilliant book.

In Cold Blood. Yeah, a novelization, but a top notch book.

All The President's Men. Who hasn't heard of it,.... but the book reads better than the movie, and the movie was great so that's saying a lot.



And I second the vote for Bugliosi, for Helter Skelter. So I guess that includes him in "one-hit-wonders".
 
Helter Skelter, an outstanding work of non-fiction, but Vincent Bugliosi's And The Sea Will Tell was also a memorable read. I enjoy the forensics more than the gory details of the crime. Fatal Vision, by Joe McGinniss was another classic.
 
Olowkow said:
Helter Skelter, an outstanding work of non-fiction, but Vincent Bugliosi's And The Sea Will Tell was also a memorable read. I enjoy the forensics more than the gory details of the crime. Fatal Vision, by Joe McGinniss was another classic.
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I enjoyed And The Sea Will Tell more than Helter Skelter. Personal preference. I also liked Bugliosi's critique of the Simpson trial, Outrage.
 
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