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What is the Serial Killer Gene?
The serial killer gene has upended the longstanding debate of Nature vs. Nurture. Genetics provide an individual with a spectrum and his/her environment determines where s/he will lie within that spectrum. But what…
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Vintage Death Rites That Seem Creepy Today
To celebrate the release of Pretty Evil New England (yay!), I feel it’s my duty to share some creepy death rites of the past that at the time seemed perfectly normal. In the…
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Men They Couldn’t Hang
If a prisoner survived three trips to the gallows, should he be set free? That question plagued the public when faced with men they couldn’t hang. These are their stories. < cue Law…
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Tiny Creatures Episode 6 Deconstruction Part II
And we’re back with Part II of Tiny Creatures Episode 6 deconstruction. In Part I, we looked at characterization, plotting, pacing, and the importance of raising story questions. In this segment, let’s narrow…
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Tiny Creatures, Episode 6: #Writetip Deconstruction
Tiny Creatures is a new docuseries on Netflix that’s adorable, suspenseful, and masterfully plotted and paced. I’m posting this deconstruction simultaneously here and on the Kill Zone, which I never do, but I…
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Killing Mary Mabel Rogers
Mary Mabel Rogers’ final sunset dipped below the grey and cheerless hills to the west, shadows swallowing the prison walls around her. Ink-darkness cascaded over Mary’s porcelain skin, her delicate fingers gripping the…
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Death Surrounds Us — How One Writer Escapes
As a crime writer, a large part of my life is devoted to delving into murder, serial killers, death, and heartless, brutal crimes. With fiction, research is important for realism, but your mindset…
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Family Annihilators + Look Back at 2019
The holidays are often spent with family. My family, especially my siblings, are a nutty bunch whose thoughts run in line with mine (must be in the DNA). So, as I sat around…
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Historic Crime: Stepping Back in Time
A large part of my research for Pretty Evil New England involved traveling to crime scenes, historical societies, libraries, and cemeteries. And every so often I hit the motherload, which is exactly what…
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Dear Serial Killer …
I read a ton of serial killer thrillers. It’s my preferred genre as a writer, movie-goer, and reader (along with true crime). When authors do their homework, the books are superb. Can’t put…