The chilling true tale of two innocent sisters who are abducted, terrorized for hours, raped, and finally thrown from an isolated bridge into a dark canyon in the middle of nowhere on a dark night in 1973. One miraculously survived. The other did not. Years later, author and journalist Ron Franscell--a childhood friend and next-door neighbor to the girls--can't forget his hometown's most shocking story of abduction, rape, and murder. Exploring the nature of a small town's memory and the poison of survivor guilt, THE DARKEST NIGHT races toward a shocking ending. The result is one of the most provocative true-crime stories of the decade, told by one of the nation's finest narrative journalists.

The Darkest Night: Two Sisters, a Brutal Murder, and the Loss of Innocence in a Small Town

Franscell, Ron

Reference

St. Martin's True Crime

Twenty-four years after war correspondent Daniel McLeod is killed in Vietnam, his only brother Cassidy is drawn by a mysterious phone call to their Wyoming hometown, where he must confront a lifetime of his own ghosts. A first novel. Reprint.

Angel Fire

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

BERKLEY

"Mindhunter crossed with American Gothic. This chilling story has the ghostly unease of a nightmare."-Michael Cannell, author of Incendiary- The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber and the Invention of Criminal Profiling The pulse-pounding account of the first time in history that the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit created a psychological profile to catch a serial killer On June 25, 1973, a seven-year-old girl went missing from the Montana campground where her family was vacationing. Somebody had slit open the back of their tent and snatched her from under their noses. None of them saw or heard anything. Susie Jaeger had vanished into thin air, plucked by a shadow. The largest manhunt in Montana's history ensued, led by the FBI. As days stretched into weeks, and weeks into months, Special Agent Pete Dunbar attended a workshop at FBI Headquarters in Quantico, Virgina, led by two agents who had hatched a radical new idea- What if criminals left a psychological trail that would lead us to them? Patrick Mullany, a trained psychologist, and Howard Teten, a veteran criminologist, had created the Behavioral Science Unit to explore this new "voodoo" they called "criminal profiling." At Dunbar's request, Mullany and Teten built the FBI's first profile of an unknown subject- the UnSub who had snatched Susie Jaeger and, a few months later, a nineteen-year-old waitress. When a suspect was finally arrested, the profile fit him to a T...

ShadowMan: An Elusive Psycho Killer and the Birth of FBI Profiling

History

Americas

OUTLAW NEW MEXICO continues the popular series that critics, true-crime fans, historians and travelers have hailed as "the ultimate guilty pleasure," "thorough and unflinching," and "the best damn crime travel series ever published!" This rollicking romp across the historic New Mexico crimescape promises all the can't-look-away allure of its predecessors ... and a few surprises! This is a trip to the Land of Enchantment's darker side, where seemingly idyllic places reveal secrets: Billy the Kid’s childhood home, the bridge where two spies started the nuclear arms race, the site of one of America’s deadliest (and grisliest) prison riots, the former hippie commune ended by murder, a lonely desert hilltop where a UFO reportedly crashed and made a con-man rich, and many more. With photographs, maps, directions, and precise GPS coordinates, this collection of crime tales is both a travel guide and an entertaining and enlightening read.

Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw New Mexico (Crime Buff's Guides)

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Angel Fire Press

OUTLAW ARIZONA continues the popular series that critics, true-crime fans, historians and travelers have hailed as "the ultimate guilty pleasure," "thorough and unflinching," and "the best damn crime travel series ever published!" This rollicking romp across the historic Arizona crimescape promises all the can't-look-away allure of its predecessors ... and a few surprises!  This is a trip to the Grand Canyon State's darker side, where seemingly idyllic places reveal secrets: the compound of a child-molesting polygamist, the scene of a 19th century mass murder, the spot where John Dillinger was arrested for the last time, the scene of Billy the Kid's first killing, and many more.  With photographs, maps, directions, and precise GPS coordinates, this collection of outlaw tales is both a travel guide and an entertaining and enlightening read.

Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Arizona

This "boxed set" of CRIME BUFF'S GUIDES TO OUTLAW ARIZONA and OUTLAW NEW MEXICO combines them in a single volume and continues the popular series that critics, true-crime fans, historians and travelers have hailed as "the ultimate guilty pleasure," "thorough and unflinching," and "the best damn crime travel series ever published!" This rollicking romp across the historic American Southwest promises all the can't-look-away allure of its predecessors ... and a few surprises! From Jodi Arias to Wyatt Earp, this is a trip to the desert's darker side, where seemingly idyllic places reveal secrets: the compound of a child-molesting polygamist, the quaint bridge where atomic spies sparked the Cold War, the spot where John Dillinger was arrested for the last time, the scenes of Billy the Kid's many crimes, and many more. With photographs, maps, directions, and precise GPS coordinates, this collection of outlaw tales is both a travel guide and an entertaining and enlightening read.

Crime Buff's Guide to the Outlaw Southwest

True Crime

A fascinating journey through the Lone Star State’s unruly past with maps, photos, and more
Texas rightfully claims a celebrated place in the wildest” West of both myth and realitywhich makes it truly stranger than fiction that The Crime Buff’s Guide to Outlaw Texas is the first-ever travel guide to the many sites related to the Lone Star State’s renowned rambunctious past, complete with GPS coordinates that put you at the scene of the action.
From outlaws like Sam Bass and John Wesley Hardin to Bonnie &amp; Clyde and Houston’s notorious Candy Man killer, Texas has dozens of places where true-crime buffs can actually stand close to history. For many readers, the attraction to these sitessome well-known, some obscured by timeis irresistible. Written with the same fast-paced, gripping style that marked the author’s widely praised earlier work, The Crime Buff’s Guide to Outlaw Texasis an indispensable resource for both criminal-history enthusiasts and travelers. Each site description includes a concise summary of the location’s significance, historical context, maps, directions, and photos.
Praise for a previous book by the same author, The Darkest Night
Heartbreaking . . . Not unlike Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.” Chicago Sun-Times
This uncommon story has every chilling component of human terror, drama, and suspense that readers of true crime look for.” Vincent Bugliosi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Helter Skelter
A very, very, good book . . . written by a very, very, good writer.” Ann Rule, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Stranger Beside Me

The Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Texas

Globe Pequot

A father-and-son love story set against epic backdrops and overlooked places
 After Ron Franscell’s divorce, he feared he was the continuing link in a long chain of estranged fathers. But when the author and his teenage son embark on a road trip to the Yukon to seek out a macabre cocktail containing an amputated human toe, they unwittingly begin a journey into their own past, present and future. The Sourtoe Cocktail Club is a true-life love story about fathers and sons, set against epic backdrops and overlooked places. It is also a road book that attempts to answer, for one father and son, a pivotal life question: Where does the road go?

Sourtoe Cocktail Club: The Yukon Odyssey Of A Father And Son In Search Of A Mummified Human Toe ... And Everything Else

Travel

United States

A rollicking journey through the Rockies' reckless past--with maps, photos, and GPS! The Rocky Mountains hold a celebrated place in the "wildest" West of both myth and reality--yet this is the first-ever travel guide to the many sites associated with Colorado and Wyoming's notorious past, complete with precise GPS coordinates of significant places. Written with the same fast-paced, gripping style of bestselling crime author Ron Franscell's widely praised earlier work, The Crime Buff's Guide to the Outlaw Rockies takes you on a time-traveling tour through the haunts of Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch, serial killer Ted Bundy, the Columbine massacre, and hundreds of the West's most lawless characters. It's an indispensable resource for both criminal-history enthusiasts and travelers because each site description includes a concise summary of the location's significance, historical context, maps, directions, photos ... all with exact GPS details!

Crime Buff's Guide to the Outlaw Rockies (Crime Buff's Guides)

Washington D.C. isn't known as the "District of Crime" or "Murder Capital of America" for nothing. Though the capital city's motto is "justice for all," D.C. has a darker side, including an extensive history of crimes and misdemeanors, some political and some not. The Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Washington D.C. is the ultimate guidebook to the criminal and seedy history of the nation's capital -- plus Maryland, Northern Virginia and (ironically) Arlington National Cemetery. It also contains an entire chapter pinpointing key and little-known sites in the Lincoln Assassination. With photographs, maps, directions, and precise GPS coordinates, this collection of outlaw tales serves as both a travel guide and an entertaining and enlightening read. It is a one-of-a-kind exploration into well-known and more obscure sites in D.C. that retain memories of bandits, corpse-snatchers, murderers, snipers, bootleggers, assassins, rogue scientists, spies, mobsters and corrupt politicians -- even a legendary serial killer dressed in a bunny suit -- and their scandalous deeds.

Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Washington, DC (Crime Buff's Guides)

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Books by Franscell, Ron