Saturday, May 19, 2007

Ann Rule's 5 best true-crime books

Ann Rule, best-selling author of two dozen true-crime books, named a "five best" list of true-crime books for Opinion Journal.

The most recent title on Rule's list:

The Wrong Man" by James Neff

In 1954, an Ohio jury and much of America quickly accepted that Dr. Sam Sheppard had killed his pregnant wife, Marilyn. James Neff, revisiting the much-reported case almost 50 years later, presents another suspect and a new view in "The Wrong Man." The book is rich in forensic detail, and it taught me things I never knew, thanks to Neff's close attention to the way blood had been sprayed and dripped at the crime scene. Blood evidence didn't really come of age until the 1990s. That's why the forensic data available at any 1954 crime scene are horse-and-buggy stuff compared with what Neff had access to when he wrote on this case -- and he made the most of it. His research is monumental and a shining example for any true-crime writer.

Read about the book that is Number One on Rule's list.

--Marshal Zeringue