By Lisa Black This week I saw House of Gucci—really liked it—and started to wonder: What fascinates us about rich people killing each other? Sure, every society is subject to celebrity worship, but why does that interest increase exponentially when the story involves murder? I have several...
by Lisa Black I love scary movies. I mean love. If you look at my streaming watchlist, it’s 90% horror movies and 10% British crime dramas. And I’m picky—if it doesn’t give me nightmares, it’s not scary enough (only 3 have ever given me nightmares)—and I’ve never found one scary...
by Lisa Black Clay Stafford is an award-winning author, screenwriter, and filmmaker who created the Killer Nashville convention in 2006 to bring together forensic experts, writers, and fans in order to educate and empower aspiring and established writers. I was asked to be one of the Guests of...
Lisa Black in front of the Ohio State Reformatory at Mansfield Don’t worry if you recognize the imposing stone structure—it doesn’t mean you have a criminal record. The Ohio State Reformatory at Mansfield was used in several movies but particularly featured in The Shawshank Redemption. The...
By Lisa Black A surprising amount of serial killers have appeared on television—and not on a perp walk. Turns out they long for their fifteen minutes on games shows and reality TV as much as the rest of us. Rodney Alcala Rodney Alcala’s father abandoned them when Rodney was ten. Seven years later...
On August 20, 1978, five young men disappeared along Clinton Avenue in Newark, NJ. Three of the boys were sixteen, the two others seventeen. None had been in any trouble with the law or were likely to run away. None of the five were ever seen again…
Forensic specialist and author Lisa Black shares a first-hand account of holding hands with a convicted rapist and murderer.
I will not have a new book coming out in 2021. Last summer I finished what I thought would be the first book in a new series. My protagonist could be described as ‘like Jack Reacher, if Jack Reacher were a fortyish ex-housewife with no martial arts training.’ I loved it. My agent was enthusiastic...
by Lisa BlackOpening to the first page of a book always has that same delicious thrill of anticipation as when the theater lights dim and the curtain begins to rise from the stage. Will I be delighted? Will I be amazed? What is going to happen? But as wonderful as beginnings are, every book is...
by Lisa BlackIn observance of election week, I again revisit a trailblazing woman of U.S. politics: Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman to serve in both the Senate and the House, who crafted the Women’s Armed Forces Integration Act, and was one of the first who dared to protest Joe McCarthy...
