Deconstructing True Crime Literature

Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
About the Author
Chapter 1: Introduction
	Deconstructing True Crime: Subgenre Categories
	Authenticity and Accuracy
	Authorial Proximity
	Author Gap
	Conclusion
	References
Chapter 2: Time of Death: The Early Era of True Crime
	The Timeline of True Crime
	True Crime for Contemporary Audiences
	The Tautology of True Crime
	The Likely Suspects: Looking Ahead in True Crime
	References
Chapter 3: Writing the ‘I’ in True Crime
	References
Chapter 4: Vincent Bugliosi’s Objectivity: Can We Side-Step Bias in True Crime?
	Naming the Thing
	Reflection: Bugliosi on Literature
	Naming the Thing
	Third-Person Narration
	First-Person Narration
	Literary Techniques
	Use of Footnotes
	Authenticity, Accuracy, and Transparency
	Conclusion: Authorial Proximity
	References
Chapter 5: The Writer Inside Me: Does Ann Rule’s Proximity to the Serial Killer Celebrity Translate to a Reliable Retelling?
	Framing the Thing
	Reflection: Points of Comparison
	Reflection: But I Trusted You, and Other True Cases
	First-Person Narration
	Grey Space
	Literary Techniques
	Capturing Voice
	Authenticity and Accuracy
	Conclusion: Authorial Proximity
	References
Chapter 6: Writing True Crime from a Safe Distance
	References
Chapter 7: Truman Capote’s World of Make-Believe: How Does Figurative Language and Creative License Distort Truth in In Cold Blood?
	Reflection: On Reading In Cold Blood
	Third-Person Narration
	Establishing Voice(s)
	Characterising the Killers
	Dressing the Scene
	Language Use
	Quoted Materials
	Authenticity and Accuracy
	Conclusion: Authorial Proximity
	References
Chapter 8: 3500 Files and an Unfinished Script: Is Well-Curated Research and Collaboration the Key to Truthful True Crime, Considered Through Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark?
	First-Person Narration
	Third-Person Narration
	Figurative Language
	Contextualising the Crime
	Research as Collaborative Practice
	Authenticity and Accuracy
	Reflection: On Reading and (Re)classifying I’ll Be Gone in the Dark
	Conclusion: Authorial Proximity
	References
Chapter 9: Writing Creative (True) Crime Narratives
	References
Chapter 10: Manson’s Girls Make a Comeback: How (C)overt Is the Influence of the Charles Manson Case on Emma Cline’s The Girls, and Should Readers Be Expected to Ignore the Connections?
	Not Naming the Thing
	Reflection: What’s in a Name?
	Not Naming the Thing
	Inspired by Real Events
	Characterisation
	Russell’s Doctrine
	The Murders
	Reflection: Who Said That?
	Language Use
	Authenticity and Accuracy
	Conclusion: Authorial Proximity
	References
Chapter 11: Narrative Hybridity in True Crime: Is Maggie Nelson Integrating Poetry into the True Crime Genre?
	Reflection: On a Second Read
	Narrative Ownership and (Reappropriating) Authorial Intentions
	Duo-I Narration
	Intertextuality and Ekphrasis
	Form and Content
	Scripting the Victim
	Authenticity and Accuracy
	Conclusion: Authorial Proximity
	References
Chapter 12: Conclusion
	Narrative Styles
	Language Styles
	Research Styles
	Closing Argument
	References
Index