Racism in investigations of serial murderer
Hi, and welcome to August! I’m taking a quick break from usual programming here to say a couple of things…
I know I often share weird little factoids about crime in this newsletter, and also some ingenious work done by the authorities when it comes to investigation. But I wanted to take a step back for a second and highlight something this month (and CW for some pretty horrible murders and also sexual violence, btw, so be careful what you click on), which is “what often happens when racism and policing intersect”.
Spoiler: it’s not good.
We saw it in the case of the Atlanta child murders of 1979-81, and we saw it in the case of Jeffrey Dahmer, where Black witnesses were disregarded by Milwaukee police, and we saw it here in Australia when the racially-motivated murder of 15-year-old Noongar-Yamatji boy Cassius Turvey was considered a case of ‘wrong place, wrong time’ by police in Perth, so it’s impossible to ignore this reality:
Black victims and witnesses are consistently diminished or ignored by the authorities.
And in a 2022 case in Kansas City, Missouri, an entire Black community was fobbed off by the authorities when they claimed, time and again, that someone was preying on Black women and girls. A local bishop enumerated the community’s concerns – and was told by the authorities that the evidence the community put forward was based on ‘completely unfounded rumours’.
In fact, the case was broken only a month later, when one of the victims managed to escape her imprisonment and make a report that led to the arrest of a man who had killed at least two (but possibly as many as seven) women and girls.
It seriously boggles my mind that it took a victim escaping to convince the police that something was up. I mean, I write this kind of stuff, and I’m frequently told that events like this in fiction are implausible – well, heads up, friends, they’re not that implausible, because when researching murder, I come across these sorts of stories on the regular.
I think we all know that it shouldn’t be like this. But that’s the insidiousness of racism, and it happens in policing and investigation like it happens everywhere else. It’s a stain on the authorities who engage in it, and it leads to some dreadful outcomes for individuals and communities – and a consequent breakdown in trust between community members and the people who are supposed to be protecting and doing right by them.
And you know I love to share in this newsletter about how criminal investigation can unveil some cool stuff – but I don’t think I’ve pointed out enough that crimes like homicide disproportionately impact Black communities, and frankly, the police just don’t take it seriously enough. Criminal investigation is supposed to help catch perpetrators. Forensic investigation has made huge advances in scientific accuracy over the last 150 years, which is great. But investigations are supposed to be based on facts, not prejudice.
Clearly, we still have a long way to go.
Dead woman bangs on her own coffin
Okay, now I’ve said my piece, back to weird little factoids – including this one, which is about a 76-year-old woman in Ecuador who had to bang on her coffin during her own wake to remind people that she was (hi, hello!) still alive.
Apparently the doctor involved in her case and the hospital that issued the death certificate are now under review, which seems fair.
Her son is quoted as saying, ‘It gave us all a fright,’ and NO SHIT – if I heard banging coming from inside a coffin during a wake, I would be booking it outta there, because honey, I’ve seen that movie and it never ends well.
SOME SHALL BREAK news
My little book has passed 1000 ratings on GoodReads!! Woot!!
I love when I fixate on these small, silly things around a book release 😂 But honestly, launching a book into the world is a tough gig, and I celebrate all the wins.
SPECIAL REVIEW GIVEAWAY
Speaking of reviews, I’m going to do a special review giveaway this month, and I’m offering a very special prize…
I have a box of thriller goodies here from the Novl, including the following:
*US paperback copy of NONE SHALL SLEEP
*US hardback copy of THE KILLING CODE
*US hardback copy of WE MADE IT ALL UP by Margot Harrison
*US paperback copy of THE WAR OUTSIDE by Monica Hesse
*two Novlbox bookmarks
*A letter from me
*A pack of USA Gold American wood pencils
*A bottle of Revlon nail enamel in Revlon Red
*A ‘Booked All Week’ tote
Plus I’m going to add in:
*An Australian paperback copy of SOME SHALL BREAK
Ngl, this is a pretty amazing prize pack – 5 books and a bunch of cool swag.
If you’d like to enter, please comment at the bottom of this post/email with a link to your Amazon or GoodReads review of SOME SHALL BREAK. At the end of the month, I’ll put all the entries in the hat and draw a winner. This giveaway is open international, but only to subscribers of The Black Hand, so if you’re not subscribed, get on that!
What I’m writing
Well I’m currently neck-deep in the draft of a manuscript which is due at the end of August (pray for me).
I’ve been working so damn hard on this story, and it’s been really tough because it’s in a slightly different genre for a different demographic – if I haven’t mentioned it before, it’s an adult horror novel. I can’t tell you much about it, except that it’s set in Vermont at the end of the nineties, and when I do finally get to reveal the premise, I think it may well blow the top of your head off…👀
And you know, I’ve written a lot of books now – twelve books, apparently – so you’d imagine that I’ve had enough practise at this business to know what I’m doing? I mean, I even wrote a thread about it (sorry, this means that you have to click on the horrible X site if you want to read):
Anyway, I thought I knew how it all worked – I thought I knew what it was all about. But changing lanes has been way harder than I expected! Like, I’ve rewritten the start of this novel at least eight or nine times. I have angsted. I have pulled out my hair. I have beaten my head against a wall. I have asked many smart friends for advice (that actually turned out to be helpful). Finally, I got on the right track with it.
And now, with 280 pages done, I have until the end of the month to finish it. Like I said, send out good thoughts for me.
What I’m reading
Nobody told me that NIGHTWING by Martin Cruz Smith is kind of a banger? I mean, I first encountered this book when I was a kid, because my uncle had a copy – I was fascinated by the bloodthirsty bats on the cover.
Cruz Smith wrote a bunch of espionage novels too, including the reasonably famous Gorky Park, which was made into a film with William Hurt. NIGHTWING was also made into a film (with an Italian-Canadian actor playing a Hopi character, which…yeah. Looks kinda bad):
The book was Cruz Smith’s first attempt at horror, published in 1977, so it reads kind of dated in many ways. And while I cannot vouch for the accuracy of Cruz Smith’s depictions of Hopi characters, at least Cruz Smith is actually of Pueblo, Spanish and Yaqui ancestry himself. But overall, the book is a solid, pulpy read with an environmental message that I kinda loved.
In other reads, I’ve ordered a copy of PAPERBACKS FROM HELL by Grady Hendrix, and reread HORRORSTOR – if you’ve ever wanted to read a horror-comedy book about what is essentially a haunted IKEA, this is the book for you:
And I recently listened to an interview with wildman author Chuck Tingle – originally famous for anonymising himself in public appearances by wearing a pink bag over his head, and for his completely out-there brand of speculative queer erotica with titles like Heavy Metal Unicorn Lawyer Sings Into My Butthole Legally, and My T-Rex Barber Is A Lesbian and She Eats Me Right, and Space Raptor Butt Invasion, and Pounded By The Pound: Turned Gay By The Socioeconomic Implications of Britain Leaving The European Union. Hugo-award-winning Chuck, god love him, has released a new (non-parody, legitimately scary) horror novel called CAMP DAMASCUS, set in a Christian gay-conversion-therapy camp, and if the interview I heard on Talking Scared is any indication, it promises to be a fantastic read!
What I’m watching
I am 100000% invested in seeing TALK TO ME, the new Australian horror movie by the RackaRacka Brothers, it looks like an absolute banger:
I also saw BARBIE, and yes, it was awesome, I will not be taking questions at this time 😊
World Cup
Look, I am not a sportsball person - I live with a genuine sports tragic and a crew of sports-happy lads, and at any given time, there is between 5-7 different types of sport being viewed in my house (AFL football, rugby union/league, tennis, soccer, cricket…etc) so I really do get more than my fill. But yes, I am watching the World Cup and I will be checking out Sam Kerr in the finals, and I really hope Australia doesn’t get rubbed out anytime in the next four matches.
But while we’re talking sport (guaranteed to be a rare occurrence in these posts), here is a great ad for the 1998 World Cup featuring the legendary Bob Marley:
LoveOzYAbookclub
This month we’re reading the new novel by award-winning Yuin author Gary Lonesborough, WE DIDN’T THINK IT THROUGH. You can find us anytime at the IG page for LoveOzYAbookclub, and we have some nice author interviews and video stuff on there now, if you’d like to check it out 😊
Okay, this is another short one this month, because (as mentioned earlier) I’m on the deadline clock… I really hope I can get this book written in time! And once it’s done, I’m planning to take a short nap/holiday, and then return to the world of Emma and Travis and Simon and Kristin – I’ll be picking up the story of None Shall Sleep Book 3 from where I left off earlier in the year. Fingers crossed it all goes to plan!
Hope your August is a good one, and that you read some good books and watch some good shows!
Stay well and happy reading 😊
xxEllie
Already counting the seconds till the next one!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4868986732
I just finished it...I need more. So good.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5516535933