THOSE LISTS OF "THE BEST"

Yesterday, I received an email from a fellow blogger (a stranger by the name of Todd Jensen), who runs his blog from a site intriguingly called "forensic colleges".  A poison analysis lab?  The imagination runs riot.

Anyway, what Todd said was: "We would love to share with you an article that we just posted on our own blog 25 Best True Crime Books." 

Todd confidently believes that it "would be an interesting story for your readers to check out and discuss on
your blog."

Well, we shall see.  I have to admit that apart from Truman Capote and Mr Whicher, I haven't read any of them.  And the best true crime book I have ever read -- by many a country mile -- is The Ability to Kill by Eric Ambler    But these opinions are so personal, and don't really bear arguing about unless both parties have read all the books, plus several hundred more in the same genre.  By sheer coincidence I have just been loaned a book by a friend who is true-crime addict. It is called The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, the real Moriarty and is by Ben Macintyre. My friend says it is the best true-crime book he has ever read. So you see how idiosyncratic these things are. They are only the top 25 in the mind of the writer.

Tongue in cheek, I wrote to Todd, "I can't resist it -- I wrote a well received true crime book myself, and it is not on your list!!!"

The book is called IN THE WAKE OF MADNESS and is the true story of a whaling voyage where the captain was a serial killer. The ship was the sister ship of the whaleship Melville sailed on, Acushnet, and was in the Pacific at the same time. The story of this terrible voyage was a prime inspiration for Moby-Dick.