Don Woldman, my brilliant co-host on ourLIVE Internet TRUE CRIME radio show, will be out of town this weekend. Filling in for Don will be Hollywood Private Eye FRED WOLFSON! LISTEN LIVE SATURDAY 2pm Pacific Time!
Check out Fred's tie, and you can see why he was arrested for fashion violations. You've probably heard Fred on Matt Alan's show -- he has incredible stories and is remarkably entertaining. Not only is Fred a famous private detective, he also was a comedy writer on the Flip Wilson show, and co-host of CASE CLOSED on the USA Network. It is a delight to have Fred Wolfson co-host the show Saturday, and add to the excitement of interviewing one of the best writers in America, Ron Franscell. If you have questions for Ron, send them to [email protected]
FALL is one of the best true crime books ever written, and the author, RON FRANSCELL will be our special guest THIS COMING SATURDAY 2pm Pacific Time. LISTEN LIVE BY CLICKING THIS LINK! DO NOT MISS THIS! Ron is not only a brilliant and talented author, he also has good table manners and a decent driving record. Here is info about FALL/The Darkest Night.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOLD MEDALIST in the Independent Publishers 2008 Book Awards and in Foreword Magazine's 2008 Book of the Year Awards!
Becky Thomson died twice. The first time on the night in 1973 when she and her little sister were thrown by two abductors into a deep canyon from a remote Wyoming bridge. The second time in 1992 when she went back to that same bridge to finally chase away the ghosts that had haunted her for 19 years.
Author and journalist Ron Franscell ventures deep into the memories of his childhood in a small Wyoming town to tell the shocking story of Wyoming's most devastating rape and murder. In the small circle of the victims' friends, he explores how a thirty-year-old crime remains an open wound today among the people who were splashed by its viciousness. It not only changed their lives, but it changed crime and punishment forever in Wyoming.
His searing account relied on more than 100 interviews, including the only living witness to the monstrous 1973 killing on the Fremont Canyon Bridge: Convicted murderer Ron Kennedy. He also talked to the family and friends of both the victims and their assailants, as well as collected thousands of pages of documents, letters and photographs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Praise for THE DARKEST NIGHT
"Heartbreaking ... the girls' last terrifying moments are delivered with such vivid texture that they are almost too painful to read. The technique and execution is not unlike Truman Capote's 'In Cold Blood' ... And just when your heart is broken by this terrible tragedy, Franscell adds a coda that will further disturb your peaceful sleep."
— CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"Ron Franscell's breathless FALL / THE DARKEST NIGHT [is] a true-crime tale that grabs readers on the first page and doesn't let go until long after the final word. ... Thanks to Franscell's daily journalism experience, his polished, yet conversational writing style appeals to the Everyman. 'FALL' barely stumbles as Franscell delivers a crackling story of lives and innocence lost."
— ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
"Few authors understand what makes a true crime book stand out like a beacon from the mass of prosaically gruesome re-telling of police reports. Ron Franscell does! FALL / THE DARKEST NIGHT explores the true story of this unholy sacrifice of youth and misplaced trust in a gripping, throat-tightening way. It is an almost-hypnotic read, hard to look away from. But it is also compassionate as we question the awful fate of the victims, sadly singled out by fate or luck or whatever shapes our destinies. This is a very, very, good book -- a gem for readers who look for the whole story, written by a very, very, good writer. Every time I hear a neighbor or a local lawman in a traditionally low-crime town, say 'Something like murder doesn't happen here' -- when, of course, it does -- I shake my head. This time, it happened in Casper, Wyoming, and Ron Franscell takes you there ... completely. It will make you cry honest tears. The victims deserve no less."
— ANN RULE
"Ron Franscell's FALL / THE DARKEST NIGHT is the best exploration of a true crime I've read since 'In Cold Blood.' If it weren't a clichE, I'd say that it reads like the best of novels. In fact, I'm going to say so anyway. This compelling story of “the rape and murder of innocence” in Franscell's hometown, as told by one of America's best writers of fiction and non-fiction, changed my mind about our society, its norms and laws, and, I'm afraid, the evil that can lie hidden in the human heart. FALL / THE DARKEST NIGHT is an American masterpiece: fearless, deeply personal, dramatic, timely, and, unfortunately, as true as true can be."
— HOWARD FRANK MOSHER
Best-selling author of "Waiting for Teddy Williams" and "The True Account"
"FALL is an intimate true crime story. Franscell tells his story from a truly unique perspective. What sets FALL / THE DARKEST NIGHT apart in the genre is that he was there, not as a victim or a perpetrator, but as a child splashed by the unexpected evil of it all -- and he grew up with a gift to be able to tell the story in all its violent colors."
— GERRY SPENCE
Famed Wyoming trial lawyer and author of "Gunning for Justice"
"The book is as much [Ron] Franscell's own story as it is Becky [Thomson's] or [Ron] Kennedy's, making FALL / THE DARKEST NIGHT stand out from the legion of true-crime books. The author here was an affected bystander, not a neutral observer after the fact. ... The story in FALL / THE DARKEST NIGHT is, in the end, too horrifying to try to explain."
— DENVER POST
"Ron Franscell reveals extensive new details of one of the vilest crimes in Wyoming history, one that cast a long and poisonous shadow through more than three decades. He returns to his hometown (and mine) of Casper to illuminate how it touched the lives of so many who were dragged along in its wake. This is first-rate reporting and a riveting read."
— PETE WILLIAMS
NBC News Justice Correspondent
"Amazingly well-written, this is an important story for America today, maybe for the world."
— LOUIE FREE
Talk-show host at WWOW-AM, Cleveland
