Best Of 2022: Most anticipated true crime in 2023
Plus Mary Roach, David Faux-wie, and checking Santos's list
the true crime that's worth your time
For our year-end coverage here at Best Evidence, we’ve asked an esteemed panel of colleagues and contributors for the best (and the rest) true-crime properties of 2022; vintage gems and underrated treasures they discovered; and their big-picture takes on the genre.
Yesterday, we (and you!) talked about the biggest disappointments of the true-crime year. Today, we’re looking ahead to 2023 and projects we’re psyched for.
Margaret Howie, the co-founder of Space Fruit Press and editor of the Three Weeks newsletter: “Killers of the Flower Moon; I know that is so normie, but Scorsese-DiCaprio joints are always reliable in our uncertain age. The BBC is coming out with The Sixth Commandment next year, with the British answer to Leo — Timothy Spall — based on the ‘Church Warden’ murder of Peter Farquhar in 2015.”
Mark Blankenship, author of The Lost Songs Project and Reviews Editor at Primetimer: “I am cautiously optimistic about Killers of the Flower Moon, because I loved that book so much.”
Toby Ball, host of Strange Arrivals and co-host of Crime Writers On…: “It's a secret! But I'll let y'all know when it hits.”
Sarah Weinman, author of Scoundrel and New York Times crime-fiction columnist: “I blurbed it so it's a bit of a cheat, but Alex Mar's Seventy Times Seven is a stone masterpiece. This is exactly what true crime should be doing at every given moment.”
It’s probably a cheat for me to say that one of mine is Weinman’s upcoming anthology, but it’s true. And while it doesn’t have a for-sure drop date yet, The Man From The Train co-author Rachel McCarthy’s James’s Whack Job is high on my list.
Let’s close out this shorter round-up with one of our panelists’ “bonus” notes…in case one of your resolutions is gently and conscientiously introducing the children in your life to the true-crime genre. Hit it, Professor!
Dan Cassino, professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University: “I’m not saying that you should be bringing the kids in your life into this hobby, but I am saying that the cool mom/dad/aunt/uncle would do it, and that sharing something with the kids means that time spent on your interests goes from being ‘back on your bs’ to ‘parent/relative of the year awards.’ But maybe you’re not ready to pore over maps of the Borden house with a pre-teen; if you want to get them started on something a little less threatening/won’t lead to referrals if they mention it school, I can recommend Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach.
Roach is best known for pop-science books on the digestive tract and ghosts, and she brings her very hands-on approach to this 2022 book about wildlife enforcement. She talks about how to tell what kind of animal killed a person based on the evidence found at the scene, about what officials do when bears are encroaching on a town, about the struggle to keep birds off an air-force base. It’s weird and gross and entertaining as all get-out, and the right kid will like it even more than you do.”
What about you guys? Let us know which true crime you can’t wait for in 2023 — and/or properties that might qualify as all-ages quality time. — SDB
We are NOT for kids, but we CAN tell you the true crime that’s worth your time, as you’ve seen lately. We do it pretty much every weekday, so if you can, won’t you consider a paid subscription? If you mash that button right now, it’s only $50 for a whole year…
Eve’s back next week with the last budget-doc sweep of 2022, but I’m-a try to get these (alleged!) cons and IP thieves out to the curb first. Buckle up for another edition of Today In Pop-Cult/New York Pol Flim-Flammery!
“Who Is Rep.-Elect George Santos? His Résumé May Be Largely Fiction.” [New York Times] // My dad (still not the Zodiac) tipped me to this one, reading parts of it to me aloud on the phone the other day so that we could both delight in the NYT’s dryly humorous repetition of phrases like “unclear whether X existed” and “could find no record of Y.” None of it’s really a surprise: not that a Trump boot-licker like Santos, who a) lied on his c.v., b) didn’t disclose information he was supposed to, and c) has a check-kiting conviction on his record, 2) got elected from Long Island; not that the Times didn’t dig into his nonsense before the election. (Not that voters in districts like that care about such reporting — Lord knows the NY 11th didn’t, and a Santos spokesman more or less shrugged that the Times piece is MSM-aganda. But the Times’s defensive reaction to others pointing out that this information perhaps might have been chased down in October tells you something.) The story has continued to swirl around the bowl, with a couple of high-profile reporters basically telling readers to go find this information ourselves if we’re so interested. Not how that works?
One does wonder, as Trump’s influence appears to wane somewhat, how much longer the “just claim whatever and refuse to hear fact-checking” strategy is going to work for these cartoons. Nassau County’s GOP poobah deemed the allegations “serious,” but that doesn’t mean shit-all’s going to happen as a result.“How Michael Goguen Got Conned” [New York Magazine] // An “ethical Blackwater” start-up, a sex-trafficking-ring allegation, a joint in Whitefish, MT called the Boom Boom Room, and stolen-valor Google searches all add up to quite a ride. This is from the issue with the Bankman-Fried consplainer cover story so this one might have got lost in the shuffle in its text iteration; NYMag also put together a podcast about the drama, though.
“Did the Oscar-Winning Director Asghar Farhadi Steal Ideas?” [The New Yorker] // Intellectual property theft is still theft, IOO, and it seems clear the Oscar-winning director has a more elastic idea of “credit” than many of his unwitting, and offended, collaborators.
“Faking the Funk: How Bootsy Collins Impostors Pulled Off the Ultimate Music Biz Scam” [Rolling Stone] // Any number of delights in David Browne’s piece on multiple Bootsies cleaning up on the man’s identity, including a quote from Collins friend Cornel West, and a rundown of historical rockstar fakers: “Almost as long as there have been rock stars, there have been impostors: not tribute-band impersonators, but con artists claiming to actually be that person and hustling people out of cash or cadging free goods along the way. In 1964, a group of fake Beatles got away with playing shows in South America; around the same time, an unscrupulous promoter hired a bunch of ex-bank robbers, bus drivers, and lingerie salespeople to pretend to be the Ronettes and Temptations for a tour in the U.K. In 1977, a David Bowie impostor made his way around the U.S., persuading a woman to leave her husband and run off to Hawaii with the Thin Fake Duke.
Peter Criss and his impostor on Donahue in 1991. Faux versions of Steve Miller and the Eagles’ Randy Meisner were also scamming in various cities, as was, notoriously, a fake of Kiss drummer Peter Criss. The Criss impostor told a tabloid that he was a homeless drunk scuffling for change, leading the real Criss to confront the fraud on The Phil Donahue Show.”
“The psychopathic fantasist who seduced British pop's Mr Big and almost got away with murder: He was partnered with the boss of Warner Music, forged his will and probably killed him. Now he has [redacted for spoilers in case you want to read Mark Seal’s book first] [Daily Mail] // Mark Seal, who also expanded a Vanity Fair piece on “Clark Rockefeller” into a book I liked a lot, is the author of Love Until Death, an Audible original from May of this year about the murder of Peter Ikin that I’ve had on while finishing up some knitting projects. The audiobook isn’t quite five hours long, and I didn’t know the outcome beforehand, but at the same time, I kind of did, because I live in the world and read a lot about grifters, and while Jonathan Davis’s tea-spilling tone is a great fit for the material, there’s a bit of stalling in the early going. Like, we know where it’s certainly going; the publication of the book is months behind yet another plot twist, so…just say what happened before we ditch out and Google it. If you can resist doing that, this is a fine audio choice, not too overwritten despite the aforementioned structural issues, with a scandalously fucked-up con at the center (and Ikin is neither the only besotted mark nor the only obviously suspicious death). If you’ve got an Audible account and a credit to burn, it’s just right for that drive to Nana’s. — SDB
Tomorrow on Best Evidence: Big-picture thoughts on, and hopes for, the true-crime genre.
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