The godmother of true-crime books would have turned 90 years old today. Was Ann Rule’s prose the most beautifully Capotean thing you ever read? No. Did she make the wider market for true-crime stories and rule it with a prolific fist for decades? Hell yes she did. (Should Becky Ann Baker play her in a biopic? Ohhh yes — and Baker’s BET-CRP c.v. is impressive as it is, so keep an eye out for that soon.)

So, let’s celebrate with an Ann Rule open thread. What’s the first one you read? Have you not read any? Do you think she’s the sine qua non of the genre as we understand it today, or a hack — or both?

(And do you like to save money on used books? Because Exhibit B.’s got an Ann Rule-oween sale on! Enter code RULE22 at checkout to save on all her work, her daughter’s work, any cases out of the PNW, any genre classics, and more.) — SDB