Toward a Theory of True Crime Narratives vivifies how nonfiction murder stories are told, what role they play in society, and in the form of true crime, why they remain enduringly popular internationally on every platform. This book establishes for the first time the actual line—or dotted line—between mainstream journalism and the multimedia phenomena of true crime. Presenting a stable definition of what is—and what is not—true crime will either challenge or justify Truman Capote’s claims regarding the creation of a "new journalism" in In Cold Blood, and accordingly, expose the reluctance of the promoters of NPR’s Serial, HBO’s The Jinx, and Netflix’s Making a Murderer to refer to their products as such. This research codifies true crime texts of various types on multiple platforms—radio, television, print, digital, and film—to reveal the defining characteristics of the genre.
Reviews
"With this book, Dr. Ian Punnett has staked out new and important territory in the study of true crime. This is essential reading for anybody interested in how and why true crime remains compelling to worldwide readers and audiences." -Jean Murley, Queensborough Community College, CUNY, USA
Acknowledgments
viii
1 An Outline in Chalk
1
(15)
Securing the Scene
1
(4)
The Background Check
5
(11)
2 The Exploratory Study: A Proper Search
16
(68)
Interrogating the Texts
22
(3)
Selection of True Crime Narratives: "The Usual Suspects"
25
(57)
Summation
82
(2)
3 The Findings: Two Sides to Every True Crime Story
84
(11)
The Prosecution: The Critic's View
84
(1)
The Defense: True Crime as a Justice Mechanism
85
(1)
A Review of the Evidence
86
(7)
Summation
93
(2)
4 Conclusion and Discussion: The Verdict
95
(16)
A Theory of True Crime
95
(6)
Crimen Veritas
101
(1)
The International Man Hunt Is On
101
(2)
Accomplices After the Fact: NON-narrative True Crime Writing
103
(1)
Crime Porn
104
(1)
The Final Sentence
104
(7)
References
111
(11)
Index
122
Ian Case Punnett is a professor of multimedia journalism who came back to graduate school after a successful decades-long career in commercial radio/television/print/digital media. Other books include A Black Night for the Blue Grass Belle (2016) and How to Pray When Youre Pissed at God (2013).
