Ron Franscell Explained

Ron Franscell
Birth Date:January 29, 1957
Occupation:Author, journalist
Nationality:American
Period:1995–present
Spouse:Mary Franscell
Children:2

Ron Franscell (born January 29, 1957) is an American journalist, novelist and true crime writer best known for the true account The Darkest Night about the 1973 crimes against two childhood friends in the small community where Franscell grew up.

Personal life

Franscell was raised in Casper, Wyoming, where he attended Kelly Walsh High School. He attended the US Naval Academy in Annapolis and later Casper College, where he was editor of the school newspaper (The Chinook). He graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Wyoming in 1979.

Franscell and his wife live in Placitas, Sandoval County, New Mexico. His wife, Mary Franscell, is a high school English teacher. He has two children.

Career

He worked as a journalist in Wyoming, New Mexico and California for Gannett newspapers from 1983–1989 and is a past president of the Wyoming Press Association.[1]

When Hurricane Rita made landfall in Texas, Franscell, managing editor at the time for the Beaumont Enterprise, rode out the storm with staff members in the newspaper's building.[2] [3]

In 2001, he was hired as a senior writer and columnist to write about the American West by the Denver Post, where he stayed two years. Following 9/11, he went on assignment for the Post to the Middle East. He worked for the Hearst Corporation from 2004–2008.

He was a judge for Knight Ridder newspaper's Top Books of 2003[4] and the International Association of Crime Writers Hammett Prize in 2017.

In 2008, the book Fall: The Rape and Murder of Innocence in a Small Town, Franscell's book about a crime against two young girls who were his next-door neighbors in Wyoming, was republished by St. Martin's Press with the new title The Darkest Night.[5]

His book Delivered From Evil, for which he interviewed survivors of notorious mass killings in America, was released in January 2011. After the assassination attempt near Tucson, Arizona the same month of U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords', when 18 other people were shot, six of whom died, Franscell was asked to comment for media outlets about mass murders.[6] [7]

True Crime Zine gave Franscell's ninth book, The Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Washington, DC released by Globe Pequot Press in September 2012, a five-star review.[8] The Huffington Post reviewed The Sourtoe Cocktail Club, about a father-and-son road trip before Franscell's son Matt left for college.[9]

Franscell's The Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Pennsylvania was released by Globe Pequot in October 2013.[10]

Awards

In 2017, the true-crime book, Morgue: A Life in Death, was nominated for an Edgar award by the Mystery Writers of America. In 1995, Franscell was awarded the national Freedom of Information Award from the Associated Press Managing Editors Association.

He was awarded the 1996 Wyoming Literary Fellowship for his first novel Angel Fire.[11] In 1999, Angel Fire was named in the San Francisco Chronicles 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century West.[12]

In 2003, he was given the Distinguished Alumni Award by Casper College.[13]

"The Darkest Night," a New York Times bestseller, won ForeWord Reviews magazine's gold medal for 2007 Book of the Year in true crime.[14]

Books

Fiction

Non-fiction

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Franscell publishes first novel . The Outrider . February 1998 . 2012-09-18.
  2. Web site: Beaumont Newspaper Determined to Keep Printing . . 2005-09-24 . 2012-09-18.
  3. Web site: Lessons of a Baseball Upbringing . . 2005-10-22 . 2012-09-18.
  4. Web site: Columnists offer up top 20 books of 2003 . Knight Ridder Tribune . 2003-12-14 . 2012-09-18.
  5. News: Grisly Wyoming Crime And Aftermath Recalled . . 2006 . 2012-09-18.
  6. Web site: Making peace with a monster. CNN. 2012-07-26. 2012-09-18. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120819204824/http://articles.cnn.com/2012-07-26/us/us_mass-murder-survivors_1_survivors-mass-killer-grant-pardons. 2012-08-19.
  7. News: Former Beaumont editor is a new specialist on mass murders . Beaumont Enterprise. 2011-01-11. 2012-09-18.
  8. The Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Washington D.C. by Ron Franscell . True Crime Zine. 2012-09-10. 2012-09-18.
  9. News: Sourtoe Cocktail: Father And Son Bond Over Drinking Dead Man's Toe . The Huffington Post. 2012-09-19.
  10. http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/907284_True-crime-writers-recount-many-local-cases-in-new-book--signing-is-set-for-Oct--29-.html True-crime writers recount many local cases in new book; signing is set for Oct. 29. – Book Reviews
  11. Web site: Book Review: Angel Fire. DenverPost.com. 2012-09-18.
  12. News: Readers rank the 20th century's best nonfiction this side of the Rockies. San Francisco Chronicle. 1999-05-27. 2012-09-18.
  13. Web site: Distinguished Alumni Award . Casper College . 2012-09-18 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140414044554/http://www.caspercollege.edu/alumni/popup_award_distinguished_01.html . 2014-04-14 .
  14. Web site: BOTYA 2007 Finalists in True Crime . ForeWord Reviews. 2007. 2012-09-18.
  15. Book review: Delivered From Evil . Failure Magazine . 2012-09-18.
  16. News: Book review: The Sourtoe Cocktail Club . Wyoming Tribune-Eagle . 2011-08-19 . 2012-09-18 . dead . https://archive.today/20130209224857/http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2011/10/08/entertainment/01ent%20100811.txt . 2013-02-09 .

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