DETECTIVE MAGAZINE HEAVEN: May 2011

Friday, May 6, 2011

COLD STORAGE

Don Lasseter is one of best of the true crime writers working today. Whenever I find one of his books, I almost always put aside what I’m currently reading and will dive into the Lasseter book. I feel the same way about the books of M. William Phelps. Each of these gentlemen pick interesting cases to write about and do so in their own distinctive and riveting style.

COLD STORAGE tells the story of young Miss Denise Huber – a sweet, beautiful young lady from Newport Beach, California. Unfortunately, she had car problems one night and encountered a monster, John Famalaro, while she was seeking assistance.

A little over three years from the time she went missing, Miss Huber was found in Prescott, Arizona. Sadly, she was in a chestbox freezer and apparently had been for almost the entire time she vanished.

As much as I am fascinated by true crime novels and such, the one thing I really hate are blurbs that say something like “Featuring 16 pages of startling photos!”. In most cases, there’s nothing startling about any of the photos you see. They usually show the detectives who worked on the case, maybe the prosecution and defense teams and even perhaps a picture of the killer as a child playing Frisbee with Foo Foo the dog.

However, there a couple of upsetting pictures of Miss Huber’s remains that might be a little too graphic for those of faint disposition. Word to the wise.

Famalaro was caught, convicted and still awaits execution of his sentence on death row. In this case I would also like to see Famalaro’s parents lynched – with the very electrical extension cord that ran from their house to the freezer in the moving van containing Miss Huber.

MASTER DETECTIVE (THE ORIGINAL)

ALL-FAMOUS POLICE CASES

Thought I would add some galleries on this blog of old crime mag covers from the so-called golden age. This is from a more or less true blotter of stories.