This is a French true crime series with an interesting premise. French investigative journalists have taken famous American crimes and written short books about them. Each book is set in a different U.S. state, and each crime affected and reflected American society in wide-ranging ways. Crime Ink is in the process of translating and publishing the series for an American audience. So far, two books in the series have been released.
The Alice Crimmins is the story of a New York mother whose little son and daughter vanished one day in 1965, and both were later separately found dead. Alice Crimmins scandalized many people, as she was separated from her husband, had relationships with multiple men, and worked as a cocktail waitress. The authorities believed that Crimmins killed her children, and this led to trials and a media frenzy. Was she guilty, or was she the victim of a censorious legal system? To this day, the general public has no definitive answers.
Renevier’s coverage is concise and fast-moving, and it provides a detailed overview of the case and its social and cultural aftermath. Renevier seems less concerned with the crime itself than with social gender expectations and strictures that the case reflected, and the rising feminist movement. Indeed, far more indignation is directed towards the people who condemned Alice Crimmins for her lifestyle than there is against the unknown person who robbed two children of their lives. True crime writers are sometimes criticized for focusing on the killers rather than the victims, but The Alice Crimmins Case focuses on the defendant and tries to indict a puritanical populace, rather than attempting to understand how much of this reaction was also due in part to horror at a brutal crime against kids.
The Golden State Killer Case is a capsule summary of the crimes made famous in I’ll Be Gone in the Dark. Indeed, Michelle McNamara’s work receives plenty of attention here. It’s a quick summary of the case, perfect for people who want to learn the general outline of what happened, but people who have already read I’ll Be Gone in the Dark or seen or listened to a documentary about the crime will not find much more that’s new here. It’s the story of a man who terrorized Californians on and off over decades during the mid-to-late twentieth century, breaking into homes, raping and killing before disappearing, finally getting caught after McNamara’s death. What took so long to catch the villain, and what finally lead brought these crimes to the general public knowledge? Thorp addresses the questions over the course of one hundred sixty-eight pages.
It’s an effective summary of the basic facts of the case, but the brevity of the book makes the gaps in the narrative evident. Unlike The Alice Crimmins Case, which focused on one crime and the woman at the center of it, The Golden State Killer tries to condense many attacks into even less space, and the end result is a little cursory. Still, one must not forget that these are meant to be brief histories of the cases for people who are not familiar with all the details, not comprehensive tomes addressing every little incident and clue.
This is a promising series, and it will be interesting to read additional entries, and see what the authors have to say about what the crimes tell about American society.
The Alice Crimmins Case (50 States of Crime– New York)
Anais Renevier, translated by Laurie Bennett
Crime Ink
Feb 11, 2025
The Golden State Killer Case (50 States of Crime– California)
William Thorp, translated by Lynn E. Palermo
Crime Ink
March 11, 2025
