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The Best American Crime Writing: 2004 Edition: The Year's Best True Crime Reporting
A year’s worth of the most powerful, the most startling, the smartest and most astute…
“Ciudad de la Muerte” by Cecilia Balli, from Texas Monthly
“Code of Dishonor” by Clara Bingham, from Vanity Fair
“Lord of the Drug Ring” by Charles Bowden, from GQ
“The Dark Art of Interrogation” by Mark Bowden, from The Atlantic Monthly
“Possessed” by Luke Dittrich, from Atlanta magazine
“Night of the Bullies” by Robert Draper, from GQ
“Stephanie” by James Ellroy, from GQ
“Who Is the Boy in the Box?” by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, from Philadelphia magazine
“Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura?” by James Fallows, from The Atlantic Monthly
“The Professor and the Porn” by Elisabeth Franck, from New York magazine
“The Old Man and the Gun” by David Grann, from The New Yorker
“ Crime Scene Cleanup” by Pat Jordan, from Playboy
“A Miscarriage of Justice” by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from The Atlantic Monthly
“Watching the Detectives” by Jay Kirk, from Harper’s Magazine
“For the Love of God” by Jon Krakauer, from GQ
“Chief Bratton Takes on LA” by Heather Mac Donald, from City Journal
“Not Guilty by Reason of Afghanistan” by John H. Richardson, from Esquire
“Megan’s Law and Me” by Brendan Riley, from Details
“Unfortunate Con” by Mark Schone, from The Oxford American
“To Kill or Not to Kill” by Scott Turow, from The New Yorker
“Ciudad de la Muerte” by Cecilia Balli, from Texas Monthly
“Code of Dishonor” by Clara Bingham, from Vanity Fair
“Lord of the Drug Ring” by Charles Bowden, from GQ
“The Dark Art of Interrogation” by Mark Bowden, from The Atlantic Monthly
“Possessed” by Luke Dittrich, from Atlanta magazine
“Night of the Bullies” by Robert Draper, from GQ
“Stephanie” by James Ellroy, from GQ
“Who Is the Boy in the Box?” by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, from Philadelphia magazine
“Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura?” by James Fallows, from The Atlantic Monthly
“The Professor and the Porn” by Elisabeth Franck, from New York magazine
“The Old Man and the Gun” by David Grann, from The New Yorker
“ Crime Scene Cleanup” by Pat Jordan, from Playboy
“A Miscarriage of Justice” by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from The Atlantic Monthly
“Watching the Detectives” by Jay Kirk, from Harper’s Magazine
“For the Love of God” by Jon Krakauer, from GQ
“Chief Bratton Takes on LA” by Heather Mac Donald, from City Journal
“Not Guilty by Reason of Afghanistan” by John H. Richardson, from Esquire
“Megan’s Law and Me” by Brendan Riley, from Details
“Unfortunate Con” by Mark Schone, from The Oxford American
“To Kill or Not to Kill” by Scott Turow, from The New Yorker
544 pages, Paperback
First published August 10, 2004
2 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Otto Penzler
383 books547 followersOtto Penzler is an editor of mystery fiction in the United States, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, where he lives.
Otto Penzler founded The Mysteriour Press in 1975 and was the publisher of The Armchair Detective, the Edgar-winning quarterly journal devoted to the study of mystery and suspense fiction, for seventeen years.
Penzler has won two Edgar Awards, for The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection in 1977, and The Lineup in 2010. The Mystery Writers of America awarded him the prestigious Ellery Queen Award in 1994, and the Raven--the group's highest non-writing award--in 2003.
Otto Penzler founded The Mysteriour Press in 1975 and was the publisher of The Armchair Detective, the Edgar-winning quarterly journal devoted to the study of mystery and suspense fiction, for seventeen years.
Penzler has won two Edgar Awards, for The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection in 1977, and The Lineup in 2010. The Mystery Writers of America awarded him the prestigious Ellery Queen Award in 1994, and the Raven--the group's highest non-writing award--in 2003.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 21, 2025
Another fine collection of true crime stories. Don't miss it. I hope there are more of these left for me to read!
July 14, 2022
I dunno how to really describe this in a review. It's an anthology of journalism articles about or relating to crime. Like, if you think you'll like this book, you probably will. It just is what it is.
As with all anthologies, I'm not rating each article as four stars. Some were fantastic, some I really hated. But in general, I was always excited to read this book and always interested in what the next essay would bring.
One thing that struck me as odd was how many of these articles were conservative leaning. Arguments for why police should have more power and less oversight, authors who gave credence to conspiracy theories about Palestine, an apologist for an Islamophobic murder after 9/11, RFK Jr defending a cousin of a murder charge. It was a little strange how frequent it was.
I also wound up skipping a few essays entirely because I'd read them in other places.
But the essays in here that were worth reading were really wonderful and it offered a lot of variety of topic. So if you think you'd like this, I'm sure you would.
As with all anthologies, I'm not rating each article as four stars. Some were fantastic, some I really hated. But in general, I was always excited to read this book and always interested in what the next essay would bring.
One thing that struck me as odd was how many of these articles were conservative leaning. Arguments for why police should have more power and less oversight, authors who gave credence to conspiracy theories about Palestine, an apologist for an Islamophobic murder after 9/11, RFK Jr defending a cousin of a murder charge. It was a little strange how frequent it was.
I also wound up skipping a few essays entirely because I'd read them in other places.
But the essays in here that were worth reading were really wonderful and it offered a lot of variety of topic. So if you think you'd like this, I'm sure you would.
December 4, 2008
This annual collection of true crime presents 20 well-written articles that will keep you turning pages. Each piece is followed by a short commentary by the author about the case or article that was not included with the original.
Here is a brief description of each of the entries:
"Ciudad de la Muerte" by Cecilia Balli, from Texas Monthly, is a chilling look at the disappearances of more than 300 women from Juarez, Mexico in the past decade. The history of Juarez is sad: Families hoping to make a living settle there only to find that the work difficult, low paying, and hard to find. Young women are easy targets, and many have possibly been lured away with promises of jobs. The ones who are found have been brutally murdered. And the Mexican government shows little interest in investigating. Balli lives in El Paso and is writing a book about the unsolved murders. She has been an active proponent of American intervention, urging the FBI to offer help.
"Code of Dishonor" by Clara Bingham, from Vanity Fair looks at the Air Force Academy's "rape culture" and the long process women have had to endure to bring it to the attention of authorities who will do something about it. Not for the queasy.
"Lord of the Drug Ring" by Charles Bowden, from GQ describes a fatal hit on Comandante Guillermo Gonzalez Calderoni, a drug lord hiding out from Mexican authorities in McAllen, Texas, and the events leading up to that fateful day.
"The Dark Art of Interrogation" by Mark Bowden, from The Atlantic Monthly was one of my favorites. Bowden, the author of Black Hawk Down explores coercive interrogation techniques.
"Possessed" by Luke Dittrich, from Atlanta magazine is a strange tale about Tom Bronson, a Georgia neo-Nazi and self-appointed investigator of the death of Betty Jean Farris. This one, while well written, was a bit hard to understand.
"Night of the Bullies" by Robert Draper, from GQ is a story about a 1978 fraternity bullying episode that left the victim emotionally damaged 25 years later. Draper talks to the actors in the incident and finds their shame unsatisfying-they are too embarrassed to make things right even after this long.
"Stephanie" by James Ellroy, from GQ is a choppy, rhythmic look at the 1965 unsolved murder of 16-year-old Stephanie Gorman. In his unusual style, Ellroy shares the murder book and the crime scene.
"Who Is the Boy in the Box?" by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, from Philadelphia magazine is another cold case story, this one more than 40 years old. The man who originally fingerprinted the young boy, found in a cardboard box in a Philadelphia dump, pursued the ace his entire career, striving to identify the body. In 1998, the boy's body was exhumed for DNA testing, and his case featured on America's Most Wanted a year later, which produced several good leads, among them, a name for the boy.
"Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura?" by James Fallows, from The Atlantic Monthly takes a different look at the killing of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in the early days of the second intifada. This article presented a very good look at how difficult crime scene reconstruction can be.
"The Professor and the Porn" by Elisabeth Franck, from New York magazine looks at the aftermath of two computer technicians discovering kiddie porn on the school computer of a respected New York Law School professor. While the response seems obvious to those outside the incident, the school's response leaves one scratching his head. What's going on in this school? Read the story at http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news...
"The Old Man and the Gun" by David Grann, from The New Yorker is a thoughtful profile of a portrait of an octogenarian bank robber and escape artist.
"CSC: Crime Scene Cleanup" by Pat Jordan, from Playboy profiles a crime scene cleanup team. It takes a certain type of person to do this work, and Jordan, who admits to not having a very strong stomach, does an excellent job sticking with the story despite the graphic scenery.
"A Miscarriage of Justice" by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from The Atlantic Monthly gives another perspective on Michael Skakel's involvement in the murder Martha Moxley. He presents good evidence to suggest reasonable doubt in the case and offers up other possible suspects.
"Watching the Detectives" by Jay Kirk, from Harper's documents a Vidocq Society meeting. The Vidocq Society is a group of forensic professionals and private citizens who donate their time and talents to solving cold cases. (They looked at the Boy in the Box case.) Kirk presents them as a suspicious and crabby bunch.
"For the Love of God" by Jon Krakauer, from GQ appears to be an except from Under the Banner of Heaven, an excellent book about two murders, the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, polygamy, and the differences between Mormons and fundamentalist Mormons.
"Chief Bratton Takes on LA" by Heather Mac Donald, from City Journal takes a look at the former and very successful New York city police chief and the barriers he faces in trying to clean up the LAPD.
"Not Guilty by Reason of Afghanistan" by John H. Richardson, from Esquire tells the story of a murderer who is convinced his victim was pro-Taliban and maybe even a terrorist. The victim's family paints a completely different picture of the two men. Which is right?
"Megan's Law and Me" by Brendan Riley, from Details gives an anonymous registered sex offender's perspective on legislation regarding sex offenders. Of course, his offense was circumstantial...
"Unfortunate Con" by Mark Schone, from The Oxford American considers drug-use allegations made by J.H. Hatfield in his book, Fortunate Son (a biography of George W. Bush). Hatfield gives the term "unreliable narrator" a whole new meaning.
"To Kill or Not to Kill" by Scott Turow, from The New Yorker ponders the death penalty, particularly as it has been treated in Illinois, where the governor commuted all death sentences to life without parole. Turow emphasizes that while he does not oppose the death penalty in principle, he agrees that it is not used fairly. For more, check out Turow's 2003 book on the subject, Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty.
Here is a brief description of each of the entries:
"Ciudad de la Muerte" by Cecilia Balli, from Texas Monthly, is a chilling look at the disappearances of more than 300 women from Juarez, Mexico in the past decade. The history of Juarez is sad: Families hoping to make a living settle there only to find that the work difficult, low paying, and hard to find. Young women are easy targets, and many have possibly been lured away with promises of jobs. The ones who are found have been brutally murdered. And the Mexican government shows little interest in investigating. Balli lives in El Paso and is writing a book about the unsolved murders. She has been an active proponent of American intervention, urging the FBI to offer help.
"Code of Dishonor" by Clara Bingham, from Vanity Fair looks at the Air Force Academy's "rape culture" and the long process women have had to endure to bring it to the attention of authorities who will do something about it. Not for the queasy.
"Lord of the Drug Ring" by Charles Bowden, from GQ describes a fatal hit on Comandante Guillermo Gonzalez Calderoni, a drug lord hiding out from Mexican authorities in McAllen, Texas, and the events leading up to that fateful day.
"The Dark Art of Interrogation" by Mark Bowden, from The Atlantic Monthly was one of my favorites. Bowden, the author of Black Hawk Down explores coercive interrogation techniques.
"Possessed" by Luke Dittrich, from Atlanta magazine is a strange tale about Tom Bronson, a Georgia neo-Nazi and self-appointed investigator of the death of Betty Jean Farris. This one, while well written, was a bit hard to understand.
"Night of the Bullies" by Robert Draper, from GQ is a story about a 1978 fraternity bullying episode that left the victim emotionally damaged 25 years later. Draper talks to the actors in the incident and finds their shame unsatisfying-they are too embarrassed to make things right even after this long.
"Stephanie" by James Ellroy, from GQ is a choppy, rhythmic look at the 1965 unsolved murder of 16-year-old Stephanie Gorman. In his unusual style, Ellroy shares the murder book and the crime scene.
"Who Is the Boy in the Box?" by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, from Philadelphia magazine is another cold case story, this one more than 40 years old. The man who originally fingerprinted the young boy, found in a cardboard box in a Philadelphia dump, pursued the ace his entire career, striving to identify the body. In 1998, the boy's body was exhumed for DNA testing, and his case featured on America's Most Wanted a year later, which produced several good leads, among them, a name for the boy.
"Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura?" by James Fallows, from The Atlantic Monthly takes a different look at the killing of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy in the early days of the second intifada. This article presented a very good look at how difficult crime scene reconstruction can be.
"The Professor and the Porn" by Elisabeth Franck, from New York magazine looks at the aftermath of two computer technicians discovering kiddie porn on the school computer of a respected New York Law School professor. While the response seems obvious to those outside the incident, the school's response leaves one scratching his head. What's going on in this school? Read the story at http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news...
"The Old Man and the Gun" by David Grann, from The New Yorker is a thoughtful profile of a portrait of an octogenarian bank robber and escape artist.
"CSC: Crime Scene Cleanup" by Pat Jordan, from Playboy profiles a crime scene cleanup team. It takes a certain type of person to do this work, and Jordan, who admits to not having a very strong stomach, does an excellent job sticking with the story despite the graphic scenery.
"A Miscarriage of Justice" by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from The Atlantic Monthly gives another perspective on Michael Skakel's involvement in the murder Martha Moxley. He presents good evidence to suggest reasonable doubt in the case and offers up other possible suspects.
"Watching the Detectives" by Jay Kirk, from Harper's documents a Vidocq Society meeting. The Vidocq Society is a group of forensic professionals and private citizens who donate their time and talents to solving cold cases. (They looked at the Boy in the Box case.) Kirk presents them as a suspicious and crabby bunch.
"For the Love of God" by Jon Krakauer, from GQ appears to be an except from Under the Banner of Heaven, an excellent book about two murders, the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, polygamy, and the differences between Mormons and fundamentalist Mormons.
"Chief Bratton Takes on LA" by Heather Mac Donald, from City Journal takes a look at the former and very successful New York city police chief and the barriers he faces in trying to clean up the LAPD.
"Not Guilty by Reason of Afghanistan" by John H. Richardson, from Esquire tells the story of a murderer who is convinced his victim was pro-Taliban and maybe even a terrorist. The victim's family paints a completely different picture of the two men. Which is right?
"Megan's Law and Me" by Brendan Riley, from Details gives an anonymous registered sex offender's perspective on legislation regarding sex offenders. Of course, his offense was circumstantial...
"Unfortunate Con" by Mark Schone, from The Oxford American considers drug-use allegations made by J.H. Hatfield in his book, Fortunate Son (a biography of George W. Bush). Hatfield gives the term "unreliable narrator" a whole new meaning.
"To Kill or Not to Kill" by Scott Turow, from The New Yorker ponders the death penalty, particularly as it has been treated in Illinois, where the governor commuted all death sentences to life without parole. Turow emphasizes that while he does not oppose the death penalty in principle, he agrees that it is not used fairly. For more, check out Turow's 2003 book on the subject, Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty.
October 31, 2009
For this 2004 installment of Vintage Books' Best American Crime Writing, editors Otto Penzler and Thomas H. Cook cull twenty of the past year's "best" crime-related articles, as presented to them by a reading public. From periodicals as diverse as Playboy to Texas Monthly, representative pieces range in topic from local crimes to International conspiracies.
As is the very nature of a compilation book, one would have to review each piece based on its own merits in order to give a definitive view on the worthiness of whether or not this book presents a verifiable "best of" selection. What can be stated is that, in general, each of the pieces inside range from a variety of topics, from the seemingly mundane (a "polite" career bank robber) to the perverse (libelous claims attesting to President George W. Bush's cocaine habits). Though a couple of the articles delve into post-9/11 related topics, the majority truly run the gamut of subjects.
The addition of some big names, perhaps for marquee value, adds a draw for some - although James Ellroy's unnecessarily vulgarity-laden entry (the obsessive "Stephanie," reprinted from GQ) seems to bestow a form of blatant, hubristic disrespect for the deceased subject of his writing, and bestselling Scott Turow's overuse of the self-referential pronoun "I" in his piece (a capital punishment view, "To Kill or Not to Kill," from The New Yorker) leads to several irritating pages with the "I" creating a bizarre visual effect within the pages upon which the article has been reprinted.
Instead, it is the lesser-knowns who have established themselves within: Luke Dittrich's "Possessed," the tale of an aging man whose "intelligence skirts the edges of sanity," living somewhere in the woods north of Atlanta, Georgia, and has vowed to prove that the death of an acquaintance (deemed due to natural causes by the coroner) was, in fact, a case of murder; Pat Jordan's "CSI: Crime Scene Cleanup," which focuses not on any specific crime itself, but upon the aftermath thereof, as seen through the eyes of "janitors of the human condition," or those who devote their lives to the professional cleansing and reconstruction of gruesome scenes of death; and Mark Schone's look into the controversial (and unproven) writings of James H. Hatfield's bio of G.W. Bush, Fortunate Son in the article "Unfortunate Con" - wherein the truth becomes more fascinating than the fallacies the book was known to portend.
Best American Crime Writing features a number of fascinating articles from North American publications during the span of a single calendar year. As to whether or not there were other articles more deserving of such recognition is hotly contested - as can be expected - but it would be a tough sell to claim that the articles contained herein are not so worthy.
As is the very nature of a compilation book, one would have to review each piece based on its own merits in order to give a definitive view on the worthiness of whether or not this book presents a verifiable "best of" selection. What can be stated is that, in general, each of the pieces inside range from a variety of topics, from the seemingly mundane (a "polite" career bank robber) to the perverse (libelous claims attesting to President George W. Bush's cocaine habits). Though a couple of the articles delve into post-9/11 related topics, the majority truly run the gamut of subjects.
The addition of some big names, perhaps for marquee value, adds a draw for some - although James Ellroy's unnecessarily vulgarity-laden entry (the obsessive "Stephanie," reprinted from GQ) seems to bestow a form of blatant, hubristic disrespect for the deceased subject of his writing, and bestselling Scott Turow's overuse of the self-referential pronoun "I" in his piece (a capital punishment view, "To Kill or Not to Kill," from The New Yorker) leads to several irritating pages with the "I" creating a bizarre visual effect within the pages upon which the article has been reprinted.
Instead, it is the lesser-knowns who have established themselves within: Luke Dittrich's "Possessed," the tale of an aging man whose "intelligence skirts the edges of sanity," living somewhere in the woods north of Atlanta, Georgia, and has vowed to prove that the death of an acquaintance (deemed due to natural causes by the coroner) was, in fact, a case of murder; Pat Jordan's "CSI: Crime Scene Cleanup," which focuses not on any specific crime itself, but upon the aftermath thereof, as seen through the eyes of "janitors of the human condition," or those who devote their lives to the professional cleansing and reconstruction of gruesome scenes of death; and Mark Schone's look into the controversial (and unproven) writings of James H. Hatfield's bio of G.W. Bush, Fortunate Son in the article "Unfortunate Con" - wherein the truth becomes more fascinating than the fallacies the book was known to portend.
Best American Crime Writing features a number of fascinating articles from North American publications during the span of a single calendar year. As to whether or not there were other articles more deserving of such recognition is hotly contested - as can be expected - but it would be a tough sell to claim that the articles contained herein are not so worthy.
April 26, 2009
I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff, and nothing is more delicious than reading these articles right before going to bed and creeping myself out. Truth ain't stranger than fiction, because fiction imitates truth, but reading true crime is infinitely more creepier than when we get it from Chandler or Ellroy.
August 27, 2012
What I remember about this book were two chapters.
Code of Dishonor by Clara Bingham: Where the Air Force Academy officials covered the rape of female cadets in order to protect the Academy's reputation. Turns out a similar dynamic was unfolding at Penn State.
Crime Scene Cleanup: Had no idea that the crime scene cleanup business was such a growth area.
Code of Dishonor by Clara Bingham: Where the Air Force Academy officials covered the rape of female cadets in order to protect the Academy's reputation. Turns out a similar dynamic was unfolding at Penn State.
Crime Scene Cleanup: Had no idea that the crime scene cleanup business was such a growth area.
May 19, 2013
The first three volumes in this series, those published in the US by Vintage, were the best. All the volumes in this series are good. Non-fiction crime from a variety of sources, and covering a multitude of sins.
December 18, 2007
I liked some of these better than others, but overall this is a really good collection of excellent true crime writing.
December 23, 2007
This collection of magazine pieces on crime is compelling and well-reported. It's hard to put down.
April 21, 2022
No one really outstanding story, but overall, a really good read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews