New Baltimore Sun column and other notices
The Baltimore Sun ran my newest crime fiction column yesterday, featuring new releases by Stephen L. Carter, Tana French, Nigel McCrery, Kathryn Casey and Michael Genelin.
And as part of their ongoing coverage of the Martin Tankleff case – and the news that Tankleff will not have to face a new trial after his conviction for the murder of his parents in 1988 was overturned – Newsday’s Michelle Chen investigates the fascination with unsolved murder cases:
Arie Kruglanski, a professor of psychology at the University of Maryland{#OREDU0000156.taxInlineTagLink},
has uncovered psychological underpinnings in the tension people feel
over unsolved crimes and other disturbing uncertainties in life: it’s
all driven by a fundamental “need for closure.”
A desire to have a clear conclusion to any story is natural, Kruglanski
says. Whether you’re anxiously turning the pages of a detective novel
or mulling over the conspiracy theories that have kept the Kennedy
assassination alive for decades.
To Sarah Weinman, a writer, critic and blogger specializing in crime
fiction, the public fascination with the Tankleff case resonates with
the magnetism of a good mystery novel. “As long as something is
unresolved, there’s still the potential for resolution. There’s still
suspense,” she says. “Suspense is a very powerful, very provocative
emotion or feeling.”