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.”