Crime and Yeardley Love in America

2/9/2012

My guru (wife) and I were talking about crime in America today. The killing of Love being a case in point. It seems to me that the media sensationalizes such killings for ratings rather than for any serious search for justice.

Every year, or is it every month/week now, we live through another grisly murder. So crime does pay, it seems, at least from the standpoint of media coverage. And with that coverage comes the high visibility attorney to defend the alleged killer. In this case it's Mark Geragos defending George Huguely against a murder charge of Yeardley Love, a UVA Lacrosse player.

So this case will be in the news for months to come, maybe even for the rest of the year. We don't really need to make up stories to get the public interested. The stories are happening every day.

So when someone asks me are the crimes that I write about in Cooper's Moon and Blood Moon real, I always say, sure, in a sense, that sense being that they are founded, to some extent, on real life.

5 Comments

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Richard "Connie" Conrath

Richard's first two books in the Cooper Mystery Series, Cooper's Moon and Blood Moon Rising will have a grand finale coming out this summer, 2020...In this next book, A Cold Copper Moon, readers will learn what happened to Detective Cooper's son, Maxie. Remember? Max disappeared 8 years ago. I promise I'll give you ample clues, but the end provides quite a twist! Let's see if you can figure it out... I doubt it. No early readers have so far.

2/10/2012 07:03:30 am

Isn't it bizarre! You are so right. Who said life and art.... ?
And about Yeardly Love, it's all horribly sad but let's face it, if she were not beautiful and a university student and all, it wouldn't be on the news. Right?

connie

2/11/2012 03:36:11 am

Absolutely right. It's why she is in the news. Amazing isn't it. I believe the news is a reflection, unfortunately, of how we think in general. Otherwise the story wouldn't be a successful one. I remember an editor remarking once that it was a slow news day. "Time to stir the pot," he said. Yeardley Love is the result of stirring this pot. It's a sad story for Yeardley; it's also a sad commentary on the nature of the news.

3/5/2012 02:38:33 pm

Monique

3/15/2012 09:44:30 am

Life is funny and people in general are hilarious! To address your original comment, the news is life played out on the big screen. Your work only highlights this. I'm actually fascinated by the way the human mind works. People blot out what they don't want to receive as truth but that doesn't invalidate reality. Murder happens all day every day. It's reality. I love how you can take something so seemingly grotesque to some and present it in such a way that it actually makes it interesting (or makes you 'want' to hear more about it). That takes a true gift and you obviously have it. Keep up the great work and keep them coming. You have found a true follower!

3/17/2012 08:12:27 pm

Thanks for your encouraging words, Monique!
You raise an awfully good point about taking the "grotesque" and making it interesting to read. What an insightful observation. I like your image of the news as "life played out on the big screen!" I think you're right. It reminds me of the famous quote from Pogo--rephrased a bit--We has met the news, and it is us!

So, maybe I am part of the same screen in a sense. No?
But that's crime fiction, isn't it. It's all about life, albeit the seamy side of life.

Crime and Yeardley Love in America

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