Chase darkness with me How one true-crime writer started solving murders

Billy Jensen

Book - 2019

"Have you ever wanted to solve a murder? Gather the clues the police overlooked? Put together the pieces? Identify the suspect? Journalist Billy Jensen spent 15 years investigating unsolved murders, fighting for the families of victims. Every story he wrote had one thing in common - it didn't have an ending. The killer was still out there. But after the sudden death of a friend, crime writer Michelle McNamara, Billy became fed up. Following a dark night, he came up with a plan. A plan to investigate past the point when the cops have given up. A plan to solve the murders himself. In Chase Darkness with Me, you'll ride shotgun as Billy identifies the Halloween Mask Murderer, finds a missing girl in the California Redwoods, and ...investigates the only other murder in New York City on 9/11. You'll hear intimate details of the hunts for two of the most terrifying serial killers in history: his friend Michelle's pursuit of the Golden State Killer which is chronicled in I'll Be Gone In The Dark which Billy helped finish after Michelle's passing, and his own quest to find the murderer of the Allenstown 4 family. And Billy gives you the tools - and the rules - to help solve murders yourself. Gripping, complex, unforgettable, Chase Darkness with Me is an examination of the evil forces that walk among us, illustrating a novel way to catch those killers, and a true crime narrative unlike any you've listened to before." --

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2nd Floor 363.25/Jensen Due Apr 17, 2024
Subjects
Genres
Autobiographies
Published
Naperville, Illinois : Sourcebooks, Inc [2019]
Language
English
Main Author
Billy Jensen (author)
Other Authors
Karen Kilgariff (writer of foreword)
Item Description
"Foreword by Karen Kilgariff, cohost of My Favorite Murder." -- Cover.
Includes "In Conversation with Billy Jensen and Paul Holes" and Reading Group Guide.
Physical Description
xi, 317 pages ; 24 cm
ISBN
9781492685852
  • Foreword
  • Prologue
  • 1. Bam! Fowl Screech! Zap!
  • 2. The Body in the Barrel
  • 3. The Murder in the Shadows
  • 4. Have You Seen This Man?
  • 5. A Partner in Crimesolving
  • 6. The Absolute Worst Humanity Has to Offer
  • 7. The Wrong Side of Broken
  • 8. The Man in the Green Hoodie
  • 9. The Villain with a Thousand Faces
  • 10. Losing Jade and Finding Mariah
  • 11. The Halloween Mask Murder
  • 12. The Devil in Plain Darkness
  • 13. The Girl with the Serpent Tattoo
  • 14. The Cantina Scene
  • 15. The Monster at the End of This Book
  • Epilogue
  • Addendum So You Want to Help Solve a Murder?
  • In Conversation with Billy Jensen and Paul Holes
  • Reading Group Guide
  • Acknowledgments
  • About the Author
Review by Booklist Review

True crime is having a moment, and Jensen has helped make that happen. After toiling away as a true-crime journalist for over 15 years, he tired of covering stories without resolutions and decided to try to solve crimes himself. His work put him in contact with Michelle McNamara, who was then researching an unknown serial killer-rapist she dubbed the Golden State Killer. They had plans to start a show about amateur investigators, but after McNamara's untimely death, Jensen helped finish her book, I'll Be Gone in the Dark (2018), and began solving crimes using what he dubs internet sleuthing. Here, he highlights many of his investigations, several where the killer was caught at least partially owing to his actions. While the many cases get a little jumbled, Jensen's passion and techniques come through clearly. This book will find an easy audience in true crime-readers, ""Murderinos"" (My Favorite Murder cohost Karen Kilgariff writes the foreword), and anyone fascinated with Michelle McNamara, as well as wannabe detectives, who will be rewarded with Jensen's guide to self-sleuthing.--Kathy Sexton Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

In this engrossing memoir, journalist Jensen takes the reader on his quest to hunt down killers using internet sleuthing and crowdsourcing. He came by his calling early in life: "I didn't have podcasts and documentaries telling me about the most horrific crimes of the era. I had Dad." From hearing his father read crime headlines from the paper to becoming a journalist for major magazines and crime shows, Jensen eventually worked with fellow journalist Michelle McNamara, who was investigating the Golden State Killer. After McNamara's sudden death, at the request of her husband, Jensen helped finish I'll Be Gone in the Dark, her book about the serial killer, which was published in 2018 and prompted renewed interest in the decades-old case that led to the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo. Jensen details many other cases where he helped find killers for police departments around the country using Facebook, and he writes about his elation the first time his methods solved a case. At the end, Jensen lays out exactly how the reader can join the chase and work to track killers and fugitives as an online citizen detective. For fans of true crime, this is a fascinating story. Author tour. Agent: Marc Gerald, Europa Content. (Aug.)

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