| True crime online
After seeing more and more of Robert Mitchum's films, I'm still not sure about the reason for all the hoopla, but he certainly did add something to the character of Philip Marlowe. That and his marijuana bust of 1948 all seem to lend something to that pull of pulp detective novels and scandal in America that has piqued my interest lately. Sparked by an overdose of flag-waving and commercialized sentiment, I've been craving a return to the seedier side of affairs full of scandal and shifty Americano dealin’s.
In addition to recommending George Childs Kohn's The New Encyclopedia of American Scandal, you can also find a great deal of kitschy "true crime" works for order at truecrimeink.com. It’s a no-frills site that offers unusual and obscure crime magazines and novels on topics ranging from Depression Era Gangsters to the ever popular Serial Killers. Not only can you buy an Al Capone T-shirt with Big Shots' Death Dates on the back, but you can also scan the site for assassination Web links or check out the site's feature of the month in the Spotlight (last month's Spotlight offered a rare book of Military executions from the late 1940s).
If you're really a collector, then you'll appreciate the mug shots from the early 1900s and the Wanted Posters from Winnipeg. Most of the site is focused on hard-to-find items, so the majority of the paraphernalia in stock is limited and available on a first-e-mail first-sold basis. The selections under Canadian Crime are particularly entertaining. |
