[5] His first book was In Broad Daylight (1988), an account of the "vigilante killing" of town bully Ken Rex McElroy in downtown Skidmore, Missouri in 1981.

[7] In Broad Daylight won an Edgar Award for best true crime writing,[8] appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for twelve weeks peaking at number two,[9] and was made into a 1991 movie starring Brian Dennehy.

Seale was charged and convicted of torturing and drowning Charles Moore and Henry Dee in a backwater of the Mississippi River.

The Past is Never Dead was nominated for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, awarded by Stanford University Libraries.

He combines an eerie night in a deserted house with the recollection of a teenage sexual encounter on a train, in a story that explores the lure of violence.

[needs update] MacLean tells the story of Charlie Starkweather and Caril Fugate (age 14)'s rampage through Nebraska and Wyoming in 1958, resulting in the death of 10 people.

He also describes the impact of the spree on the culture of America, including the movie Badlands, starring Martin Sheen as Starkweather and Sissy Spacek as Fugate, and Bruce Springsteen's album and song entitled Nebraska, which is the story of the rampage.