Explore Don Stradley’s Writing

My next crime book, which will be published soon by Bloomsbury, will feature a chapter on the Boston Strangler, which still ranks one of the most riveting cases in all crime history. Whether you believe it was Albert DeSalvo committing the murders or not, the case, to me, epitomizes a time in Boston, and a time in crime solving. While writing my book, I had the pleasure of revisiting Gerold Frank’s book on the strangler. It is really the granddaddy of all true crime writing.

Wolf Larsen was not yet 30-years-old when he made the long walk down Woodhull Street in Brooklyn toward the Bethesda Mission. With his busted up features and cauliflower ears - unfortunate reminders of his career as a prizefighter - made worse by the bloating effects of liquor, Larsen didn’t look like a young man. Most thought he was well into his 40s. Maybe a few people recognized him. Maybe they’d seen him brawling with cops, or singing in the street in a loud, drunken voic