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The Attack of the Commas

They mean blood. Lots of it. They embed themselves like ink maggots twisting words, skewing thoughts, and threatening deletion. I know. I’m a victim. It’s a serious assault. Everyone knows only amateurs abuse commas. Professionals like me, an author of twenty six books and hundreds of articles, are never victims of these dreaded creatures. Wrong! These miniscule terrorists creep into

What Defines a Serial Killer?

T here are murders in this world every day. We read about them so often that we no longer have a sick reaction to the news, whether on television, in the newspaper, or on the internet – unless it affects us on a personal level. War, gang violence, and murders of passion are in the news every day with little

What’s Your Theory? Is It Time to Connect the Dots?

R ecently, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, Hannah Graham, was reported missing. She met her friends for dinner, stopped off at two different parties off campus and was seen leaving alone from the second party. She had texted her friends at 1:20 am to let them know she had been lost trying to get home. The police have

What’s A “Good” Psychopath?

“P sychopath up.” says Dr. Kevin Dutton, a leading expert on functional psychopathy. “A bit of localized psychopathy is good for all of us.” Huh? Your first reaction might be that Dutton, a research psychologist from Oxford University, and author of The Wisdom of Psychopaths, might have had one too many servings of bangers and mash. Think again. Psychopathic traits fall

The Bloody Benders

H ave you ever heard of a serial killer family? The Bloody Benders were the first in the United States. Over a century later, you can still find them in books, TV, and on the big screen – people never get tired of their story! It was the 1870s. There were four Benders in the immediate family. “Pa” or John

Psychopaths Who DON’T Kill

A re there really psychopaths who don’t kill? Most psychopaths are not murderers. They’re all around us – often successful in careers from blue-collar to high level executives and professionals. Think of it as a Psychopathic Spectrum – a scale that measures the number of psychopathic traits in an individual. Like any scale, a person can have a few traits

Who is Joshua Jenkins? An Author’s Tale.

M ost people have forgotten the teenager or never heard of him. I used to be one of them. It was a lovely day in Los Angeles. I had just flown in from New York to visit my friend, Fern. One of our favorite pastimes was to swap stories – everything from local people to major events. Fern asked me

Six Killer Psychopaths Explain Themselves

P sychopaths have no empathy – no conscience – they don’t care what people think or say about them. Their only concern is self-gratification. A psychopath will lie as easily as tell the truth since there’s no guilt, regret, or responsibility for their words. In general, their language is filled with self-references reflecting their ego-centric lives. It’s always about them. The

A Thimbleful of Arsenic

I t was the 1870s and everyone was humming a popular song: Lydia Sherman is plagued with rats Lydia has no faith in cats. So Lydia buys some arsenic, And then her husband, he does die, And Lydia’s neighbors wonder why. Lydia moves, but still has rats; And still she puts no faith in cats; So again she buys some

Can You Spot A Psychopath?

N ot all psychopaths are murderers and not all murderers are psychopaths. There are a lot of psychopaths out there who aren’t physically violent. There are also a lot of people who have some (but not all) psychopathic behaviors (see The Psychopathic Spectrum). Can you spot a psychopath? Read the questions below and choose the answer that you believe best