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Books

New edition and book signing

The Boys on the Tracks, my first book dealing with unsolved murders and public corruption in Arkansas, has been out of print for about five years. Now, for the first time, it is available in a trade paperback edition.

The story begins with the deaths of two teenagers in Saline County, Arkansas, an area just south of Little Rock. The medical examiner ruled that they died in the middle of the night from injuries sustained when they were run over by a freight train. The train crew told police that the boys did not stir as the locomotive bore down on them. The medical examiner told the boys parents that this was because both boys had lain across the tracks and fallen into a marijuana-induced stupor.

From that dismal moment on, the story of the investigation into the boys’ deaths took one shocking turn after another. My account of those events is told from the point of view of Linda Ives, the mother of Kevin Ives, one of the two boys who died. At her insistence, a second autopsy was eventually performed. It revealed clear evidence of murder. When a grand jury was impaneled to seek answers, more killing was all that resulted.

I will be signing copies of The Boys on the Tracks and Devil’s Knot at the Hastings bookstore in Benton, Arkansas, the Saline County seat, starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Mar. 1, 2008.

About "The Last Pentacle of the Sun"

The Last Pentacle of the Sun is the first collection of writings in support of the the West Memphis Three. Collected in the book are dark fiction by some of the best writers in the genre, case-related essays by observers and participants, lyrics by Metallica, and illustrations by Clive Barker. All contributions to the book have been donated, and all proceeds go towards legal efforts to bring about justice in the case. Contributors include:

• Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
• Metallica frontman James Hetfield
• Journalist Mara Leveritt
• WM3 activists Grove Pashley and Burk Sauls
• Authors Caitlin R. Kiernan, James Morrow, Mike Oliveri, Peter Straub, and Poppy Z. Brite
• Comedian and activist Margaret Cho
• and legendary horror writer Clive Barker
• With illustrations by Clive Barker and photographs by Grove Pashley

”... the stories are all good reads…. The most striking inclusion, however, is an open letter to Stephen King and Anne Rice written by Mara Leveritt, asking why they’ve not voiced their support for the West Memphis Three who, after all, were persecuted for reading their books. Good question. Maybe they’re waiting for volume 2?”
—Rue Morgue Magazine

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How do they sleep at night?

Do you now or have you ever thought that the whole case of the wm3 is just the tip of the iceberg? What I mean is: there are just so many blatant disregards to the actual law by the ‘law’. We all wonder how does this happen. There are numerous times things were done (one example is questioning Jessie for hours without a parent or attorney) that are so “hillbilly” for a lack of a better term. It just seems to me that with everything that was going on with the WMPD at the time——they were being investigated——that it’s possible that even more things about them would’ve come to light had they not arrested the wm3.
It’s hard to write what I’m thinking—my mind goes in so many directions when it comes to this case.
Why is it so hard to just let the public know what they have (evidence-wise) that helps them sleep at night thinking they have the right men behind bars? I know you can’t answer that but thanks for giving me a place to vent it anyway!
Jen
Sheridan, Arkansas

Jen, like you, I was very interested in the fact that, at the time of the murders, the narcotics unit of the West Memphis Police Department was being investigated for taking guns and other confiscated items from the department’s evidence locker. Some officers, including Lt. James Sudbury, had to return guns that were actually stolen, though they were not disciplined for taking the guns and tampering with evidence. Because taking items from the evidence locker is so fundamentally wrong in police work, I was also intrigued to learn that Sudbury, who was a narcotics detective, was the only member of the narcotics unit who was assigned to investigate the murders. (An officer with the department told me that, because regular police units and narcotics units are not supposed to work together, the regular WMPD cops were taken off their usual assignments and assigned to investigate the murder case; the narcotics unit—except Sudbury—was then temporarily taken off narcotics and assigned to the regular duties.) Sudbury, you’ll recall, immediately turned the investigation towards Damien and Jason, and he was present at the initial questioning of John Mark Byers, who had been a confidential narcotics informant. All this is to say that, considering the many deviations from normal police procedure that occurred in this case, I think it is reasonable to question every aspect of the way the police work was conducted. Of course, when lawyers for the WM3 tried to do that at trial, Judge Burnett would not allow it.

(Nevertheless, I don’t believe that the word “hillbilly” applies. Police departments tend to be only as good as their leaders. Case histories from across the country show that terrible abuses of power have occurred in cities large and small, especially, it seems, when narcotics are involved.)