Most Recent in Politics:

1Is Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner Headed for a Second Term?

2Joe Barton Resurfaces with a Blueprint for How to Bail Out the Oil Industry and Worsen Climate Change

3‘Almost Akin to a Political Coup’: Houston Teachers Fight Back Against State Takeover of HISD

4On Rodney Reed Case, Greg Abbott Gets a Political Reprieve

5John Cornyn’s Weaselly Immigration Record

6Texas Congressional Candidate Shannon Hutcheson Defended Corporations Against the Vulnerable. EMILY’s List Endorsed Her Anyway.

Most Recent in Environment:

1Bald Eagle Numbers at Lake Buchanan Are Declining. No One’s Exactly Sure Why.

2How Katharine Hayhoe Stays Hopeful as the Planet Warms

3As Port Neches Plant Smolders, Trump Rolls Back Safety Rules for Chemical Plants

4Joe Barton Resurfaces with a Blueprint for How to Bail Out the Oil Industry and Worsen Climate Change

5East Texas Rivers Could Become a Boiling Pot for Mussels

6The Long Battle to Stop the Kinder Morgan Pipeline

Most Recent in Border:

1A World Without Immigrant Prisons

2‘We Build the Wall’ Lands in South Texas, Vilifies Priest and Butterfly Refuge

3John Cornyn’s Weaselly Immigration Record

4Activists Rally for the Closure of Hutto Detention Center as Private Contract Rumors Swirl

5When ICE Emptied Out an All-Women Detention Center in Texas, Chaos Ensued

6The Fear—and Hope—of Living in Sanctuary

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

1Federal Report Flags High Rates of Sexual Abuse in Texas Juvenile Lockups

2A Top Cop Accused of Racism Forces Austin to Confront Bias in Law Enforcement

3Why I Started a Book Club in the Harris County Jail

4Texas’ Method for Funding Courts is a Colossal Waste of Time and Money

5On Rodney Reed Case, Greg Abbott Gets a Political Reprieve

6Having My Period in Prison Was Awful. In Texas, That May Finally Change.

Most Recent in Education:

1‘Almost Akin to a Political Coup’: Houston Teachers Fight Back Against State Takeover of HISD

2The Creature of Martin Creek Lake Won’t Die

3The Cost of Carve-Outs

4Texas Legislature Improves Suicide Prevention in Schools, but Makes Little Progress for Adults

5Texas House Considers Free College For Students Experiencing Homelessness

6‘The Wolf is in the Henhouse’

Most Recent in Health Care:

1Everyone Wants to End Surprise Medical Billing in Texas, but No One Wants to Pay for It

2The Last Nurse in Memphis, Texas

3The Rural Health Care Crisis, Mapped

4Driving My Life Away

5Scenes from a Rural Hospital’s Final Day

6State Investigators Identify ‘Serious Contractual Violations’ by the Heidi Group

Most Recent in The Interview:

1Texas Observer Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger Reflects on 65 Years of Publication

2How Katharine Hayhoe Stays Hopeful as the Planet Warms

3Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma

4Why a Texas Gun Control Activist is Optimistic About the Chances for Reform

5American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?

6Thousands of Rape Kits in Texas Went Untested For Years. Lavinia Masters Is Ending That.

Most Recent in Books:

1A World Without Immigrant Prisons

2Two New Books Explore the Limits of the #MeToo Movement in Texas and Beyond

3I’ve Lived in East Austin for 60 Years, and I Don’t Recognize it Anymore

4American Cities Weren’t Revitalized by the White ‘Creative Class.’ Immigrants Made Them Great.

5Short Story Contest Winner: ‘Dear Mr. Gottlieb’

6Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma

Most Recent in Features:

1The Ghosts of Jefferson

2Little Arthouse on the Prairie

3The Clothes that Make the Man

4Washington Crossing the Rio Grande

5Ghosts of the Baker Hotel

6At Home in the World

Most Recent in Essay:

1Why I Started a Book Club in the Harris County Jail

2A Chain Reaction

3Having My Period in Prison Was Awful. In Texas, That May Finally Change.

4Up From the Desert

5To Understand the El Paso Massacre, Look to the Long Legacy of Anti-Mexican Violence at the Border

6Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: The Broken Wheel Ranch Project

2Eye on Texas: Spike Johnston

3Eye on Texas: Loren Elliott

4Eye on Texas: Charlotte Moore

5Eye on Texas: ‘My Joyful Dance’

6Eye on Texas: Ghosts of the City

Most Recent in Poetry:

1Author Saeed Jones on Empathy, the Power of Memoir, and Growing up Gay in North Texas

2Remembering W.S. Merwin, Honorary Texan

3Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

4Houston Poet Analicia Sotelo’s Debut Smashes Latino Stereotypes

5Parallel Planes

6Options

Tag Archives: Mystery Fiction

Description of events & information that accompany the Red Bedroom diorama: Reported to Nutshell Laboratories, Thursday, June 29, 1944. Marie Jones, a prostitute, was discovered dead by her landlady, Mrs. Shirley Flanagan. Mrs. Shirley Flanagan was questioned and gave the following statement: On the morning of Thursday, June 29, 1944, she passed the open door of Marie’s room and called out “hello”. When she did not receive a response, she looked in and found the conditions as shown in the model. Jim Green, a boyfriend and client of Marie’s, had come in with Marie the afternoon before. Mrs. Flanagan didn’t know when he had left. As soon as she found Marie’s body she telephoned the police who later found Mr. Green and brought him in for questioning. Mr. Green gave the following statement to police: He met Marie on the sidewalk the afternoon of June 28, and walked with her to a nearby package store where he bought two bottles of whiskey. They then went to her room where they sat smoking and drinking for some time. Marie, sitting in the big chair, got very drunk. Suddenly, without any warning, she grabbed his open jackknife which he had used to cut the string around the package containing the bottles. She ran into the closet and shut the door. When he opened the door he found her lying as represented by the model. He left the house immediately after that.

by Taylor Prewitt

What Does Our Fascination with True Crime Say About Us?

Rachel Monroe’s Savage Appetites asks why true-crime stories are so popular, even while they risk exploitation.

Mon, Oct 7, 2019 |

True crime has never been more popular. The 2014 hit podcast Serial ignited a burgeoning genre whose recent entries include Netflix shows (Making a Murderer, Un...Read More

by Alejandra Martinez

Good as Gone Treats Women Mysteriously Like People

Austin writer Amy Gentry's novel blends feminism and mystery, drawing on Gentry's experience working in a women's shelter.

Wed, Aug 3, 2016 |

Austin writer Amy Gentry's new novel blends feminism with mystery, drawing on Gentry's experience working in a women's shelter. ...Read More

Texas Book Festival Itinerary—Whodunit Edition

by Meagan Solis

Thu, Oct 24, 2013

[Also check out the Observer‘s Borderlands Itinerary, Enviro Itinerary, Debut Author Itinerary, and Foodie Itinerary.] It’s no mystery that readers love...Read More

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