Back in 1984, when award-winning crime novelist Michael Connelly was still a police beat journalist in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he covered the story of Christopher Wilder, a ghoulish tale of real life crime that has stayed with him throughout all his years as a creator of fiction. If any case ever seemed to bear the description "stranger than fiction," this was the one. Despite starting as a routine investigation into the disappearance of two models, this mindboggling case quickly escalated into one of the greatest manhunts of the century. Join Connelly during this edition of "Murder by the Book" as he revisits Wilder's case, from the sunny Florida morning when Wilder, the successful businessman, sportsman and convicted sex offender skipped town to avoid questioning by the police, to the shocking six-week cross-country murder spree that followed. watch
WSJ's Bob Hughes speaks with the author of "The Brass Verdict," Michael Connelly, who also wrote "The Lincoln Lawyer." (Sept. 4) watch
Connelly and Sphinx go to Africa. watch
