How's this for a story? A man finds an article in the newspaper about a grisly death. He becomes so obsessed with the case he writes a crime novel based on it. Some years pass. Police happen upon the book, read it and find that there are details in the novel that eerily match the crime, details that, in fact, only the police or the killer would know. So, did the man simply write a fictional account of a murder he read in the paper or did he commit a murder and then write about it as a novel? This is a story that's currently being played out in Poland. Read the fascinating story in the UK's Times Online.
Upon stumbling on this story, I was immediately reminded of another crime writer who was charged with murder. Michael Peterson, an American novelist, was sent to trial for the murder of his wife who mysteriously fell down a flight of stairs. Was it an accident or was she killed? There is an amazing several hour-long documentary of the case called The Staircase. It goes behind-the-scenes of the tragic events, following the defense as it ramps up for the trial, and highlights the trial and what happened after the verdict was read. It is an amazing film; one I think about often. Did he do it? Didn't he? There's the verdict, of course, which should answer that question for me. It should give some resolution to the whole affair. But it doesn't. There's too many questions left unanswered and the only one who knows those answers is dead.
It's haunting, the film, and I highly recommend it.
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