ANN RULE
Ann Rule is regarded by many as the foremost true crime writer in America, and
the author responsible for the genre as it exists today. She came to her career
with a solid background in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Both
her grandfather and her uncle were Michigan sheriffs, her cousin was a
Prosecuting Attorney and another uncle was the Medical Examiner. Raised in that
environment, she grew up wanting to work in law enforcement herself. She is a
former Seattle Policewoman, former caseworker for the Washington State
Department of Public Assistance, former student intern at the Oregon State
Training School for Girls.
Ann Rule was born in Lowell, Michigan on October 22. Her father, Chester R.
Stackhouse, was a football, basketball and track coach. Her mother, Sophie
Hansen Stackhouse, was a schoolteacher who taught the developmentally disabled.
The family moved often as "Stack" Stackhouse's coaching career bloomed. They
lived in Saginaw and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Coatesville, Pennsylvania, Salem,
Oregon, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, and Palo Alto, California. With her
ex-husband, Bill Rule, Ann lived in El Paso, Texas, and Youngstown, N.Y. She now
lives near Seattle, Washington, on the shores of Puget Sound. She is the mother
of five, grandmother of three. Her daughter, Leslie Rule is also a writer.
Leslie's books are Whispers From the
Grave and Kill Me Again.
Leslie has a new book out called
Coast to Coast Ghosts--True Stories of Hauntings Across America
Laura works with children of battered women and the elderly, Andy Rule works in
consumer research, Mike Rule manages Ann's office and does interviews for the
Blind Radio Network, and Bruce Sherles works in the cookie industry.
Ann has been a full-time true crime writer since 1969. Over the past 30 years,
she has published 20 books and 1400 articles, mostly on criminal cases. Ann
graduated from Coatesville High School, and has a BA from the University of
Washington in Creative Writing, with minors in psychology, criminology and
penology. She studied two years at Highline Community College, taking courses in
crime scene investigation, police administration, crime scene photography and
arrest, search and seizure. She has attended every seminar that police
organizations invite her to, including those on organized crime, arson, bomb
search, DNA, etc. She has 30 hours credit at the University of Washington
Medical School earned by attending the National Medical Examiners' Conference.
She attended the King County Police Basic Homicide School for two weeks. Today,
she herself teaches seminars to many law enforcement groups. She is a certified
instructor in many states on subjects such as: Serial Murder, Sadistic
Sociopaths, Women Who Kill, and High Profile Offenders. She was on the U.S.
Justice Department Task Force that set up VI-CAP, the Violent Criminal
Apprehension Program now in place at FBI Headquarters in Quantico, a computer
tracking system to help identify and trap serial killers. She has testified
twice before Senate Judiciary Sub-committees on victims' rights and on the
danger of serial killers.
When Ann spent her summer vacations with her grandparents in Stanton, Michigan,
she helped her grandmother prepare meals for the prisoners in the jail. She used
to wonder why such friendly, normal-appearing, men were locked behind bars, and
why the sweet woman in the cell upstairs--who taught Ann to crochet--was about
to go on trial for murder. That was the beginning of her lifelong curiosity
about the "Whys" behind criminal behavior. Her books all explore the reasons
behind the front-page cases she covers.
Ann's books deal with three areas: the victims' stories; the detectives and
prosecutors and how they solve their cases with old fashioned police work and
modern forensic science, and the killers’ lives. She tries to go back to the
killers' early childhood, and even back into their family histories to find some
of the genesis of their behavior. She spends many months researching her books,
beginning with the trial and with many subsequent visits to the locale where the
crimes occurred. Once she has finished her research, she returns to her office
to write her books.
Currently, she is under contract to Simon & Schuster/Free Press and Pocket
Books. Her hardcover books are with Free Press and her original "Ann Rule's
Crime Files" series is published by Pocket Books. She is now writing her 9th
and 10th "Crime Files" books.
26 of Ann's 28 books have been New York Times' bestsellers list, with
Every Breath You Take and
Last Dance, Last Chance both on the list at the same time. Four books
have been made into TV movies, and five more are in the works.
She won the coveted Peabody Award
for her miniseries, Small
Sacrifices, and has two Anthony Awards from Bouchercon, the mystery
fans' organization. She has been nominated three times for Edgar Awards from the
Mystery Writers of America. She was also awarded the Washington State Governor's
Award.
Ann is active in support groups for victims of violent crimes and their
families, in the Y.W.C.A.'s program to help battered and abused women, and in
Childhelp and Childhaven, support groups for children.
Ann's hobbies often take a backseat to her writing, but she has many interests.
She loves animals and has two dogs and five cats at last count. She loves to
garden, and collects "way too many things," including: antique bottles and pill
boxes, miniature cars, cobalt blue glass, police paraphernalia, wind chimes, and
teddy bears. She is still working on her dollhouse, a rather unusual one--a
house of ill repute. She tries to walk two or three miles every morning before
she starts writing, and loves to beach comb and go to second-hand stores. Of
course, she loves to read--mostly non- fiction--biographies, autobiographies,
and books on medical science. Her favorite authors are Anne Tyler, Garrison
Keillor, Jerry Bledsoe, James Neff, Kathy Casey, Lois Duncan, Edna Buchanan,
John Updike, Erma Bombeck, Donna Anders, Carl Hiassen, and, of course, Leslie
Rule!
Ann sends out a free newsletter about once a year by mail. For those who don't
have access to the on-line newsletter or who want it in hard copy, please send
your street or P.O. Box address to the her box number, and she will be glad to
put you on the mailing list. The on-line newsletter will be updated frequently.
