True Crime Blog
The radio code “10-33” is used to clear the airwaves for emergency radio traffic. “10-33 Go” is one dispatcher’s response over the frequency. “Unit with emergency traffic, go” is another. These exclamations crackling over the radio are chilling even for the most seasoned street cops.
Homicide: Los Angeles is a five-episode Netflix docuseries focused on several high profile murder cases investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau. I was asked to appear in the first two episodes along with a few of my former colleagues, and it was an honor to do so.
The opening line of a story should grab a reader’s attention like a flash of lightning, the sound of tires squealing to a stop, the blast of an air horn, or the bugle of a bull elk rumbling through dark woods. A well-crafted opening line is a tease, a seduction, a baited hook that threatens…
Death. It’s part of life. And for those of us fortunate enough remain healthy as we negotiate the “golden years,” there is a price to be paid: the pain and heartbreak of losing loved ones, partners, and friends. This has been a difficult few days for me and many of my friends and former colleagues.…
On the morning of April 11, 2023, Rachel King, a 35-year-old Philadelphia resident and elementary school teacher, was gunned down while waiting in her car at a Dunkin Donuts drive-thru. Her 11-year-old son was in the back seat.
The highly-anticipated book 7 in the Dickie Floyd series, THE PROGRAM, is now available! “Nothing less than brilliant storytelling.” “Outstanding! Very Highly Recommended.” “Few writers can take you into the minds of police and criminals. None do so as well as Danny R. Smith.” The wait is finally over! It’s been more than two and a…
I HAVE A DEVIL INSIDE ME is the true story of a satanic murder that took place in Miami-Dade, Florida, in the year 2000.
After the Badge by Danny R. Smith was first published in Mystery Readers Journal: The Journal of Mystery Readers International (Volume 37, Number 4 – Winter 2021). Unsolved murders can haunt those who’ve been tasked with solving them. Though I retired from L.A. Sheriff’s Homicide seventeen years ago, many of my unsolved cases trouble…
As my memoir, Nothing Left to Prove grew beyond 108,000 words, there were parts that had to be cut. For a writer, this is akin to choosing which child to give away at birth. But a general rule to writing is that if it doesn’t move the story forward, slay it.
Bad Dreams go with the territory of being a cop. Over the years, my dreaming of pursuits, foot chases, and shootouts with malfunctioning weapons and bulletproof bad guys have subsided, but it doesn’t take much to reawaken the demons. A good cop movie can do it, and so can a session of telling war stories…