Coming March 2025
Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother 40 whacks.
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father 41.
~ children’s jump rope rhyme
You don’t need to be a feminist to feel the rage.
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True Crime Books Optioned for the Screen
Featured Book
Written in Blood
One man. Two women dead at the foot of a staircase. Coincidence? Or is Michael Peterson responsible for two murders?
The public-facing Peterson was a best-selling author, a newspaper columnist, a failed politician and a family man. What would drive a man like that to take the lives of a close friend and 16 years later to kill his second wife?
Perhaps his deeply held secrets concealed a dark side that hid his true character from the world.
Available in paperback, digital format and audiobook.
Explore All Books
True Crime
Police Procedural
Historical Fiction
Other
My Story
The path my life has followed is a bit convoluted but I am pleased with the current result. I was born in Baltimore, Maryland. My maiden name is Butcher. Honest! I was born as Diane Lynn Butcher. Many in my Dad’s family think that I should have written under my original name when I started authoring true crime books. They thought it would be rather appropriate. They did have a point, but I thought if I did a lot a people would think that I made the name up. A book about murder by Diane Butcher?
“Diane is one of America’s living treasures. She can say in 14 words what it takes the rest of us pages and pages to establish.”
-Vance Holmes, Author, Playwrite
“Every now and then you encounter a book that just speaks to you. You can’t put it down, you run the gamut of emotions from anger to fear to elation so intensely that you feel as if you are riding in the front pocket of the narrator.”
- Book Club Queen Review
“Very few writers have the insight and gift to take a true story and make it one hell of a page-turner."
- Susan Murphy Milano, Domestic Violence Victim's Advocate
Upcoming Appearances & Events
March 15, 2025
Suffolk Conference Center
Hilton Garden Inn Suffolk Waterfront
Suffolk Virginia Authors’ Festival
Join Diane and 58 other authors for the Suffolk Author’s Festival March 15 from 1 to 6 pm. An afternoon of moderated panel discussions as well as a chance to buy books and visit and chat with authors at their tables.
April 25-27, 2025
Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center
Malice Domestic Conference
Malice Domestic is unique in the mystery conference world, as a convention of both fans and authors.
July 2025
Woodward, Oklahoma
Woodward News Writers Conference
Diane will be delivering the keynote address.
More details to come.
Blog Section will go here, this is just a placeholder
RECENT PODCASTS
Feb. 4, 2025
What It’s Like to Interview Serial Killers with Diane Fanning
Diane talks to Women Road Warriors, Shelley Johnson and Kathy Tucarro, about her experiences with serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells.
Nov 7, 2024
The Aftermath: Lisa Nowak and the Astronaut Love Triangle
Diane talks with Rebecca Delgado Smith about the mental implosion of Lisa Nowak that led her to assault her astronaut’s love interest.
Diane Fanning
Diane Fanning is the Edgar-nominated, best-selling author of 15 true crime books and 12 crime novels and a recipient of the Defender of Innocence award from the Innocence Project. She has served as a consultant to 48 Hours, was a regular presence on 14 seasons of Deadly Women, and appeared on the Today Show, 20/20, Forensic Files, Snapped, the Biography Channel, Investigation Discovery, E! and the BBC as well as numerous podcasts. Raised in Baltimore County, she moved to Virginia, then south Texas, and she now lives in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Bedford, Virginia.