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True crime author Ann Rule called herself a psychological detective.

Her book on Ted Bundy launched her career and defined her style.

A new biography analyzes Rule’s development into a voice for crime victims.

In 2002, I interviewed Ann Rule, a bestselling true crime writer. Her first book in 1980, The Stranger Beside Me, featured her relationship with serial killer Ted Bundy, from working with him on a crisis hotline to supporting his claim of innocence to realizing he’d profoundly duped her.

Although she was best known for this association, she strove to shed it. She developed a full body of work and a unique approach that merits recognition. Journalist Cathy Scott’s unflinching new biography, First Lady of Murder, analyzes the late author's process.

Ann Rule’s Unique Writing Approach and Interview Style

Rule called herself a “psychological detective.” She’d learned from story immersion and empathic attunement how to make people feel heard. She developed her approach by watching detectives, attorneys, and courtroom personnel at work, and by visiting crime scenes and interviewing victims and perpetrators. Immersion allowed her to see a story from within and hook readers with her own emotional engagement. “I write it the way I live the story,” she said. “What fascinates me is a case where the truth is obscured from the beginning.”

“Ann Rule's interviews were semi-structured,” Scott told me. “Her questions were open-ended, meant to let the conversation drift. Calm and........

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