Harry MacLean channels career in law into true crime books

With the release of his newest book, Starkweather: The Untold Story of a Killing Spree That Changed America, true crime author and Lawrence University graduate Harry MacLean '64 adds another title to his list of critically lauded books.

MacLean, who transitioned from a successful law career to become a true crime writer, has always credited his Lawrence education with giving him the tools to learn and adapt. Sixty years after graduating, that remains true.

"I was always curious, but Lawrence showed me how to live with curiosity as a lifestyle, to always wonder what lay over the far horizon," he said.

MacLean excelled in law, working in a range of positions including as a magistrate judge in juvenile court, first assistant attorney general for the State of Colorado, and a position in the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., where he was involved in enforcement on Wall Street. He also worked as general counsel of the Peace Corps in the Carter administration and served as special counsel to Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm.

It was after that lengthy law career that MacLean decided to pursue more creative endeavors, and he wrote his first book. In Broad Daylight, released in 1988, is a narrative account of the 1981 vigilante killing of Ken Rex McElroy, the murder of a small town's bully that went unsolved despite having been witnessed by more than 50 people.

"One of the things I studied was the impact of trauma on small towns," MacLean said. "That's one perspective I brought to this story."

The book was a success, going on to win an Edgar Award for best true crime writing and charting on the New York Times bestseller list for 12 weeks. The book also inspired a film by the same name starring Brian Dennehy.

Established as a true crime author, MacLean went on to write six more books. His most recent, Starkweather, recounts the 1958 killing spree of 19-year-old Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old companion, Caril Ann Fugate. MacLean describes Starkweather as the "first mass murderer of the modern age."

MacLean grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, where seven of the 11 Starkweather murders took place, giving him special insight in writing an account of the story. The book delves into a side of the story that's seldom been explored-the guilt or innocence of Fugate.

"Lincoln was always very biased against her," MacLean said. "It didn't really matter to me whether she was guilty or innocent, but the judgment was going to be made on facts, not biases or inferences."

The book takes a look at the case from a modern lens and its impact on culture in the decades to follow. The Starkweather murders inspired books and movies, including Natural Born Killers and Badlands. It even inspired Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska.

At the time of the murders, the late 1950s, the evening news was becoming widespread for the first time across the United States, and the coverage of the killing spree held the country transfixed. There had been no broadcast stories before this one of random murders, and it created a new fear for the American public.

"Television hit just as Charlie hit," MacLean said. "That changed the whole picture of homicide in this country."

MacLean has extensive experience in law, which he takes into his work as an author, but his approach to writing true crime such as Starkweather is inspired by the idea of the nonfiction novel: accounts of real events through narrative storytelling.

"You have to put the reader in the car with Charlie and Caril on the killing spree," MacLean said. "You want them to feel the ruts in the rough country road, see the fear in their victim's faces. You can't make up or infer facts, but, unlike a newspaper account, you can shape the story to fit your vision."

MacLean puts heavy emphasis on writing according to the people who were there at the time, experiencing the traumatic events that took place. He says the first and most important thing he does in researching a new book is visit the town he's writing about and talk to people.

"Every book I've written involves heavy legal issues," MacLean said. "But research happens person-to-person. As a writer, you are entitled to ask anybody almost anything. A lot of doors open when you sit down and have a coffee with someone."

Starkweather has been praised for looking at the case from a new perspective. Charles Starkweather was executed in June 1959. Fugate was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to prison. MacLean delves into Fugate's involvement in the murders with more detail than previous media coverage has; he rejects the romantic Bonnie and Clyde comparison and reviews the case from a point of view that is both objective and familiar.

Starkweather was selected by the Washington Post as Best Nonfiction Book of 2023.

"That grimness is the paradoxical joy of reading MacLean," writes Washington Post reviewer Carl Hoffman. "The raw chill creeping through your veins that feels authentic to the place and the crimes, the lean and vivid sentences rivaling Capote's In Cold Blood and Mailer's The Executioner's Song."

MacLean, who shares his work at harrymaclean.com, is currently involved in movie negotiations based on Starkweather, but he's working on other endeavors as well. He is in the first stages of a YouTube project tentatively titled Confessions of a True Crime Writer, and he's considering new writing work, including resurrecting a novel he wrote years ago.