Originally published on robinjarossi.com 13 11 17

Thank you to our hosts at the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences at Salford University on Saturday. Ian Cummins invited me along to take part in the all-day event on the subject of True Crime: Fiction Is Far More True than Any Journalism.

The process of writing, why people read crime and various ways writers have explored real crimes were all covered. Ian and his colleagues Marian Foley and Martin King were terrific hosts.

We went for a delightful drink in Manchester the night before – my first time in the city – before meeting at the university in Media City on Saturday, which is a rather strange jumble of modern architecture.

Ripper tours and female psychopaths

Mark Blacklock, author of I’m Jack, about Yorkshire Ripper hoaxer John Humble, was great company.

Caroline Jones gave us a tour of, well, Ripper Tours and what a strange entertainment they are. And Caroline Logan, a consultant forensic clinical psychologist, was really interesting on the subject of female psychopaths in fiction.

Beastly subjects, convivial company. I hope their plans to expand the event in future work out.