Chronicle of a Murder Foretold

By Susan Harris

A Polish writer has been convicted of a 2000 murder that replicated (or, more accurately, foreshadowed) the pulpy plot of his 2003 novel. The court ruled the evidence insufficient to convict Krystian Bala of killing Dariusz Janiszewski, but strong enough to charge him with planning and orchestrating the murder. No word yet from his publisher on this shrewd self-promotion or on whether the book will be reclassified as memoir/autobiography. Aside from confirming my instinct never to attend a meeting of the Mystery Writers of America, this raises the question: Which novels would you be most entertained (or horrified) to see come to life? And which might have done so already?

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