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Episode No. 44 True Crime Date: January 30, 2009 Notes: Tom Basinski, Chula Vista Police Department
(ret.) and known renowned true crime novelist.
After studying to be a Catholic priest for five years while earning a B.A. in
English Literature from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, Tom Basinski traded his Roman collar for a badge
and gun, patrolling the mean streets of hometown Flint, Michigan. After a year and a half in Flint, Tom
Basinski moved to California where he worked for the Chula Vista Police Department (17 years), and as an investigator for
the San Diego District Attorney (17 years). While a homicide detective for Chula Vista, Tom Basinski began
writing true crime stories for various pulp magazines, eventually selling over 125 true crime stories. Tom
Basinski is the author of the books No Good Deed and Cross-County Evil.
According to the book description of No Good Deed, it
“is a true story of jealousy, rage, steroids, voodoo, strippers, and murder. The charred remains of 38-year old nice
guy David Stevens are found in his incinerated Chrysler convertible December 23, 1998 in upscale La Jolla, California, with
two bullet holes in his head.”
According to the book description of
Cross-County Evil, it is the “true crime shocker of an 18- year manhunt for a killer rapist
on the run. The murder of a San Diego woman in 1988 was eventually solved—nearly two decades later, and thousands of
miles away after a Florida traffic cop pulled a man over during a routine stop. What transpired was an incredible combination
of chance and relentless investigative work.”
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