Connecticut-based true crime author M. William Phelps has published an exclusive e-book, The Eastbound Strangler, in conjunction with Investigation Discovery (ID). The project, released on January 29, provides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of an episode of Phelps’s new ID television series, Dark Minds, and specifically explores the unsolved case of four women murdered in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 2006.
Dark Minds features a collaboration between Phelps and criminal profiler John Kelly. The two revisit unsolved homicide cases believed to be the work of serial killers, and are aided in their search for answers by a source known to audiences only as “13” – a bona fide serial killer who draws on his experiences to theorize as to the possible motivations for the murders.
The first of eight episodes in Dark Minds’ inaugural season premiered on ID last Wednesday and became the channel’s highest Prime telecast for women aged 18-49, drawing a total of more that 2.75 million viewers. The show, which airs on Wednesdays at 10 PM EST, will run weekly through March 14. Tomorrow’s episode will be the one featured in Phelps’s new e-book.
In a press release, Phelps explained that The Eastbound Strangler “is an extension of what I do on the series, and bridges my work in the field with my traditional book writing career. Fans of the series will love the e-book simply because it contains mostly material not featured in the episode—and my loyal and new readers will equally enjoy it, because at the heart of this case is an incredibly intense true-crime story.”
This e-book is the first in a planned series based on the Dark Minds TV show and will be published exclusively with Amazon Digital Publishing for 90 days under Crime Rant Classics, an e-book publishing company that Phelps started along with fellow author Gregg Olsen. It will then be made available more generally – iBooks, Nook, etc. – after that time frame has elapsed.
Phelps is a veteran investigative journalist, serial killer expert, and author of 20 non-fiction books. I’ll Be Watching You won the 2008 New England Book Festival Award. He has appeared on more than 100 shows as a crime expert and served as a consultant on the first season of the Showtime cable television series Dexter.
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