Q&A With Alan R. Warren 

Another guest, Mickey Mikkelson, has connected me with Alan R. Warren! Alan R. Warren is a bestselling true crime author, producer, and lead host of the internationally syndicated radio show and podcast House of Mystery. Alan has written over 38 books covering serial killers, cults, human trafficking, and history. Alan has contributed to True Case Files Magazine since 2013 and continues to write for Serial Killer Magazine. Warren’s bestselling titles have been featured on famous networks, which are CNN, Oxygen, Reelz, Vice TV & Sundance Channel documentaries. Alan’s current book is titled Peace, Love & Murder: The Charles Manson Story. 

Q: Alan, welcome to Book Notions! Can you give a brief description of some of your work, beginning with Peace, Love & Murder: The Charles Manson Story? 

A: Peace, Love, & Murder: The Charles Manson Story is my latest book, which came out September 20 of last year. It’s really more of a historical look at America during the 1960’s when the youth of the day wanted the country to all get on board with the promise of not only freedom, but peace and love. This dream turned into a nightmare once Charles Manson entered the scene. 

His book, like many of my previous books, starts with an historical perspective. I begin with the time, then the location, and what events were going on at the time before the characters enter the scene. This really helps readers put themselves there and to understand how people lived at the time. This way, they can feel the same feeling that those living there at the time responded the way that they did. By the end of the book, it’s easier to see why someone like Manson could only have gotten away with what he did at that time and location. 

Q: What drew you into writing nonfiction, specifically true crime and cults?

A: It just happened. Again, my true interest is in writing the history of a time and place and trying to understand how people lived then. What were their day-to-day activities? What did they do for breakfast, lunch, or dinner? How did they get to work? What did they do for work? 

The reason someone like Manson gets into my story is that they are a large part of history. What they do often is a response to what’s going on in society at the time, either for or against the changes going on at the time, doesn’t really matter. It just is, and therefore, it touches everyone and everything going on at the time. So, it would be next to impossible to write that history without mentioning them. 

This includes cults as well. Cults quite often is in response to mainstream society. People who can’t understand the times they were living in. Often, they are lost and searching for an answer. In their minds, if they can find that answer, that gives them meaning and comfort. This is where guru-styled people, such as Manson, use their charisma and lure their victims into their commune. Once there, the victims become isolated, and the guru’s beliefs become their way of life. 

Q: How do you juggle writing and doing your radio show? What wisdom do you have for anyone wanting to juggle both?

A: I really don’t know how I do it, I do it. It hasn’t always been that way. I had to learn how to manage my time and to try to focus on what’s important. The radio show is its fifteenth year now, and it has a consistency, sort of like my life. This allows me to work around with my writing. So, interviews are laid out on certain days and times, just like things that happen in our regular lives. 

But it’s super important to make sure that you don’t lose things that make you happy or excited to do. For me, I have rescued older small and medium dogs for about twenty years now, and I spend a lot of time with them, including long walks. That would be the best thing I can tell someone who wants to take on a lot of work in the future. If it’s a job that’s in the public eye as well, like radio or writing books, you’ll need those things, like walking your dogs, even more. 

Q: How long does it take you to write and research your books? Have you ever spoken with Charles Manson or any of these other serial killers and cult leaders who are (or were if they’re dead) behind bars?

A: Each project takes a different amount of time. It usually depends on the research that you need to do and the people whom you need to interview, like witnesses, police, victims, and even the killer. The further you go back into history, the more newspaper and document research you end up doing. But that can take some time as well. When I was writing the book on the Bucher of Hanover, Fritz Haarmann from 1920’s, I had to send for the court documents and some of the detective on the case notes from Germany. Then, when I got the material, I had to have it translated. 

When you write about a more modern case, you have to find out who is still alive and find them, then contact them to see if they want to be interviewed. With the murderers, you must find out which prison they are in, contact the prison, get your clearance first, then contact the prisoner or whoever represents them to set up any meetings. 

I never met Manson, but I did get to meet several people who were involved in the case, including his followers, and most of them let me interview them for the book. In other murder cases, I was able to meet the convicted murderer, or exchange letters with them from their prison or hospitals that they were at. 

Q: Are you currently writing your next book? If so, who or what will be the topic?

A: I usually have several projects running at the same time as I am trying to collect information, and as I mentioned earlier, it can take a lot of time. I have a cult book with a publisher right now that is being edited, and it should be out later this year. This book has a series of interviews with people who were living in a cult, including a woman who was only a little girl when she escaped the Jim Jones cult in Guyana. I am also working on a series of detective mystery fiction books. 

Q: Can you give links to your social medias and radio show? The readers of the blog & I would love to follow you and listen to your show!

A: Sure, my personal website is at Author & Radioshow Host | Alan R. Warren. I am on most social media platforms, and they are all listed on the home page of my website. My Facebook page is at (20+) Facebook, and for blogs or interviews in written form that I have done, I am on Substack as well at (1) Alan R Warren | Substack. The best place to find the show the House of Mystery, is by going to that website at HOUSE OF MYSTERY RADIOSHOWS | Alan R. Warren. On there, you’ll see all of our interviews, which are now over 2500 of them, and they are listed in genres like crime, thriller, true crime, etc. 

Q: What’s it like being featured on CNN, Oxygen, Reelz, Vice TV & the Sundance Channel?

A: It’s amazing, actually. It’s not something I ever thought would happen to me. I am fortunate to be asked by them, but I try not to think about it too much. These days, when we see so much online, it’s easy to get swept away into the noise and lose our place. Remember, along with these great things that happen, like those shows that have had me on or based their show or movie on one of my books, there are also the bad things that come with it, usually found on social media platforms. These days, I pretty much stay focused on my projects.