Nightmare In Napa Summary

True-crime writers can either tell an entertaining story about a real crime or an informative story that includes entertaining details about a real crime. The 48 Hours Mystery episode “Nightmare in Napa” is an example of an entertaining true-crime story that is also meant to be informative. This episode begins with a summary of its main topic: the murders of Leslie Mazzara and Adriane Insogna, which “shocked beautiful and quiet Napa, California” (CBS 1). It then provides some information about the two victims’ lives until their deaths on November 1st, 2004. The rest of this episode deals with the investigation of the two murders and presents the thoughts/reactions of the people involved in the case to the viewer, such as the victims’ roommate still being haunted by the events of “that Halloween night” (CBS 3). Susan Glaspell’s report of a murder that was committed on December 1, 1900, “The Hossack Murder”, is an example of an informative story that includes entertaining details about a real crime. This report began by stating that a murder was committed on Saturday near Medford and by describing the victim: an “early settler” and “prominent farmer” named …show more content…
“Nightmare in Napa”, for example, directly tells the viewer where one of the victims, Leslie Mazzara, was raised: “on a farm in rural Anderson, South Carolina” (CBS 1). It is also revealed that the other victim, Adriane Insogna, survived a car crash where her head hit the road every time the car “rolled” (CBS 2). In “The Hossack Murder”, a rumor that “trouble had arisen in the Hossack household” is mentioned (Glaspell 2). Glaspell adds more information about this rumor when she includes a statement from a woman named Mrs. Haines that Mr. and Mrs. Hossack “frequently quarreled”