All my life, I have been tempted by distractions, but not of the usual sort. While working, many people will let their minds wander, and wonder, “What’s on TV?” or “What’s in the fridge.” My main distraction is work, especially pending projects. Often, I will keep two or three Word files open, each one relating to a different idea – a book, screenplay, and so forth.

Sitting in my darkened office (bad for the eyes, I know), I just had a “wandering moment,” and started searching out other cold cases that won’t appear in my new book. It always amazes me how quickly word spreads on the Internet about an upcoming book, and my new collection of unsolved cases is no exception. Over the past two years, I have received a number of calls and emails from people asking if I knew about a particular case, and if I was intending on including it in Unsolved: True Canadian Cold Cases. In a few instances, I was able to write chapters about crimes about murders and disappearances I hadn’t thought of initially. In other cases, there simply weren’t enough resources available (information from police, lack of response from family members) to include the stories.

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting excerpts from the new book, and look forward to hearing your comments.

Greetings everyone,

Director Roman Polanski has been arrested with regard to his 1977 rape of an underage girl in the U.S. Many stories cite the piece I wrote on him back in 1996 in Gstaad, Switzerland, which was published in Menz magazine.

When I met Polanski, he did not show any concerns about being arrested – far from it. In the tiny village of Gstaad, he was surrounded by people who knew and respected him. Europe was his home, as it had been for decades, and he was eager to talk about his latest film, Death and the Maiden. His life was about looking forward, not back. He was attending Cinemusic, a film festival dedicated to film music, and appeared on the program, and attended many screenings, including the movie Farinelli.

For the record, Polanski was anything but elusive, as I ran into him numerous times that week, either walking around the village by himself, or with his wife, Emmanuelle. Articles that make it sound like police were setting a trap for Polanski are complete rubbish! It is well-known that Polanski owns a chalet in Gstaad, and goes to the area often to ski the Diabelerts glacier, something he has done for decades. If the long arm of the law tried to “capture” Polanski over the years, they certainly weren’t trying very hard.

For the record, my article is under The Vault section of this website, at http://www.truecrimecanada.com/?page_id=9

Oops, I almost typed “Book #3″ by mistake… wishful thinking on my part, perhaps? Not a heck of a lot to tell. Research is going well for my second book, a collection of unsolved crimes. I will post details and excerpts soon.

Cheers,

Robert

From cult recruitment to capital punishment, and art history to music, I’ve uploaded some of my part articles to The Vault section. These represent a very small section of my work (I haven’t touched on my years at The Toronto Star, television, or the many educational CD-Roms I wrote and produced over the years – yet). Enjoy! I look forward to your comments.

Foreward by Peter C. Newman

“There’s really only one good reason to read this book: it’s a fascinating story told by a great storyteller. Robert Hoshowsky has masterfully reconstructed the lurid tale of the two low-lifes who became the last two criminals hanged in Canada. The devil is in the details, and he digs them out fearlessly, including much new information that reveals new and unexpected nuances about the crimes.”