Formal Bio

Catherine Pelonero is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder and Its Private Consequences, a nonfiction book about the notorious 1964 murder case. Kitty Genovese twice made the New York Times Best Sellers list, reaching #10 in crime and punishment and reaching #1 on Amazon bestsellers in biography and memoir.

As a true crime author and commentator, Catherine appears on national TV news broadcasts and crime shows, including episodes of the Emmy-winning series A Crime to Remember, It Takes a Killer, Fox Files, and Murderous Affairs. See IMDB for a list of shows and episodes. She was a contributing writer for Investigation Discovery’s CrimeFeed.

Her latest book, Absolute Madness: A True Story of a Serial Killer, Race, and a City Divided, is a nonfiction account of Joseph Christopher, a white serial killer who targeted black men in a crime spree across New York state. Praised by noted FBI profiler John Douglas as “A gripping account of a complex and controversial case,” Absolute Madness was published in November 2017 to critical acclaim.

As a playwright, Catherine Pelonero’s titles include Family Names and Awesome Ghosts of Ontario, both published by Samuel French, Inc. Other plays include Puppies with Papers, a finalist for the Heideman Award at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Another Effing Family Drama, which premiered at the 2011 Hollywood Fringe Festival and was chosen for Best of the Fringe.

Catherine Pelonero grew up in Buffalo, New York. She was formerly a member of the Actors Studio Playwrights & Directors Unit and Sisters in Crime and is a lifetime member of the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights (ALAP). She lives in Los Angeles.