News & Updates | Shaun Assael

Awards

August 28, 2017

What a wonderful way to end the summer.

On August 15, The National Association of Black Journalists recognized me and my good friend, Jean-Jacques Taylor, for our story about the misunderstood signs of mental illness, Broken Route, The category was specialty reporting in a magazine with a circulation of more than one million.

And last weekend, the Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference made The Murder of Sonny Liston a two time award-winner. It won for Best Nonfiction Book of the Year and as a Reader’s Choice award winner. Thank you to everyone at Killer Nashville, especially the wonderfous Clay Stafford. It was a blast.

WBUR’s Only a Game Interview

February 3, 2017

An award-winning weekly sports magazine for the serious sports fan and the steadfast sports avoider. Produced by WBUR and NPR.

Listen: True Murder Podcast

January 14, 2017

Every week host Dan Zupansky interviews the true crime authors that have written about the most shocking killers of all time. From true crime history, comes the preeminent true crime authorities in America and the world today.

“Sonny” is a Boston Globe‘s Best (Sports) Book of 2016

December 7, 2016

Assael’s account of Liston’s life in a city full of racial tensions, mob connections, and heroin is illuminating, though not conclusive, regarding the heavyweight champ’s last days and mysterious overdose death.

Check out other books on the list at www.bostonglobe.com »

Most Notorious! The 1970 Murder of Boxer Sonny Liston

December 3, 2016

Rumors for many years have circulated about the mysterious death of famed boxer Sonny Liston in December of 1970. My guest, Shaun Assael, author of “The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin and Heavyweights” and a former police reporter and sports writer for ESPN Magazine, talks about the suspects and possible scenarios surrounding Lison’s demise, and the very strong possibility of his murder.

NY Journal of Books Review Sonny Liston

November 18, 2016

Author Shaun Assael wades into Liston’s world with a hawk’s eye and the nose of bloodhound. The Murder of Sonny Liston is many things: a biography, a story of sixties Las Vegas, and an investigation into a suspicious death that was never conducted.

Despite being nonfiction, The Murder of Sonny Liston tells a good story. It reads like an exemplary bit of hard-boiled crime fiction at times, keeping you glued to the pages. Shaun doesn’t sugarcoat. He’s writing in a heavyweight class and hits hard. You feel thumped by some of this book, grim realities and seedy fantasies coming together in a revelation of Las Vegas that is as ugly as it is glamorous.

Read more of J. Kent Messum’s review at www.nyjournalofbooks.com »