Otto Penzler has a terrific idea: Draft French journalists to cover significant crimes in American history. Crime writing is, by definition, sociology; by looking at a murder, a journalist is looking at a society and its perversions. It's possible that an "outsider" is clearer and sharper than Katie Couric or Rachel Maddow. Chandra Levy disappeared shortly before 9/11. She was working as an intern in Washington, DC, and she was having an affair with the congressman Gary Condit. Condit lied--many times--about the affair, so he began to look like a murderer. (It doesn't matter that there is at least sometimes a difference between being a liar and being a murderer. Americans tend to jump to conclusions.) After the Chandra Levy affair ruined his life, Condit became the owner of a Baskin Robbins outpost; eventually, Baskin Robbins asked to be removed from all of Condit's merch, signage, and paperwork. But Condit continued to call himself the owner of a local "Ba...