Auto Focus

by Robert Graysmith

The national bestselling author of Zodiac and Zodiac Umasked "will keep readers turning the pages" (Detroit Free Press) with the unsolved murder of Bob Crane, star of TV's "Hogan's Heroes." Seven years after the show's cancellation, Crane was found strangled and bludgeoned to death, his nude corpse surrounded by pornographic snapshots of himself with numerous women, homemade videotapes of the actor's S&M orgies-and few clues to the killer's identity.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Biography, Crime, Canon, Media Tie In

310 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

ROBERT GRAYSMITH is the New York Times Bestselling author and illustrator of Zodiac , Auto Focus , and Black Fire . He was the political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle when the letters and cryptograms from the infamous Zodiac killer were opened in the morning editorial meetings. He lives in San Francisco where he continues to write and illustrate.



Graysmith's latest book Shooting Zodiac is now available in paperback!
As well as the beautiful new edition of The Sleeping Lady: The Trailside Murders Above the Golden Gate in paperback and Kindle!

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Kobo | Apple Books | Google Play Books

Two films have been based on his books: Auto Focus and Zodiac. Graysmith is portrayed in the film Zodiac by Jake Gyllenhaal.

Also narrated by the author are the audiobooks Black Fire and Zodiac Unmasked .

Reviews

[Violet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, Bob Crane, you're so goddam predictable. Except, maybe, for your unsolved murder at the end. Probably even you didn't see that one coming.

But you should have!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book about the murder of TV and movie actor Bob Crane, best known for his longtime role in the TV series "Hogan's Heroes" (a favorite in our family) which ran from 1965-1971. He was found dead in 1978 in Arizona, bludgeoned to death in his apartment, while appearing in a several-week run of dinner theater. For years the case remained unsolved, and finally Crane's longtime close friend, John Carpenter, was charged with the crime and went to trial in 1994. Thus far, no one has ever been convicted of the murder.

The likeable Bob Crane, a non-smoker and a teetotaler, had a big secret: he was a sex addict. His friend John Carpenter was one of the earliest people selling video tape recorders in the early 1970s, showing, among others, Alfred Hitchcock, Red Skelton, and Elvis Presley how to use their VCRs, a decade or more before they became affordable to the general public. Crane amassed a huge collection of pornographic videos, most featuring himself and Carpenter having sex with many different women.

Crane starred in a couple of Disney films in the 1970s, but eventually rumors got out about his promiscuity and the Disney company would not use his services again. He tried on many occasions to sever his friendship with Carpenter, who'd gotten him involved in the world of pornography. This is why Carpenter has always been the suspect in Crane's death; also, as far as anyone knows, he was the last person to see Crane alive. A sad ending to a great guy in some ways, and deeply, deeply flawed in other ways.

**#51 of 120 books pledged to read/review during 2016**

[Carrie Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I literally had to force myself to finish this. I'm giving it 2 stars because it is a great sleep aid!

[Lorna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just two stars bc I really didn't care much for the writing style. Some of the writing was unclear and confusingly phrased. I was also disappointed that Carpenter's trial wasn't entirely resolved by the end of the book.

I'm sorry that Crane never really got justice, but he sure was a piece of work. Videotaping your sexual encounters without telling your partner(s)? Um, no Bob. Just no. I liked the background on the beginnings of Hogan's Heroes tho. It was interesting that several of the actors playing Nazis had actually been imprisoned or lost family members in the Holocaust. I'll have to at least check my library to see if we carry anything Crane acted in.

[Super Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talented Robert Graysmith fizzles out on this well researched but truncated True Crime book. This book is well researched but formatted with no resolve and to my astonishment no real profile at all of the apparent murderer, John Carpenter. Bob Crane and his surviving friends and families was denied justice due to an inexperienced and lazy medical examiner and other officials who didn’t secure the crime scene. John Carpenter was a child rapist who was given three years probation for pleading no contest for lewd and lascivious acts with a child. Graysmith bizarrely adds an exclamation point when Carpenter is arrested as if it’s a shock. He was able to get away with everything because he was a professional hood and the medical examiner was incompetent. Bob Crane was talented and charismatic but leading a double life in which you’re so close to worst of the worst is a death wish. Bob Crane also showed inexcusably reprehensible behavior that Carpenter simply can’t be blamed for. The myth that carpenter led him astray is simply just that – a myth . Taping women having sex without their consent gives the reader very little empathy for Crane. No, he shouldn’t have been murdered but he chose to live with and live as the rank underbelly of society. That subculture from start to finish had no moral code. This book also became the basis for pulse Schrader’s film 2005 film AUTO FOCUS. Schrader did a great job directing, but the script was weak because it came from this book which is unable to both a sense of what drove Crane to his doom or of the tragic crime itself.

[Neal Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

“If this were in Blockbuster they would have this behind the counter and have an armed guy with a shotgun that does a blood test on you and checks your blood pressure before you're allowed to rent it”. So says the 15 Minute Film Fanatics podcast episode on Auto Focus, the Paul Schrader film based on this book.

Bob Crane was the star of the 1960s sitcom Hogan's Heroes. He developed a prodigious appetite for new sexual partners, often videotaping the resulting encounters. John Carpenter was a friend who helped Crane with video equipment, and often joined him cruising for women.

When in Scottsdale, appearing every night in dinner theatre, Crane was killed in his bed, and Carpenter was charged with murder. The presumed motive was that Crane had got fed up with Carpenter and blown him off. Carpenter was acquitted.

The book does a good job describing the people involved, without being salacious or judgemental. However, Crane's headspace remains largely a mystery.

The film podcast also comments on how modern Auto Focus seems now, twenty years on, when many think that nothing is real unless recorded and posted online. Some criminals record their crimes just to do them justice. Although this book is a good read, it isn't insightful on that level.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-written, convincing account of Bob Crane's inexplicable murder. Illustrated by the author. I felt a little queasy reading abput so much evidence from a case that was still waiting to be prosecuted. Is it really wise to share this much with the public? There were also a couple of times I had to ask how the police could be so dense. But none of that explains why this case just sat there unprosecuted for all these decades...

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is structured oddly and the author is incredibly long winded which makes it hard to follow what exactly is going on. Still, this book gives a detailed account on who Bob Crane was, warts and all, and discusses the investigation of his murder (although the book does oddly end on an optimistic note which is ironic because John Carpenter, the only suspect, ends up being acquitted).

[Joe Seliske · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those books that is written because it needed to be. Bob Crane's murder without a murderer is a travesty. Graysmith tells the story of the murder, the background on Hogan's Heroes and the oddities of Bob's private life. A well written account of one of life's unanswered questions.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting analysis of the as yet unsolved murder of Bob Crane, Hogan's Heroes.
Kept my interest almost completely throughout the book.

[Tom Kammerer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh, seems stretched to fill it out to book length

[Kim Scharf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graysmith is kinda a bland writer. but it's an interesting story for sure.

[Emyr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought the book after I saw the film " Auto Focus " (I'm not advertising) as I found the whole rather lurid tale fascinating. Video recording was relatively new when John Carpenter and Bob Crane started using it to record their sexual exploits but there they were, doing it before the likes of Pamela Anderson. On to the book at hand. It's a very lean book with a tightly-packed narrative of the events preceding and following the death of Crane. Whilst Robert Graysmith makes a superficial effort into exploring the possible suspects who may have had the motive and means of killing Crane, he settles on one man in particular. And it has to be said he makes quite a compelling case. For me, it's part crime thriller/part character study. On one hand, the author details quite proficiently what Crane was doing before the time of his death, the people with whom he worked, the women he bedded and his efforts at trying to restart an already flagging career. On the other hand, you have quite a sad story about one man's struggle to get to grips with what was clearly an obsessive compulsion and how it led to his eventual decline. There are no gory crime scene pictures in the book. There are some illustrations made by the author, such as a rudimentary map. He does go a little bit into the sexual activity of Crane, so the prudish may find that a turn-off. Otherwise, I highly recommend it.

[Margot Note]

Loved the movie, loved the book, and had been familiar with the case since the mid-80s. I believe John Carpenter killed Bob Crane, but the case against him was circumstantial. Robert Graysmith is one of my favorite true crime authors, because he takes on epic, never-ending cases (Zodiac) and thinks visually. The book is filled with his inky drawings and maps. He explains his process: "Since I like to act as my own detective, I almost always select unsolved cases to write about....The beginning process often consumes an entire year--I try to learn enough about the case in order to ask informed questions when I seek out the principles in the investigation. I draw maps, illustrations, and diagrams, most of which will not be used but serve the purpose of making me feel I am part of the story" (253).

[Christine Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Luridly compelling" says The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and it is! I've lived in Phoenix since 1955, so when Bob Crane was murdered in Scottsdale in the summer of 1978. it was truly shocking. This book presents the crime scene, the suspects and Crane's swinging lifestyle in clear detail. Yes, the man had a sex obsession, combined with a need to videotape all his encounters (on cutting-edge equipment at that time), but was he killed for it? No one deserves to die that way.

The book was made into a very good movie, with Greg Kinnear doing an excellent job as Bob Crane.

The chief suspect, John Carpenter, was acquitted in 1992 and is now deceased. Justice was never done. Sad story.

[Love · Rating 3 out of 5]

This just goes to show actors can act..I never would have thought this man to be like this ..I watched this man in reruns as I was growing up. I only wish there had been more help for his sex addiction back then. I am sure that he would have lived to a ripe old age. It is really to bad. I got to say the detectives who gathered evidence were very sloppy. So much just brushed aside. Who knows maybe it would have been solved in a short time had propper collection had been used. The 3 stars is because I was not a big fan of how the book was put together.

[Zachary Ames · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great mysterious thrilling book. Unfortunately its a real story and very tragic. I am the grandson of the man who solved this tragic murder, Jim Raines he has solved many cases but this was one of his biggest. This book is so in depth and so much detail it feels as if you are re living the scene before your very eyes. And just when you think you know who solved the case it flips on you. Its such an interesting book you wont be able to stop reading it. This book is recommended to all mature audiences.

[Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

- Once the star of the very popular sixties sitcom Hogan's Heroes, but now reduced to playing on the dinner theatre circuit, Bob Crane was found bludgeoned to death in an apartment filled with pornographic pictures and videotapes of himself and numerous women. The killer could have been the husband or boyfriend of any of them, or Crane's estranged wife Patti, or his best friend John Carpenter (a celebrity hanger-on whom Crane was cooling towards).
- the crime was never solved

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

two stars is unfair to Robt Graysmith, he's a fine writer but after reading this i felt icky after having watched hogan's heroes as a kid.

[Esther Labib-Kiyarash · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pretty good true crime book. It's a little heavy on the kinky sex life thing but overall an enjoyable read. Well written and nicely paced.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graysmith's drawings make a nice adjunct to this fascinating detail of a prolonged post-fast middle age crisis that ends in murder.

[Bob Polis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Expected more. the book ends with a trial date being set for the prime suspect. It should follow the trial, including the final outcome.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part mystery, part crime procedural - this book takes a look into the life and murder of kinky 1960s TV star Bob Crane (Hogan's Heroes). Writing is uninspiring, but it's a compelling story.

[Duane Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly this ranks as one of the most interesting and intriguing unsolved murders in the history of Hollywood.