Maria DiLorenzo launches "Confessions of the Green River Killer"

Maria DiLorenzo will read from Confessions of the Green River Killer, followed by a conversation with true crime filmmaker Josh Zeman, audience Q&A, book signing, and reception.

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When crime journalist Maria DiLorenzo mailed a letter to Gary Ridgway, she never expected him to reply. He refused to speak to reporters and would send only religious materials back to anyone who contacted him in Pr*son—if he replied at all. But instead of silence or a boilerplate letter, Maria’s phone rang—and it was the Green River Killer calling.

Over the next several years, Ridgway would call Maria hundreds of times, using all of his free time in Pr*son to speak with her. Her goal: to pry the details of his dozens of unidentified and unsolved murders from him. His motivation in speaking to her: unknowable. Through these hundreds of hours of phone calls, Ridgway revealed new details about his life, his crimes, and his motives – and manipulated Maria much like he tormented his victims.

An insightful and deeply personal profile of a dangerous mind, Confessions of the Green River Killer is the closest depiction of Gary Ridgway ever seen and a disturbing glimpse into what it’s like to truly know a killer. Readers of I’ll Be Gone in the Dark and The Stranger Beside Me will be enraptured to experience Gary Ridgway through the eyes and ears of a woman he came to deeply trust—and deeply covet.

Advanced praise for Confessions of the Green River Killer

“Gripping. . . . The chilling, yearslong confessions of a serial killer will be sought by true crime readers who enjoyed Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark or Ann Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me.” —Library Journal, starred review

“Chilling. . . . What begins like a real-life mystery evolves into a thorny exploration of journalistic ethics without losing its narrative momentum. Readers will find this hard to put down.” —Publishers Weekly

“The most complete portrait of Gary Ridgway we’ve ever seen, as well as a deeply personal story of a writer whose life was changed in ways she had not expected. An important addition to the annals of true crime.” —Booklist

“I talk to serial killers, so I was intrigued with Maria DiLorenzo's approach to Ridgway, especially since she admits to being naive about this process. Her personal narrative kept me hooked even after I grew weary of Ridgway's repetitive claims and obsessions. This book is a solid contribution to the genre of serial killer confessions and the collection of books on Ridgway. DiLorenzo makes the infamous serial killer feel disturbingly and intimately present. To her credit, she stuck with it.” —Dr. Katherine Ramsland, award-winning author of Confession of a Serial Killer and The Serial Killer's Apprentice

Maria DiLorenzo received an MFA in Creative Writing from Hunter College in 2011. For several years, she worked as a contributing writer for The Crime Report, and in 2020, she founded the website Beyond the Crime, which shares firsthand interviews with those incarcerated for M**der to gain a deeper understanding of the criminal mind. Her work has also appeared in Cosmopolitan, Real Crime Magazine, Alaska Quarterly Review, and others, and has been chronicled in podcasts and documentaries, including ABC’s 20/20. She is one of the only journalists to extensively interview Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. Her book, Confessions of the Green River Killer: A True Story of Manipulation, Madness, and a Search for Justice is forthcoming with Crooked Lane Books in July 2026. She currently resides in Staten Island, NY.

Joshua Zeman is an award-winning filmmaker known for documentary storytelling that blends investigation, suspense, and emotional depth. His breakout film, Cropsey, helped redefine modern true crime doc filmmaking and remains one of the genre’s most acclaimed titles. His films includeThe Killing Season, M**der Mountain, and The Sons of Sam. He is the host of the podcast Sinister.