Entry #9: Exclusive Interview with Grilling Dahmer co-author Robyn Maharaj
Personal details related to Detective Patrick Kennedy's epic-long interrogation of Jeffrey Dahmer and the book that Maharaj wrote to recount his confessions and blood-chilling revelations.
AFTER JEFFREY DAHMER’S arrest in the summer of 1991, Detective Patrick Kennedy of the Milwaukee Police Department was the first law enforcement official to interrogate the dazed and drunken killer.
At the time, Kennedy had no conception that the individual sitting across from him during the initial seven-hour interrogation would later enter not only the annals of serial killers but also the pop culture realm of mythological infamy.
Over the following six weeks—and working sixteen hours a day in the interrogation room—Dahmer shared with Kennedy, in graphic detail, every facet of his murder spree. Dahmer’s memory proved to be extraordinarily focused, and this allowed the police and detectives to specify the identities of all of his victims.
In the book Grilling Dahmer: The Interrogation of “The Milwaukee Cannibal,” published by WildBlue Press, Kennedy’s co-author, Canadian journalist Robyn Maharaj assumed the arduous task of assembling Kennedy’s notes and reveries into a spellbinding recounting of Dahmer and Kennedy’s exchange. Maharaj also wrote an eloquent close-read on Dahmer, and his impact on popular culture, in the closing sections of the book.
Robyn and I met on Zoom last weekend for the following audio-only exchange. In addition to Robyn’s insights, I shared some astrological takes on Dahmer’s natal horoscope and discussed the odyssey of writing my romance novel about Jeff.
Robyn also answered some of the questions I submitted to her via the active followers of the popular Dahmer Subreddit.
Until next time,
