Clifford Irving, author of Autobiography of Howard Hughes, Death Freak and its sequel, Sleeping Spy, discusses his life after spending sixteen and a half months in federal prison for writing a fraudulent biography of billionaire Howard Hughes. After his release from prison in 1974 on Valentine’s Day, Irving spent six more weeks in a half-way house in Manhattan. After that, he moved around before settling down in Mexico. Irving experienced some resistance from publishers to publish his works following the Hughes scandal; however he has been resilient enough to bounce back from his past.

Now, ten years later, he joins Don Swaim in this 1984 interview to discuss his most recently published book, The Angel of Zin.

The Angel of Zin took Irving nearly two years to complete, although he said he thought about the story for many years. The story deals in part with Germans and their role in the Holocaust.

“We are all capable of abdication in situations of survival,” Irving said. “People will say to themselves, ‘It’s horrible, but I don’t want anything to do with it because I want to live.’ Germans, as a group, chose to live. It’s possible that we in America might take the same choice.”

To hear more about Irving’s life and his works, click on the link below.

Three years later, Irving returns to talk about the research he did for his book, Daddy's Girl, which is about the David West murder trial of 1982.

The trial involved the killing of a couple in their beds in the middle of the night in Houston, TX. The police had no clues, but their chief suspects were one of the couple’s daughter, Cindy, and Cindy’s boyfriend, David West.

Irving was first intrigued by the case when he heard the circumstances surrounding West’s confession - Kim Paris, a private detective, seduced him into admitting to the crime. The motive was revenge for the father allegedly sexually abusing Cindy since the age of 13 and the mother’s indifference. The sexual abuse was never proved because Cindy never took the stand; however, Irving believed the sexual abuse did in fact occur.

Irving was able to get close to everyone involved: the accused murder, the detectives, the cops and even the judge, mainly because no one had to fear what said would be broadcasted or published the next day. He knew so much, he even found his own evidence and at one point took the stand. He was very afraid of doing this, especially due to his past described in the previous interview.

Listen to the complicated twists; hear what happened as the result of his testimony, and hear Irving’s take on the verdict by clicking on the link below.