From True Crime to Fiction: The 1982 Tylenol Murders and the Making of Absolution
- E. E. Lawson
- Jun 10
- 2 min read
In 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after ingesting cyanide-laced Tylenol.
The country was stunned. Panic spread. Shelves were cleared. And despite a sweeping investigation and the eventual overhaul of consumer safety laws, no one was ever charged with the crime. The case remains unsolved to this day.
If that chilling fact unsettles you—it should. It certainly unsettled me.
So much so, it became the seed for my debut novel, Absolution.
What Absolution Is—And What It Isn’t
This isn’t a retelling of the Tylenol murders.
It’s fiction. But it’s fiction that grew out of a haunting question: What if someone knew more than they ever let on? Is the burden of the secret killing them?
In Absolution, a widow named Helen McAllister lies dying in a small-town Ohio hospital. But as her time runs out, so does her silence. Her final confession reveals a connection to the 1982 tragedy—and to a girl named Anna who vanished that same fall.
Told in dual timelines—present day and 1980s Chicago—Absolution explores the emotional aftershocks of a national crisis. It’s about guilt, grief, and what it costs to carry a secret too long.
Why the Tylenol Murders Still Matter
If you’ve watched the new Netflix docuseries, you know just how devastating and mystifying the real case remains. It left a mark—not just on public health policy, but on personal lives, families, and the culture of trust around everyday products.
In writing Absolution, I didn’t want to sensationalize the pain. But I did want to offer something the real world never got:
a sense of closure.
Through fiction, I explored what it might look like if someone finally told the truth—if the silence brok
e and long-buried secrets came to light.
Why You Might Love This Book:
You love stories with emotional weight and slow-burn mystery
You’re drawn to morally complex characters
You’ve ever asked yourself, What’s the price of silence?
You’re still haunted by unsolved true crime
You binged Lessons in Chemistry or The Nightingale and love fiction grounded in historical moments with resonance
Absolution is available for Kindle preorder now.
Paperback and Hardcover coming June 30.
Let’s Talk
Have you watched the Tylenol Murders docuseries? What stuck with you? And what unsolved cases have you never stopped thinking about?
Drop a comment below—I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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