Perfect Murder A Books

Unfortunately for some reason I didn't realise this was an earlier O'Dell installment which I hadn't already read, but thought it was a later novel featuring a different character. Sadly I was soon disillusioned as the world's stupidest profiler made her appearance all too quickly and I made the discovery that Kava's later novels - flawed as they might be - were actually far better than this generic and badly written plotted installment.

The slushy romance between Maggie and Nick was bad enough (why do a sheriff and a FBI profiler have to look like models?), the lazy romance magazine assumption that Maggie is entitled to lust after other men because her husband doesn't understand her. Or that the fact that the killer and his target are all to easy to identify. But far far worse was the lazy writing and the enormous credibility gaps in the plot - I don't mind suspension of disbelief but this was ridiculous! As others have pointed out, for such a supposedly brilliant FBI agent Maggie seems totally clueless about evidence or how to handle an investigation and Nick isn't any better. Why does no-one pick up on the fact that Greg ACTUALLY SPOKE TO THE KILLER on his mobile and try to get him to identify the voice? Why does Maggie ignore important new evidence from a crucial witness, conveniently allowing him to be bumped off before he can speak? But what sunk me completely was the part where a mother comes home - in the dark - and doesn't worry in the slightest that her son - who was playing ouside unattended hasn't come home - despite the fact that a serial killer is targeting small boys who look very much like the said son - has a glass of wine and falls asleep quite unconcerned!
As if she - or any other responsible mother in the neighbourhood - would have let the kid out of her sight after not one but TWO local children had been kidnapped and murdered!

This is lazy writing at its worst - apparently Kava can't be bothered to come up with a clever way a psychpath might snare his intended victim but just relies on readers being dumb enough to swallow anything she throws at them. Definitely the worst Kava book I have read so far

I read this book in two weekend evenings, and I can't help but feel like my time would have been better spent somewhere else.

The premise starts out well. Just months after a serial child killer is put to death, a new body turns up in his old stomping grounds, mangled in exactly the same way for which the condemned was convicted. A small town reacts with panic and anger, and the sheriff is way out of his depth. That's when a sexy FBI profiler steps in, hoping to save the day -- only to become part of the game herself when the killer zeroes in on her one great weakness.

The problem is, I can't help but feel like I've read this story somewhere before. There's a distinctly assembly-line feel to this, like a markedly more grown-up Nancy Drew novel. How the characters talk, how they interact with their context, the sexual tension between the two leads: it all feels like well-trod ground. Even the subplot, dealing with the profiler's trauma at the hands of a playfully sadistic mass murderer, feels cribbed from the blueprints of a Thomas Harris novel. I kept expecting someone on the other end of the phone line to purr "Hello, Clarice."

One example should suffice to show my major problem with the book. Both the leading man, Nick Morelli, and the leading lady, Maggie O'Dell, are improbably good-looking and charismatic people, in the noir literature tradition, and the sexual tension between them is a major thread through the book. But every time it comes up, no matter whose point of view we're following at that moment, it's described with the same term: "electricity." Over and over and over again, this same single word is supposed to convey the complexity of human sexuality, driving it home like a piston on an engine.

Would it have been so difficult for the author to change that up a bit? Let me give her some suggestions, in case she decides to do a revised edition. Even if she wants to stick with the concept of lust as electricity, she has a range of words available to her to convey that idea. Spark, charge, voltage, current, shock, bolt, lightning. Also consider heat, friction, and magnetism. Would that have been so difficult?

This book was a real disappointment to me. And it pains me to say it, because I really enjoyed Kava's novel One False Move. This one is just so ordinary, so mechanical, that when I got to the end, it left me feeling like I had been chasing my own tail for two nights. This was a poor use of two good evenings I could have spent reading something more challenging -- or, as a thought, drafting my own thriller novel.

I can't say this book was bad, but I just can't bring myself to recommend it either. Keep shopping, dear reader, this isn't what you're looking for.

The writing was really good, and I would give it a 5 star rating, except the ending was really disappointing. It is quite obvious that it's a complete set up for another book.

Alex Kava writes a strong, church related mystery with Maggie O'Dell being the lynchpin that holds the whole story together.
The only element that stresses credulity is Kava's sexual innuendoes between Maggie and Nick( each brush is stunning, each
accidental touch electric and hinting of dirty, dirty thoughts.)
And she slips these in every chapter the two share.
Ignore these silly bumps in the night and you have an entertaining novel. I just ordered "A Necessary Evil"...
Let's hope the heat between Nick and Maggie has settled into a serious affection.

Do you want to read a book written for those without imagination? This surely has to be it. Cliched characters are ineptly drawn, and following a formula even Hollywood is tiring of: a tall, dark, handsome playboy sheriff, and a shapely, gorgeous FBI agent. Of course there's romance in the air!

Only the bad guys are ugly - or at least I presume so, as they don't get much of a description at all. But then, nor does anything else, resulting in a poor sense of place. Many authors go out of their way to give a sense of place, but not Kava. Contrast Kava's work with that of John Connolly whose prose is delightful and vivid; or that of Crais, whose work is a little sparser than Connolly's and the difference will be profound.

It was a labor, getting through this book, with repeated instances of point-of-view changes, often within a paragraph. In one place, it wasn't even possible to tell whom the author was referring-to as the paragraph contained references to several characters, all addressed as "she".

The book reads like a first draft, and the lack of careful (or it seems at times, any,) editing is obvious. Kava likes to use impactful verbs, but really, three instances of "grabbed" in the space of five lines demonstrates a vocabulary most high-school students would surpass and a quality of writing that just as many would turn up their noses at.

It would take little research to discover that "goals" are scored in soccer, not "points." But that too, seems beyond Kava's limited expertise.

Some readers spurn genre fiction as demonstrating too much telling and not enough showing. This novel can be held up as an example of all that those critics wish to bleat about.

I am so glad I didn't by this book, instead borrowing it from a library, as I wouldn't even want it on any of my shelves. I'd rather reserve that space for worthwile books by authors who craft - rather than draft - their prose. This book is now back in the library, and the money I would have spent on it remains firmly in my wallet.

After reading The Tenth Circle I felt a little leery of reading another novel by Jodi Picoult. I loved The Pact so I thought I would give her one more try. I'm glad I did. I really liked reading this one! It was raw, intense and suspenseful.

It's about a little boy who is molested and his mother kills the guy who did it. It's something every parent who has to live this horrible nightmare would want to do and Nina was brave enough to follow through with it. Even though there were some moments where I thought "Yeah right. That would never happen" I still really overall liked this book. Picoult wrote this novel so well that I felt like I was in it. I wanted to beat the molester senseless myself.

One thing I didn't like was how pathetic Patrick was and how Caleb put up with this guy, who obviously has a thing for his wife. I kept thinking "Patrick needs to grow up and move on." He seemed to high schoolish to me. Another thing was how grown up Nathaniel's thinking was. I know he was forced to grow up but some of his thoughts and actions didn't seem typical of a 5 year old.

I love books that keep you turning the pages and this one definitely did that. I would lay in bed at night reading and not even realize I had been reading for 2 hours! The book was predictable but it didn't make me want to stop reading it. I normally don't like books that are predictable but this one would have been all wrong if it wasn't.

I haven't read a Jodi Piccoult book that I didn't love and this was no exception.

I think I found another one of my favorite authors. Fortunately she has lots of books out there. I love how Picoult can write and get into every characters mind set. Her book was thought provoking. I can't say I would not have done the same thing had it happened to my child. I read this book in a few days, I just could not wait to see what happened next. I am not reading My Sister's Keeper, another page turner. Will review that as soon as I am done with it.

OK, I like thrillers and mysteries and books with bite and cutting edge plots. This had the ingredients but fell a bit short. The characters were all but unlikeable and I had a hard time drumming up support for them or the desire to cheer Nina to acquittal. She just wasn't all that compelling as a heroine. The other characters were stereotypes and like cardboard, even her son. This book was decent. I found the story a bit implausible and all the things that fell together and the happy ending just a bit too predictable. I didn't predict one thing, must be getting slow or just not paying attention. The characters weren't really too interesting and I didn't find them very sympathetic nor did I care what really happened. Obviously Nathaniel should have been receiving ongoing psych counseling.....

I have read a number of Picoult's novels. This was not one of her better books. It drags in the beginning. I found the main character annoying. The parts of the book which were from the point of view of the child seemed unrealistic. The topic was interesting. A mother takes the law into her own hands after her 5 year old is raped repeatedly by a priest. But the way that Picoult handled the trial and the ending seemed forced.

Read the book if you have nothing better to read, it isn't that bad. But I recommend Nineteen Minutes and My Sister's Keeper instead. They are just better stories.

Keeps your interest at all times, very well documented. The main character is beyond contempt and yet....I won't spoil it!! Must read.

Received in good condition but wasn't impressed with the story itself. No problems with seller.

This is a solid entry into the True Crime genre paperback division. The story of Jeff Zack and Cindy George is a true crime writers dream, full of cheating wives, amateur hitman, hard-drinking-hard-living-halter-wearing police informants, a restaurant that sounds too tacky to believe and police department infighting. This could pretty much tell itself and Keith Greenberg wisely doesn't get in the way. He tells the story from the vantage point of the police who are investigating the murder, not my favorite device, in fact it verges on my least favorite but Greenberg usually avoids overdoing it. (I could have done without the details of the department in fighting but if Greenberg's co-author wants to settle a few scores I guess there's a price to pay for inside info.)

As a guilty pleasure companion on your daily commute you could do much, much worse. For true crime fans and perhaps Akron locals.

This will not win any literary prizes. Mostly enjoyable because of it's local connection.

Perfect Beauty is a book that's only interesting to people who live in the Akron, Ohio area, and even then it leaves you wanting more. There are to many unanswered questions, that can only be answered by the George family, and they are not talking.

I had a hard time putting this book down, it is very well written. I must comment on the fact that some of the research done by the author doesn't seem thorough. I am from the small Indiana town focused on in the book. It is obvious that the writer never visited the town. Some of the descriptions of the town are not only wrong, but ridiculous.

Jaye, It's been two years. When is your next book going to be published? In my opinion, although not as famous due to fewer books published, Jaye's books have been every bit as well-written and engrossing as Ann Rule's. Jaye writes with an insight to be envied and her thorough research shows in every line. Looking forward to adding a third book of yours to my collection.

I couldn't put this book down. The details of the police work, the crime scene, the victims and their families, are all told with vivid descriptions by the author. This is the second book of hers I've read, the first was Deadly Thrills, and they're both the best true-crime stories I've ever read.

The story of Micheal Lee Lockhart's life is so sad. He truly had it all...money; family; good looks; charm; athletic body. What a shame this young man had the brain of a psycopath.There isn't a clue inside Lockhart's brain of any sort of emotion or empathy towards other human beings. As the authors says; Lockhart is like the 3000 year old Hebrew legend of the "Golem" or "Clayman" that has no heart, no soul, and empty eyes. Eyes that don't reflect the glow of ones soul. Just an empty

spoiled brat of a man.

I can't believe this is the same author that wrote Deadly Thrills. Jaye obviously threw this book together as quickly as possible. The author may want to read her work before publication as there were MANY incorrect dates and names. Do your research and know what you are talking about Jaye. This book was a true waste of time!

I have one word to describe this cynster addition: boring. I can accept the repetitive characters and the same old plot but what I can't accept is just how dull and boring the first 300 pages were. Some boring parts are to be excepted, as Laurens likes her share of action and mystery and in between the events there has to be time to lead up to the next one but this book was pushing it.

It took 300 pages just to set up all the action and the secondary characters, as another reviewer mentioned, was more interesting than the main ones. I liked the different setting and honestly I'm not sure why Portia would get sexual experience when many men expect their wives to be to be unexperienced as she wasn't a widow but I have no idea what Laurens was thinking this time around.

She usually spaces the action out but this time she just crammed it all in at the end and while the events seemed different, the dialogue and set up were the same, repetitive to the word. It seems to me like she got carried away with the secondary characters and in creating the scene that she forgot to do what she usually does to her books until it was too late: add suspense. The result? A dreadfully boring book.

I really ADORE this authors earlier books( Devil's Bride, Rakes Vows, A Secret Love, etc)... with that said, what in the world is going on with her lately....

It usually takes me 2-3 days max to finish any romance novel, a good one only takes me a day... THIS particular book took me 2 weeks.... and I had to force myself to keep reading. I wont go into details, since I see 60+ people have already gone through it...if you were unfortunate enough to have bought it, prepare yourself to see two people who seems to have no chemistry trying to have a lot of emotion-less sex, secondary characters that seem more interesting then the main characters... who just goes off to have more boring sex...OK, kissing scenes that takes 3-4 pages every 5 pages gets very dull after awhile...

Where was the plot? The romance?! What kind of book is this? Oh my Lord, the mindless rambling that went on and on... then you see some sex scenes that you really didn't feel drawn to as a reader because these two just did NOT have " IT "... the emotional connection, the "something" you want to see in a romance book...

DULL DULL DULL.. *sad*

I loved this story so much I went out and bought it in hardback. I keep on rereading this story and still find the characters interesting

This was the first Stephanie Laurens book I ever read and I loved it. As always wonderful murder-mystery subplot in a steamy hot romance.

This was a very boring read with too much internal dialogue and introspection for what the situation was.
He wanted a wife, and she wanted to have babies and also learn about sex. And they were at a house party. Ho hum.
I did not think the sex scenes steamy in any way.
Anyway, just my 2 cents.

The story of Michael Peterson as the perfect husband is far from the truth. He was a closet bisexual as well as a philanderer besides being a best-selling author. I would love to have his success as a novelist even if it didn't lasted. He was married to a beautiful and successful woman, Kathleen Atwater Peterson, who loved him and their children. Three daughters and two sons although biologically together, Caitlin Atwater is Kathleen's only child. Michael had two adult sons from a previous marriage to Patricia Peterson who lives in Germany. He also became legal guardian to Martha and Margaret Ratliff who despite had a willing aunt to raise them in Rhode Island. Their mother, Elizabeth McKee Ratliff, died under mysterious circumstances in Germany where they lived at the time. As the story unfolds, Kathleen Peterson's sudden death is equally bizarre. Michael claims that she fell down a flight of stairs and died of a natural causes. The truth was that she was murdered by her own husband two weeks before Christmas 1999. Michael tried to convince others of his own sudden sadness but it was not fooliny anybody. He barely conceded to pay for his own wife's funeral expenses. As authorities come closer to sealing a case against him, they learn from Ratliff's death as well in Germany. They exhume her body despite her own daughters' strong belief in their adopted father's innocence. She died similarily. While the author conveys the family's plight on both sides, it truly is a double family tragedy. I'm going to acknowledge anything else written about this case except in this book.

A dyed-in-the-wool sociopath with genteel affectations and upper-crust snobbery and arrogance. He's a raving lunatic behind a mask of sanity. A most fascinating story. The supporting cast of characters (family members, attorneys) are compelling in their own right. "Written in Blood" is another terrific book on this case, and the film "The Staircase", a documentary about the case, is riveting and revealing. I was hooked on this one.

There is a much better book concerning this murder ( and the first murder ) committed by Michael Peterson. It is "Written in Blood" by Diane Fanning, and it is by far the superior book. Much less confusing, much less meandering, Fanning's book manages to span the time frame between two similar crimes of women associated with Peterson.

Much more horrifying is the fact that the children of his first victim in Germany became his wards, and remained in his custody, loving him, the murderer of their mother.

I suggest that anyone confused or put off by this author's style pick up a copy of "Written in Blood." Everything is more cohesive and the spine prickles much more pronounced.

There will be no doubt in your mind that Peterson committed both murders. Evidently the courts agree with Diane Fanning, too, as Michael Peterson's final appeal against his life sentence was denied in 2007.

"He knew his infidelity was not all HER fault..." That sentence, which made me laugh out loud, summarizes the whole book: ridiculous. The author is talking about Kathleen Peterson's first husband, who has the gall to say that his cheating on his wife is not entirely his wife's fault. Gee, what a big man he is. Of course, the guy comes across as the jerk he is, but the problem is that Aphrodite Jones doesn't get it: she takes the guy at face value, as if cheating on his spouse said nothing about him.

Jones also stars out with the description of an ideal evening that is ridiculous considering she believes that Michael Peterson killed his wife on that very evening. She even narrates what was on Kathleen's mind that night--and, unless she's a medium, there was no way for her (or anyone else) to know. The only thing Kathleen Peterson (RIP) was guilty of was a terrible taste in men, and she deserved much better--in her life, in her marriage, and in the book that was written about her. My condolences to her daughter, Caitlin.

To provide a perfunctory summary of Aphrodite Jones' A PERFECT HUSBAND, author Michael Peterson is accused of beating his wife, Kathleen, to death in Durham, NC, and then staging a fall down a flight of stairs. We later learn that Michael may have been involved 15 years earlier in a similar incident, that he is bisexual, and blah blah blah.
It really doesn't matter because no story, no matter how interesting - and this one is - could stand up to the trashy incompetence of Jones' writing. This book exhibits all the hallmarks of the worst of the genre. Some of many possible examples:

1. In what is likely an attempt to meet a required number of pages, Jones regularly repeats material. On page 245 she writes that "Caitlin's attorney, Jay Trehy, reported..." On 246 she writes "...attorney Jay Trehy had knocked..." On 247 she writes that "Caitlin and her attorney, Jay Trehy, were conducting an investigation..." Presumably Jones felt the need to emphasize that in the space of these three pages of narrative, Caitlin had not changed attorneys.
And on page 56 we learn that, "...Kathleen had insisted that Caitlin remain close to her biological dad." Two sentences later, Jones writes that, "regardless of her new family with Michael, she wanted Caitlin to remain close to her biological father."
It's almost as if Jones does not read what she is writing. Which would actually be sensible.

2. Jones does no in depth research into the personalities, backgrounds, or psyches of the principal players in the story. Instead she substitutes superficial banalities to describe characters and events. Kathleen's sisters had "hearts of gold." A cab driver, totally peripheral to the story but who is asked to do a favor is described as "the kind stranger."
"Barbara", a babysitter 15 years earlier in Germany, "after a weekend of fun would appear chipper every Monday morning, ready for a week of full time work." "Liz went all out, as did her friends, preparing mouth watering appetizers and extraordinary desserts."
And, describing a wedding that took place 23 years before Jones wrote this book, Jones tells us that "George and Liz glowed...The pair looked stunning and shared vows that people believed could never be broken." What people?

Jones has no way of knowing any of this, and as such A PERFECT HUSBAND is not true crime but is rather its superficial cousin, fictionalized crime/soap opera. Jones' writing about people and events of which she has at best minimal knowledge, results in the saccharine non-information shown above. Rather than illuminating, the descriptions render the subjects two dimensional and clichéd. There is really no information provided.

3. None of the principal characters in this book are ever annoyed, irritated, sad, or surprised. They are all horrified, mortified, beside themselves, agonized, devastated, and, in what must have been the granddaddy of out of control emotion, "completely and utterly devastated".
And let's not forget the tears. The characters in A PERFECT HUSBAND are perpetually weeping, teary, teary eyed. Sometimes they can even be found sobbing uncontrollably.
But the king of this book's emotions is SHOCK! Everyone in this story seems to be continually somewhere on the shock continuum, whether entering it, in its throes, or coming out of it. It gets to the point where not even the residents of the region who have been following the case in the media but who otherwise have no personal ties to it are exempt. On page 251 we learn that "The public was shocked..."by a medical examiner's report. And on 220, "...folks in the Triangle region were shocked to learn that the Petersons had let so many charges pile up."
I have lived in a number of places in America and have never personally witnessed this phenomenon, but it appears that the populace in the greater Durham, NC, area has an unusual propensity toward shock. Maybe it's the water.
An unofficial count reveals at least 14 instances of the use of the words "shock" or "shocked". Jones apparently doesn't realize that continued extreme emotion results in no emotion. Or maybe she doesn't care. Devastation, shock, or whatever, becomes mundane if it's a constant and therefore not shocking or devastating. But Jones is really not attempting to provide us with any accurate sense of the way people experience emotions. She is again writing soap opera.

4. There is a lot of silliness and just bad writing in this book. On 306, Jones writes that when the sealed-off stairwell where Kathleen's body had been found was reopened, "no one could have anticipated the mystic vapor that would exude from behind the plywood." Well, I guess not.

On 80, Jones reports "There were two black dresses on sale, stunning dresses really," and that in the end "Kathleen opted to buy both." And in the next paragraph, "Yet suddenly here (Caitlin) was wearing that very dress that her mom so dearly loved. It wasn't black, actually, more midnight blue..." What color was that dress? And if it was in fact midnight blue, was it just a fit of whimsy that led Jones to initially call it black?

In an interesting mangling of a cliché, Jones writes "Up until then, any bad news Caitlin had ever heard had been followed by a silver lining."

And on page 131, "As she looked to the sky, Caitlin kept asking her mother for guidance, but she wasn't getting any signs."

5. And, for someone who calls herself a writer, Jones misuses basic English vocabulary to an amazing extent. She writes that a fireplace tool "had been omnipresent in the Peterson home." I might have expected omnipresence from the aforementioned mystic vapor, but not from a tool.

She reports that Michael's defense team "sat in the courtroom, looking somewhat glib." I don't believe you can actually look glib.

We learn that the "jurors seemed mystified by Dr. Lee's grace, by his easy smile." Mystified? That would seem an inappropriate emotion unless Dr. Lee had a reputation of being graceless and unpleasant. Perhaps she means enchanted.

And, astoundingly, Jones does not know the past tense of the verb "weep". My 15 year old has known for at least 8 years that it is wept. Jones believes it is "weeped". And it appears this way at least three times in A PERFECT HUSBAND. An example from page 122 which also illustrates the embarrassingly bad writing: "He simply cried, curled up on the floor and cried and weeped and weeped."

Interestingly, I noticed that on the acknowledgement page, one of the people Jones thanks is her editor. She doesn't say why.

A PERFECT HUSBAND embodies the worst of this genre. It is sloppy, incompetent, superficial, illiterate, and unintelligent. It would seem to be awfully difficult to write a book this bad, but Aphrodite Jones has pulled it off.

This was absolutely the worst book i ever read. The characters were not developed at all, and the plot was not only predictable but stupid, and seemed to be thought up by a first grade student. If you are physically capable of reading any other book, read it instead of this piece of trash.

perjurious testimony and witness coaching as hinge wings to decision-making within the adversarial trial system.melancholic tone, broken souls.

A great read for anyone who wants to get away, at least for an evening or two. Vivid in its narrative and true in its dialogue, the book lets the reader become a fly on the wall as the story unfolds. Characters are people you'd want to be friends with (or in some cases not). Keeps you going down to the end, then you wish it wasn't over.

A good book that starts out slow, but becomes much better as the book develops. I almost quit but I decided to finish it and I'm glad I did. If you like a good legal read then I would recommend The Perfect Witness.

unlike the reader from Florida, i could not finish reading this book. It was too boring and I found the main characters uninteresting and obnoxious. I also disliked the way Siegel had to take three paragraphs to describe every little detail of every little thing. It made the story move at an excruciatingly slow pace. I don't think I will be reading any of his other stuff

They spelled my name wrong and left out the most interesting part of my involvement.....................

Perfect Crimes are very rarely commited, and this time is no exception. All the cold hearted killers such as Jefferey Dahmer had an infatuation with murder. He killed his first male victim over his homosexual rage that drove him to the edge, and made him want 2 kill again only to satisfy his thirst for gore. I find this book quite interesting. Every chapter brings a new crime to life with descriptive narrative techniques. Although they had a few typos here and there, there is nothing to remove credit from the two writers. If crime novels aren't what you are looking for this might be a bit different. The book will keep you tuned like a soap opera to see what happens next. Anther story that came to my attention in this book is the story of Kazuyoshi Miura. He stood out in his native country of Japan, Partial to lizard skin cowboy boots and porsche sunglasses. He enjoyed Japan's entertainment district with his pretty women at his side., Miura was what Japanese hate most about westerners. Miura had a talent for making money, and a lust for leading trusting young women like lambs to slaugther.
The story of Miura caught my attention because the Japanese culture is known for being well-mannered and for him to do this was out of the ordinary. Over all I recommend this book to those crime fiction fans., You never know what to expect from the next spine chilling story of crime and murder.

Okay, I admit that I was already a little skeptical about this book when I saw the authors’ photos in the back. (They’re shown in what they might think looks like pulp detective gear - him in a fedora and raincoat, her in a weird hat with face netting.) But the lure of “twelve tales of fiendish schemes that came off without a hitch - almost” got me and I bought it.

Unless you don’t read much true crime, leave this one on the shelf - it’s not very good.

The authors present a dozen cases, ranging from 1955 to 1991 (the book came out in ‘95), and feature crimes in which the perp nearly pulled off the perfect crime. I’m still trying to figure out why someone would write a book like this… I mean, isn’t any crime technically perfect until the bad guy is caught?

Let me tell you about some of the cases they chose.

The Lone Wolf: Kazuyoshi Miura, a Japanese entrepreneur, decided to do away with his wife while on a shopping trip in Los Angeles, allowing him to collect on a substantial life insurance policy and return to his playboy single life. (...)

Chop Chop Man: This is the story of Jeffrey Dahmer. I’m not convinced Dahmer pulled off any perfect crimes; it was the ineptitude of the Milwaukee police that allowed him to get away with the 17 murders he eventually confessed to. There are several books out there about Dahmer that explore his case in detail.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips: When flight attendant Helle Crafts disappeared without a trace, her friends were worried that her husband, Richard, killed her. Crafts stated he last saw his wife on November 19, 1986. (...)This is likely the “true story” that the Cohen brothers based Fargo on.

The stories are generally decent, but the writing isn’t great — and you’d expect with two authors, it would be sharp. I know I’m not alone when I find a writer less credible because of typos or misrepresentations. It could be the fault of a copy editor somewhere, but I couldn’t help rolling my eyes when I saw the word “pursuaded” twice on the same page.

You can find most of these cases in other books, and I recommend you pick those up instead.

It's been awhile since I tried, with great effort, to read this book. So this review comes as an after(little)thought! I'm fairly certain this was THE most boring piece I ever attempted to read. There was absolutely nothing to hold my interest. I kept it around for awhile to use in case I ran out of toilet paper, then realized it wasn't even good for that!

This book was one of the biggest wastes of my time. Having read true crime for many years now, I'm well past (as most readers are) in needing a quick study into the legal workings of our justice system; especially when they come from an egotistical, self-promoting Assistant District Attorney.

The book, one is led to believe, is based on the story of David Mead who killed his wife Pamela in the couple's backyard fishpond. On the rear cover, readers are told how David Mead almost escaped justice by avoiding arrest for three years; yet, we see Mead's arrest within the first 100 pages!

The Meads' story IS in the book, but readers must wade through a lot of legal mumbo jumbo to find it; not to mention all the boasting by the author Howard Lemcke about himself, his colleagues, friends, secretarial assistant, etc. - anyone that Lemcke has, in my opinion, had interaction with during his life!

Don't waste your time with this one. It's horrible. And beware....this book was previously published under the title Death in a Fish Pond: A Perfect Husband, a Perfect Marriage, a Perfect Murder?

I love true crime stories. But, this was not one of them. If you love Ann Rule books, as I do, skip this author. Too much "legal(eze)" & not enough story. I am not interested in the law being explained to me. More interested in the STORY not the legal aspect of it. No background interviews, as Ann does. Just the facts. Boring. Skipped over most of it. Don't waste your money.

This should be called the "I Am The Best....the True Story of Howard Lemke" as it is chock-full of little tidbits he must think we care about such as where he ate for lunch and what he ordered.......I have tried to finish this book for over 6 months. Just not enough of a story to motivate me. Most crime novels I can't put down and I will read them in a day or two. Not so with this author. It is more about him than the victim.