5 comments about Women Who Kill: Profiles of Female Serial Killers.

1. This book is good only for the 13 cases the author profiles. Each case is given its own separate chapter. The author does an excellent job in describing childhoods, important relationships and events that lead these women to kill. She also details these womens crimes. Keep in mind this is not for the faint at heart. She doesn't go into heavy graphic details of the crimes like other authors, but none the less what is written is still disturbing. The last three chapters of the book cover things like classifying female serial killers and why women kill. I was disappointed with the last three chapters. I felt the author could of done a better job. She references other books on these subjects which might be worth checking out.



2. The subject of female serial killers is utterly fascinating but unfortunately this author cannot write well. Even the editing of this book is atrocious! I counted over 200 typos, spelling errors, and inaccurate punctuation in the first 4 chapters. It is a very difficult book to read due to the sloppy, even crude writing style. I give her two stars for her effort and her research but I think this author needs to polish her writing skills.



3. Please note: The previous reviewer is mistaken about the typos and poor writing in this book. The book was originally published in the UK, has not been "Americanized" in grammar or punctuation. This may cause some confusion to those not familiar with the writing style of the author.
   
   I thought this book was very informative and well researched. The book has cases from Europe, Australia, and the USA. The part that scared me is that some of the women are up for parole and will be out roaming the streets again, one as early as this year! When she gets out she will only be 50 years old and free to kill again...



4. It's a good book, don't get me wrong, it just doesn't going into the depths I would have liked of these women's pasts. It routinely portrays them as victims of their situations and a pawn for their husband/boyfriend/lovers plans instead of a willing participant. Surely not all of these women are as frail as they are made out to be



5. I thought this book was really interesting. The cases that she used were great. You can definitely tell that the writer is British but it's still not a bad read. I really enjoyed it.

3 comments about Driven To Murder.

1. Cody Posey had a difficult childhood partly because of his father, Paul Posey, and his constant abusive behavior towards him. When he was with his mother, Cody had a much better life. Then she perished in a car accident and died right before him, he would soon return to his father, stepmother Tyrone, and stepsister Marilea who he would murder to stop the years of abuse from them whether physical, verbal, and psychological. Cody Posey's life was not envious because he was constantly subjected to work on the farms that his father was employed to care including Sam Donaldson's farm or ranch out in Hondo, New Mexico. It was there that the horror would occur. One day, Cody snapped and shot to death of his father, stepmother, and stepsister. His defense was supported by witnesses, relatives, friends, neighbors, and ranch hands who witnessed his father's unrelenting, cruel abuse towards his only son as a way to straighten him up. There is no question that Paul Posey was merciless towards his son, Cody. He was harsh, critical, and beat him every chance that Cody failed to live up to his father's expectations. Now while I understand that the stepmother and stepsister were abusive towards Cody as well but not nearly as bad as his father which makes you wonder why he turned his patricide into a triple homicide. He was not sentenced to life or death but to a juvenile facility. You can't forget that he was only 14 years old at the time of the murders but I still believe that he needs more than the juvenile facility as punishment. He should face some incarceration time. After his life with his father, the New Mexico State Prison system should be much better, easier, and a way to make up for the other losses. While I know that his stepmother and stepsister were not ideal and more of wicked than family, their deaths just don't seem right. I can't help thinking that his age and his life got him leniency when people have done just as much and have been placed on death row. I'm not advocating death penalty since it's an abysmal failure anyway. I just think that Cody deserves to serve some time as adult to pay for taking Tyrone and Marilea's lives away as well as his own father.



2. This book is a summary of the information about the Cody Posey case that was written in newspapers or reported on TV. It also includes an extensive chronological summary of the day by day court case happenings. The book ends with the sentencing verdict by the judge. If you know nothing about this case, this is a good book to read. If you followed the case closely as I did on the Internet and on Court TV, there is not a thing new that you don't already know that is in this book.



3. Much of this book was not exactly unbiased. Cody may have been a child when he committed these murders, but this child was able to function through his own cover-up. Afterwards he went swimming and galavanting with friends who later indicated that he gave no signs of what had just happened. A human being who finally snaps due to abuse does not calmly plan a cover-up. Nor does he think so clearly as to plan that the stepmother needs to be killed first so he could ambush his father and stepsister when they rushed to the house upon hearing the gunshots.
   Too much planning went into this crime. Was Cody abused? Probably he was to some extent. I truly believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle. A few years in juvy is ridiculous in this case.
   As I read through the book, I began to feel that Cody probably was a very manipulative child--one who lacks a conscience.
   There are so many books available in this genre. Many of them are much better than this one. The section on the trial really begins to drag and I found myself skimming through that part--something I rarely do with a book. You'd probably be better off selecting another book rather than this one, although is certainly is not a bad book.

5 comments about Dance Of Death.

1. I was excited to come across this book as I live about 2 hours from Myrtle Beach, yet had never heard of the Brent Poole case. I am halfway through the book and am disappointed so far.
   
   I, personally, like a true crime book to really delve into the personal life and psyche of the main people involved. Most of the information this book gives regarding Brent and Renee Poole can be gleaned from the back cover. Brent was a young, loving father and husband; Renee was a stripper who had an affair. How about a few more details of their past?? Yes, the author does recount a few stories of when they met, when Brent proposed, their breakups, etc., but, in my opinion, a LOT more could have been divulged about their personalities and their past.
   
   Instead, this book details AT LENGTH the interviews the police had with Renee, ad nauseum. Several key points are repeated when relaying interview information. I've skimmed quite a bit through this book.
   
   This is nitpicky, but the editing leaves something to be desired. Incorrectly spelled words, awkward sentence structure, and strange eupehmisms are just a few examples of bad editing.



2. In fairness to author Hudson, any suspense this reviewer might have enjoyed from "Dance of Death" was wiped away by an incident on the West Side of Manhattan in the winter of 1977. Back then, a couple emerged from a party, ready to return to their East Side apartment, only to find their car had a flat tire. (Hint: No one drives short distances here). While putting on the spare, the husband was murdered, with his spouse unharmed. It did not take NYPD long to smell the rat and soon wifey and the perp were on their way to the Big House. Transfer that scene to a nighttime beach in Myrtle Beach, SC and one has the crux of the DD story. This review won't give away the ending, but it must be obvious. And if it isn't then the front and back cover of DD spell it out! And Tundra will be reassured to learn that the "Ann Rule rule" is also in effect: those centerfold photos also divulge all. How any readers found any suspense in DD is beyond this observer. There is another critical problem: DD is too long! The tales of police investigations, interrogations and the prosecution are far too verbose. DD cries out for that proverbial stern editor with a sharp blue pencil to thin out the text. This reviewer has the following recommendations for potential readers: 1) Scroll down! Most reviews of DD are favorable! This is one of those pesky minority opinions. 2) Totally ignore the front cover, back cover and the centerfold. 3) Don't relate the incident herein to any other real life crime. Just start reading. Those who can follow this well-intended advice may enjoy DD. On a positive note, this does happen to be a well-researched and well-documented story. Also, author Hudson has does a fine job of interjecting local background and color; folks in the Carolinas should pounce. This reader enjoyed Chapter 4 which is devoted to the history and development of Myrtle Beach. The activities described in DD aside, the town appears to be a nice place to visit!



3. The first half of this book was good. Interesting and well written. However, I felt it unnecessary to read the second half for I already knew what was going to happen.



4. I was so engrossed in Dance of Death that I read the book in two nights. What amazes me is that Renee Poole was so devious and evil that she could stand there on the beach and watch her boyfriend kill her husband, the father of her child. Even worse, she planned the trip and lured her husband to the beach, knowing all the time John Boyd Frazier would be there to kill him. How could one woman be so cold? Only Renee Poole knows the answer to that question. This is the second book I have read by author Dale Hudson and I have thorougly enjoyed both. Normally, I don't write reviews, but this author has been criticized very heavily for errors and misspellings in the book. Granted, they take away from the story, but I don't think it is the author's fault for these mistakes. Every book has them, it is just that this particular publisher has a few more errors than normal. But it still doesn't take away from the story that Hudson has written. True crime stories are always about mayhem and death, and this author does a super job capturing these moments. I would recommend this book to any reader.



5. I really couldn't get into this book. I really enjoyed Hudson's "An Hour To Kill". Infact, I couldn't put it down, so I figured this would be same. However, I just felt bored while reading it.

4 comments about Simon Says: A True Story of Boys, Guns, and Murder.

1. The shocking teen violence and depravity in this country that a decade ago seemed like a horrid anomaly, unfortunately now seems to have become a weekly occurrence. On New Year's Eve 2000 in the rural countryside outside of Colorado Springs, just twenty months after the Columbine massacre, a Grandmother, Grandfather and their fifteen year old Grandson were brutally and senselessly murdered.
   
   The investigation that followed revealed that four teenage boys with ages that ranged from fifteen to nineteen years old were involved in committing the murders, planning the murders, and destroying crucial evidence. One of the boys, fifteen year old Isaac Grimes, who was later convicted of murdering fifteen year old Tony Dutcher by slitting his throat from behind with a knife in such a heinous way as described in the court records: "at issue, is the brutality with which the defendant killed Tony. The autopsy showed he sawed back and forth." "The D.A. demonstrated a sawing motion with his hand against the loose skin of his own neck." "He severed the spinal cord, not just the spinal column." What makes this repulsive crime even more incredulous is the fact that Isaac and Tony used to be best friends.
   
   The Grandparent's Carl and Joanna Dutcher were slaughtered in a salvo of bullets. But the backdrop of this horrendous crime that joggles the imagination and all human sensibilities, is the relationship and "pecking order" of the four teenage criminal sociopaths Simon Sue, Jon Matheny, Isaac Grimes and to a lesser extent Glen Urban. (He destroyed evidence.) Simon at nineteen was the oldest high school student and he filled the role as a "Svengali" like leader. His parents were originally from Guyana a small South American country. None of the future criminals had many real friends, so Simon targeted them to become part of a non-existent "secret" paramilitary organization, "Operations and Reconnaissance Agents" (OARA). Simon said "OARA stood ready to serve should a coup arise against the standing Guyanese government, the People's Progressive Party. Under Simon's tutelage the boys learned to assemble and disassemble weapons, practiced shooting and planned and carried out burglaries. All without any of their parents knowing what was going on. When Simon demanded they murder Tony Dutcher and his Grandparents while Simon was conveniently out of the country, the other boys followed orders, later saying Simon's threats to murder their families kept them from telling anyone.
   
   After the murders the police and CBI (Colorado Bureau of Investigation) during the course of their investigation turned up among other things at Simon's house alone; THIRTY SIX GUNS, MOST OF THEM MILITARY ASSAULT RIFLES, WEDGED INTO A CLOSET... THEY TAGGED UZIS, SKS,'S AND AK-47'S. As heart wrenching as the murders themselves are, the domino "death-affect" tremors of loss to all surviving family members is just as important in the telling of this tragic senseless crime. Charles Dutcher alone lost his son and his Mother and Father. The authors writing style is not poetic, nor does it revive memories of Hemingway or other famous authors. But what the author does succeed at is terrific investigative reporting. There is not a wasted chapter or a wasted page. The reader is taken step by step through this entire sordid mess. She cannot give you the big answers, because that's the problem with this heart-breaking catastrophe, no logical person with a heart beating with even an ounce of humanity can answer the questions that this story and far too many stories like this raise. As many scientists state: "THE BEST EXPERIMENTS CREATE MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS" AND PERHAPS THIS BOOK SHOULD BE FILED UNDER THE SAME HEADING!



2. Kathryn Eastburn is at her best with the telling of this tragic tale. She approaches the subject with a reporter's objectivity, yet true to form with all of her writing, there is an underlying humaness that refrains from stooping to sensationalism or lecturing.



3. Make sure you have a significant amount of time available before you start to read this book, because you will have a difficult time putting it down. I read it in two sittings. It rates right up there with Judgment Ridge, the story of the two Dartmouth professors who were murdered by two Vermont teenagers less than one month later in January of 2001. Simon Says is an appropriate title for this new book because it is the tragic story of a very controlling and charismatic high school student named Simon Sue who manipulated those he saw as vulnerable into doing whatever he demanded. If they failed to do his bidding the threat of death to themselves and family members was made to appear real. One of the vulnerable boys, Isaac Grimes, murders his former best friend, Tony Dutcher, by cutting his throat as he slept while another, Jon Matheny, murders the boy's grandparents in their home by shooting them to death. The book covers the boys' relationship with charismatic leader Simon Sue, the murders, detective work needed to get confessions, the guilty pleas of each of the defendants, and subsequent appeals. This is a book filled with tragedy not only for the boys involved, but for other family members as well. It is a story without any winners. The only redemptive feature is a forgiving relationship between Isaac Grimes' mother and the mother of Tony Dutcher, the boy who Isaac murdered. It is the tragic story of an individual with a controlling and charismatic personality preying on vulnerable and younger individuals who otherwise would have never have become involved in such tragic behavior. The books' cover says it quite thoroughly, "A True Story of Boys, Gun, and Murder." I definitely got the feeling the boys, however belatedly, appreciated the beauty of their Colorado surroundings and would now not be able to enjoy the freedom they once had.



4. So just what is going on here? How can teenagers be so gullable and what's with this fascination with firearms? Whatever happened to playing varsity and intramural sports, going to Friday night dances and trying out for the school play? For me the harrowing events depicted in Kathryn Eastburn's "Simon Says" serves as a stark reminder that evil really does exist in this world and that young teenagers are a prime target for those who seek to spread it. You will find yourself just shaking your head again and again when you learn about the senseless murders of three members of the Dutcher family in the remote hamlet of Guffey, CO in the wee small hours of New Years Day 2001. Incredibly, the individual who ordered the "hit" on the Dutcher family and the two young men who carried out the bloody deed were all students at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs. "Simon Says" is a chilling tale that brings to mind the likes of Charles Manson and the Reverand Jim Jones.
   Author Kathryn Eastburn does a marvelous job of portraying the young men who would become caught up in this tangled web. The leader of the group was a young man named Simon Sue. Simon had moved to Colorado with his parents from his native Guyana. He was a natural born leader in search of malleable young minds to exert influence over. Sue was fascinated with guns and with the military and bragged to whoever would listen that he was part of a secret paramilitary group known as the OARA. In the fall of 2000 he found a pair of recruits in 15 year old Isaac Grimes and his older pal Jon Methany. Later on another young man named Glen Urban would join the group. Just a few short months later, Simon Sue would order his troops to kill the Dutchers and his willing accomplices carried out his wishes.
   Of course, "Simon Says" offers comprehensive coverage of the investigation into this heinous crime and of the subsequent trials of these young men. You will meet the detectives who finally managed to ferret out the facts of this case and the lawyers who argued for both sides during the interminable proceedings that would follow. Then you will learn how each of the families, the students at Palmer High School and the community at large tried to cope with these sensational events. There are so many issues to ponder here and I am sure that each reader will attempt to make sense of it all. But in my estimation this is simply not possible. At the end of the day far more questions than answers remain. Despite Kathryn Eastburn's best efforts to help us to understand I don't believe that anyone can present a rational explanation for what went down on that cold January morning in the Rockies. Nevertheless, I found "Simon Says" to be an exceptionally well written book that managed to hold my interest from cover to cover. Highly recommended!

5 comments about Lethal Embrace.

1. My review rating is between Bryan mackay's - A TRUE CRIME MASTERPIECE - and K. Cantrell's - A CLICHE MURDER, AND THE BORING DETAILS THAT FOLLOW. I have read many, many true crime books and this book did not keep my interest as much as some others I have read. I think it was because of the repetiveness that K. Cantrell mentions. Peter Wood "WriterFighter" - FIRST-TIME CRIME READER - states that it was somewhat repetitive, but it was repetitive in a good way to him. It wasn't for K. Cantrell and me. It seemed like filler to me. It was very sad that an innocent man, who by all accounts was a great guy, was killed by mistaken identity. I had much empathy for his family. I felt that Lee Ann's mom, Pat Armanini, and her lesbian lover, Elizabeth "Liz" Budroni, should have been held more accountable. It was Liz who started asking around for someone to hurt Lee Ann's husband, Paul Riedel, and it was her who first introduced Lee Ann to the shooter. Liz and Pat were both in on the meetings to discuss doing something bad to Paul. Either one of them could have gone to the police with the information and maybe prevented the tragedy.



2. I have read and reviewed on this site FROM THE MOUTH OF THE MONSTER, an outstanding book by Robert Mladinich, and BETRAYAL IN BLOOD, by Michael Benson, which has to be one of the worst true crime books ever written.
   I decided to read LETHAL EMBRACE hoping that Mladinich's grace and intelligence would be in evidence. Well, it is not.
   For those reviewers who praise Mladinich's writing in this book, I am certain that he had almost nothing to do with the finished written product. As a former NYC detective who would have had access to other police officials, he was probably primarily responsible for the research, such as it is, which seems to have consisted mainly of the reading and copying of police and court documents. If you are looking for any in-depth study which would give some real insight into what created the psyches and personalities which led the book's main players to act as they did, don't bother. The concept here is shallow - totally different, unfortunately, than Mladinich's intelligent and careful work in FROM THE MOUTH OF THE MONSTER. Having read, as I stated, BETRAYAL IN BLOOD, which is credited to Benson alone, I can testify that the writing in LETHAL EMBRACE is identical. And, folks, that ain't a good thing.
   
   I am an avid and veteran reader of true crime, and I have never seen a writer who manages to combine numbing repetition and voluminous filler with just plain lazy and incompetent writing - along with a pinch of the absurd - as uniquely as Michael Benson. This shall henceforth be known as The Bensonian Method. What follows will be examples from LETHAL EMBRACE - possibly a few too many, but a fraction of those available:
   
   1.On page 17, Benson introduces us to Peter Casserly, a man who, other than giving CPR to shooting victim Alex Algeri, has no other role in the story and is never seen again. Nevertheless, Benson tells us that Casserly was "a member of the Village of Amityville's Board of Trustees, the body that met on the second and fourth Mondays of the month to govern the seaside community. Casserly was a member of the Board of Trustee's Fire Protection Committee." Why we should care about any of this, since it pertains to a totally peripheral character, is open to question, but it is a masterful example of Benson's use of filler, and the fact that he actually includes the Board's meeting schedule, provides a nice touch of Bensonian absurdity. He does exactly the same thing in BETRAYAL IN BLOOD.
   
   2. The murder of Alex Algeri takes place in Amityville, NY. Predictably, in what I hope is his quest to meet his required number of pages rather than his thinking that it is actually appropriate or interesting, Benson provides us with over 4 pages about THE AMITYVILLE HORROR. The fact that it has nothing at all to do with the story elevates it's inclusion to the level of Bensonian filler. See pages 32-34 in BETRAYAL IN BLOOD for a similarly bizarre example, about the TV show BEWITCHED, of this technique.
   
   3. Page 56 provides an interesting combination of absurdity and filler. Benson writes, "Through the miracle of today's computerized world with its sophisticated network of law enforcement information, it was only minutes before Detective Anderson learned a great deal about Scott Paget."
   "THE MIRACLE OF TODAY'S COMPUTERIZED WORLD"??? This sounds like a high school student trying to stretch one page worth of material into five pages of writing. And it also sounds ridiculous. "In minutes, Detective Anderson had obtained a great deal of computerized information about Scott Paget." would seem to have been adequate.
   
   4. Then there is the repetition. On page 106, Rocco and Scott "went to a chop shop in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. The chop shop was owned by a friend named Tony. It was there that they acquired the New York State license plates for the van." On page 112, Benson writes, "They went to the Hunts Point section of the Bronx, where they purchased a New York State license plate to be attached over the Florida plate. He knew a guy named Tony who provided this license plate service."
   
   On page 148, we find an almost perfect Bensonian illustration of the idea that no inclusion, no matter how absurd, is worth re-considering or removing: "On February 7, 2003, Michael Fiaccabrino gave a sworn statement to the Suffolk County police. He began by stating his name, Michael Fiaccabrino..." Presumably Benson saw fit to include this information to drive home the point that Fiaccabrino's name did not change between the first and second sentences.
   
   These examples actually show, in cameo form, the format of the whole book. This technique, when used over a large portion of a book, ceases to produce amused disbelief and morphs into complete and utter boredom. This book is 372 pages long. If it were competently and honestly written, there might be 150-200 pages of material. So what is a true crime writer with no real interest in writing a well thought out and researched book to do?
   Well, what Benson does is as follows: The lead Detective, Robert Anderson, on the Algeri murder case interviewed a lot of people. Benson records, word for word, the results of these verbal investigations. When the interviews were concluded, Anderson then had the interviewees record on paper the answers they had just given him. Benson then procedes to record, word for word, the information that has just been reduced to written form, WHICH IS THE EXACT SAME INFORMATION HE HAS JUST REPORTED FROM THE VERBAL INTERVIEWS.
   Page 107, from Rocco Salniero's verbal statement to Anderson: '"I drove past the front of the gym and then turned right. I drove past the rear parking lot, where we saw the black Yukon truck in the back of the building, so I made a U-turn and parked next to the building." "What time was it?" Detective Anderson asked. "About 7:30, 8 o'clock at night," Rocco replied.'
   Page 113, from Rocco's written statement, "He wrote that he drove past the front of the gym and made a right just after he had passed the building. He drove past the rear parking lot, saw that there was a black Yukon parked there.....He made a U-turn on the dark street which he remembered was lined with houses. He parked on the street where they could have a clear view of the gym's back door. By this time, he wrote, it was 7:30 or 8 at night."
   I neglected to mention earlier that shameless cynicism is also a component of the Bensonian Method.
   
   There is one difference though, from BETRAYAL IN BLOOD, in LETHAL EMBRACE.
   This is only supposition on my part, but while Benson is clearly not writing for literate adults, he may just be on the cutting edge of writers trying to expand the true crime experience to children. What leads me to this thought is that on page 16, early enough to grab the kiddies' attention, Benson writes, "Yeah, he wanted to get out of the business, but...KA-CHING! How could he unload a gold mine like this?"
   And, finally, on page 73 he writes, "The place they met -the "gentlemen's club" (wink, wink) was called the Carousel." Though presumably any moderately intelligent adult would have understood the meaning of the quotation marks, Benson may have included the (wink, wink) for his more innocent younger readers. Some of you may think that I've crossed the line and am now just viciously fabricating negatives. But folks, I'm not making that up! He actually wrote (wink, wink)!!!
   
   Shortly after I reviewed BETRAYAL IN BLOOD, in what was clearly an orchestrated campaign, four "reviewers", in the space of two days, wrote 2 or 3 sentence "reviews" of the book, which while not really dealing with the book itself, proclaimed it to be the apex of true crime writing and Michael Benson to be the best true crime writer ever. It was almost touching in that the orchestration of this event was as clumsy and inept as the book they were pretending to review. I can only hope that if this ploy is attempted again after this review, it will be accomplished with a
   little more sophistication. I would also hope that this time the reviews are written by people who have actually read the book.
   
   As a footnote for those who may be interested in further exploring the phenomenon which is the Bensonian Method, I wholeheartely recommend an outstanding review posted on Amazon by Elizabeth A. McCabe, which she has entitled "Horribly written, Repetitive" of another Benson-Mladinich collaboration called HOOKED UP FOR MURDER.
   
   LETHAL EMBRACE continues what Benson started in BETRAYAL IN BLOOD, in that it is an untalented, lazy and numbing telling of a story that would be unremarkable if it were told well. There is no reason to waste your time or money on this book. (Wink, wink).



3. this book brought me to tears numerous times. i have a personal connection with the family and know lee ann as a human being. the events were beyond tragic. however, the book tends to harp on things. there is plenty of useless information. not enough time was focused on lee ann and her family as human beings. i am, however, grateful that it does not outright portray her as a monster and it does focus on what a freak show her ex husband was. it is a good read, just remember to take everything with a grain of salt and all that you read is not factual.



4. I'm a fan of Bob Mladinich first true crime account of New York serial killer Joel Rifkin ("From the Mouth of the Monster") ... I've also had the pleasure of meeting the big guy (Mladinich) and he's the real thing. This is a very well research and written account of a fascinating crime.



5. I watched this case on the Oxygen Network show Snapped and was shocked by it. I mean being an innocent victim just getting some CD's from your car and then getting shot. The book dragged on at times and repeated the same thing over and over at times.
   
   I feel sorry for everyone involved from Alex's family who lost their beloved son and brother, to Lee Ann for not knowing that there were other alternatives than to plan the murder of her husband, Paul for having such a difficult past and having to live with his best friend being murdered instead of him. I saw him on Larry King 4 years ago being interviewed about the case and it does appear that he is a very loving father and realizes that he must set an example for his son. I went on the publishers website and he had written a review of the book and he stated that his son is doing great and he is happily remarried with a baby on the way. Most of all I feel sorry for Nicholas who will not know his biological mother and will find out the truth of this terrible crime.
   
   Like the title of my post. Fascinating story but not so great writing.

2 comments about Women Who Kill.

1. This book is a fascinating study of female killers. While the author makes several empirically false statements about female crime (for example, "women get heavier sentences than men", p. 9) she does provide us with an entertaining selection of crime and punishment involving women murderers. From brutal serial killers like Belle Gunness, whose crimes "speak powerfully to the vengeful, man-hating part of every woman" (p.138) to the stories of battered women who kill, Jones offers up a feast of delciously detailed murder in all its glory. Jones illustrates how race and class as well as gender affect how we view crime. This book shows how society's view of women has affected both the prosecution and sentencing of women who kill.



2. Usually, when people write about the crimes that women commit, it's a complicated dance of omission and deception. A recent article in Newsweek magazine illustrated this approach: arrests of violent girls were up 125%, it said. The article never gave the raw number for arrests, however, nor did it define the circumstanes of those arrests, or place them in context. Most critically, it did not place those arrests up against the figures for male violence. Women commit approximately ten to fifteen percent of all violent crimes, yet in fact they are subject to an almost all-male law enforcement and judicial system which is inhabited by conservative males who judge them harshly. Jones explores the context for these judgements, and points out that women are routinely judged twice: as criminals, and then as that mythical creature, Woman, who's sugar and spice if s he knows what's good for her. Thus, while men kill their children to get revenge on escaped spouses, women tend to kill in self defense or because of mental illness. The merciless response to Andrea Yates---rendered psychotic by too much childbearing, too much stress, and the indifference of her breeder-mad fundie hubbbie, is prefigured in this book by the case of the Irish epilectic maid who killed her mistress clumsily while in the midst of an attack and received no mercy whatsoever.
   
   Similarly, in the chapter dealing with despoiled maidens, the author makes the critical point that by letting some women get away with murdering men who had 'seduced' and abandoned them, society was upholding the status quo. Women did not have the vote and yet were punished by the very people who held them powerless and wanted to keep them that way. By letting a few appropriately remorseful women off the hook, society could solve one woman's problem and ignore all the rest.
   
   Jones analyzes society's views of women and crime and weaves the analysis through a fascinating string of historical cases. Amongst the startling facts she reveals are that infanticide cases have remained more or less constant, as a percentage, since the 1700s, when draconian laws essentially removed women's right agaisnt self incrimination. If a woman bore a bastard child, she could be fined and whipped. However, if she was an indentured servant and bore a bastard child, her owner could recieve another SEVEN years of servitude from her and sell the child as well. So many employers profited by raping and impregnating their female servants that the law was changed, but nothing really stopped men from raping women. With heavy penalties for bearing bastards, women resorted to concealing pregnancies, delivering in secret, and then killing the babies. Then a law was passed, making it a capital crime to conceal the birth of such a child. She was dmaned if she did, and damned if she didn't---and it didn't matter if she was a rape victim or not. In some cases, girls were so ignorant of the facts of reproduction that they were effectively defenseless. So much for abstinence only. (There was a case, for example, of a grand daughter of Queen Victoria who was kept so ignorant about her own body that she was impregnated by a foot man who tricked her into having sex. Then, hypocritcally, her family threw her out into the street.)
   
   In any event, the book takes apart the standard cliches that dominate the writing about women's crime, and leaves one with the important realization that one should be exceedingly cautious when confronted with a book that uses percentages in the case of raw numbers. As an example of this, consider this: my hometown had one murder one year, then two the next. What percentage increase is that?

1 comments about The Last Supper: The Mafia, the Masons, and the Killing of Roberto Calvi.

1. For Philip Willan, the enigma of Roberto Calvi's murder can only be solved in the context of the Cold War, of the global war on communism.
   Italy was strategically (its border with communist countries) and politically (a strong Communist Party) a very important country in this global war. It was governed by occult forces, by unaccountable power. There was even a plan to declare Sicily independent should the mainland become communist.
   
   Calvi's Banco Ambrosiano (BA) was a key player in this secret western power network. Calvi could blackmail (and blow the whistle on) all those groups he financed in order to save the BA, who was on the brink of bankruptcy. Who were those (intermingling) groups?
   1. BA financed Western secret services and their clandestine cold war operations in and outside Italy. It financed the opposition in communist countries (Solidarity in Poland) and financial and political strongholds in South America (Argentina, Peru, Colombia).
   2. Inside Italy, it supported anti-communist political parties (PSI). It exported illegally currencies for wealthy individuals and laundered money for drug traffickers, with the help of the Vatican bank, IOR.
   3. The Vatican: Calvi had contacted Opus Dei for a cash injection in the IOR. But the Vatican preferred negotiated settlements with communist regimes, instead of Opus Dei's all-out ideological war.
   4. The Masonic lodge P2 with its strategy of controlling the democratic State from within by buying 3 key players: the political parties, the media and the trade unions.
   At the end, Roberto Calvi was deserted by the members of his secret power network. Perhaps members of the Mafia killed him, but the `contract' came from more powerful members of `a wider network of secret global power'.
   
   This book shows eminently the all-embracing fear of real democracy by the powerful. To counter it, they create a Kafkaesque, Orwellian parallel world with covert operations, manipulations, violence and `fear strategies' in order to hide their real interests.
   
   This book is a masterly analysis and a must read for all those who want to understand the world we live in.

5 comments about Portland Confidential.

1. As a Portland area resident, I was really exited to read this book. I was somewhat disappointed. . . Phil Stanford is a journalist, and the book reads like a collection of news clippings. The characters are colorful and interesting, and the photos added a lot to the book, but overall, I felt his coverage was somewhat cursory. I wanted more information, more historical background and more perspective. To be fair, however, I read this book immediately after reading The Devil in the White City. There, Eric Larson took a time in Chicago history, and created a masterpiece. Imagine the Portland Confidenital story/characters in the hands of a writer of that caliber!



2. Longtime residents of Portland will probably find Portland Confidential a quick, enjoyable read because they'll recognize the places and names Stanford peppers his story with. Portland residents will be less put off by Stanford's "conversational" narrative voice, as they have been reading him for years in his role as columnist for The Oregonian, and more recently the Portland Tribune. I suspect that out of towners and would find very little for them here.
   
   Using a wealth of sources, anonymous and credited, Stanford revisits a time Portland civic leaders have long tried to forget: the corruption filled 1950s. In short, digestable, one newspaper column sized vignettes, Stanford generally cuts right to the chase: Portland was a bad, bad town.
   
   The photographs chosen for this story are marvelous; they bring the story to life and really reflect the tone Stanford seems to be trying to achieve.
   
   The story itself (if one can call it that, it ends up more like a long ramble that often doubles back on itself) is compelling. Like one of the other reviewers, I can't help but wonder how another writer would tell this tale.
   
   That said, Stanford has spent his entire life cultivating the leads and the inside information that led to the publication of this book. Few others would have the wealth of infomation necessary to tell this tale. It serves as a reminder that the Golden 1950's had almost as much tarnish on them as the 2000s do.



3. my grandfather was Frank Tatum. He was murdered before I was born. It was a very good story. Now I have to find the obituary.



4. A very well written look into Portland's dicey past.Its informative for any newcomer to to learn about the cities past,and a must for any native to read.



5. My grandfather was a health inspector during this time and eventually quit because he refused to take bribes to look the other way regarding various establishments in Portland. This book is a quick and enjoyable read. The journalistic tone fits the subject matter and is, I think, a deliberate tone to suit the style. It is NOT a text book of the history of Portland. It is an entertaining look into the seedy past of a city not usually known for seediness. Though even today Portland has more strip clubs per capita than Vegas or LA, or any other city in the nation.

5 comments about Way Of The Wiseguy.

1. I must be discreet. I don't want to get "whacked."
   You know.....this guy "Pistone" must have grown up in my old neighborhood. I used to think movies influenced this stuff but after 50 years, I think this stuff could be real. This book seems like it could be a training manual for upcoming wanabe gangsters. It's pretty well written and makes numerous references to Donnie Brasco, but I guess this is what the author is famous for. If you consider the fact that this man "Pistone" was engaged in the same crimes as the men he helped incarcerate, it only makes sense to me that he is just as guilty as them. I guess taking these created criminals off the streets leaves more room for the real criminals. (Pedohiles, CEO's,Politicians.) What Pistone does and trains people to do is a sad pathetic game that ruins a lot innocent people' lives. Save your money and go to Disneyworld. Spend time with your family and love your children. Don't give people like Joe Pistone your hard earned money. He would do the same thing to you and have a clear conscience. You gotta lot of blood on your hands, Joe.



2. This is the first Donnie Brasco book I have read so I can't complain about it being repetitive. Although the book didn't have me on the edge of my seat (those I give 5 stars) I felt it was a good, quick read.
   
   Unlike most books today which have a story that could be told in twenty pages, but which are filled with 200 pages of boring ramblings just to make it a book, this book is made up of short chapters of different topics.
   
   Some chapters are a page long which I liked because they were quick and to the point. This also allows you to pick it up and read for only a few minutes at a time without having to remember where you were in the story when you last stopped reading.
   
   I almost didn't get this book based on some of the negative reviews here. To play it safe, I got it from the library so didn't have to worry if the short length made it a good value. In the end I was glad I picked it up.
   
   If you are looking for a long book that is going to take two weeks to read, this is not the one. I finished it in one day. However if you want some quick light reading to last a few hours, this is a good book.



3. you will love this book whether your a mob book lover or not. Excellent book.



4. Great fast read, full of little bits of information that was left out of Donnie Brasco. If you're looking for a book that takes you to the core of what it is to be a wiseguy, this book is for you.



5. Good book. Lays things out as they really are. No sugar coating. An inside look by an insider that makes you glad you are not affiliated.

No comments about The Wild Child: The Unsolved Mystery of Kaspar Hauser (Free Press Paperbacks).