1 comments about Evil Intentions: The Story of How an Act of Kindness Led to Senseless Murder.

1. Ronald Watkins' account of this horrible crime was written in a most compassionate and considerate way. While he informed the reader in detail the senseless and depraved manner in which Suzanne Rossetti died, he did so with an obvious caring for Suzanne's family and friends. As a resident of Arizona, I have had the opportunity to visit the crime scene and have followed the demise of Jesse Gilles, one of Suzanne's killers. To my relief, he was finally executed in Arizona in January of 1997. I hope for more books by Mr. Watkins on other true crime subjects.

5 comments about Texian Macabre: The Melancholy Tale of a Hanging in Early Houston.

1. Texian Macabre is a fascinating narrative of the early days of Houston Texas.
   
   The book tells the tale of the dynamics of the beginings of Houston, and the actions of the leading citizens to prove that Houston is a civilized place.
   
   I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in Texas history, or crime and punishement in early Texas.



2. A wild ride indeed. A taskfully interwoven tale that takes the reader on an incredible journey. Mr. Hardin paints a most interesting picture of how two men went from respected war heros to "rowdy loafers" who paid the ultimate price in order to make Houston a respectable city. I highly recommend this book on the basis that you can not beat getting a little education while being entertained.



3. Texian Macabre is a wonderful non-fiction story about the Texas Revolution and the early days of Houston. Hardin has found a character in history that had a part in every aspect of the Revolution from the Goliad Massacre to the win at San Jacinto. It is so amazing that one person saw so much, and he experienced everything from hero to villain. Hardin is an amazing historian and storyteller as well and makes the whole picture come to life. As you read, you can watch as the city of Houston is built before your eyes, every rat scurrying across the road, every rowdy loafer causing havoc in the streets. It truly is an amazing story of a fallen hero and the city of Houston.



4. Texian Macabre is not just the story of one man's death, but of an entire generation of war veterans and their role in the new nation of Texas. Hardin paints a picture of David James Jones as the footstool upon which others stand to create American Texas. Jones and others like him won the Texas Revolution, but were robbed of their rightful share of what they helped to build and were thus relegated to being the backwash of society. Hardin does an amazing job realizing the inevitability of Jones' death.



5. A fascinating look at the near-dysfunctional founding of the city of Houston, which took root just as the dust was settling over the Texas War for Independence. It's an eye-popping revelation of the dawn of the first Texas capital, it's Dickensian characters, social order and bizarre caste system, not to mention its intolerable climate and general state of filth. Stephen Hardin, author of the seminal Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution, does what historians ought to do by transporting us to a different time and place and giving us a feel for what it was like to live there. Suffice to say that we would be as out of place in early Houston as we would be on Mars.
   
   The story revolves around the hanging of David James Jones, one of thousands of furloughed Texan soldiers, who found themselves with little opportunity when their new country no longer had need of them. Mobs of them headed for Houston, where they remained idle and unemployable and became an embarrassment to the self-styled gentry and stiff-necked moralists who wanted rid of them. Although murder and mayhem and the daily slashing of one another with Bowie knives was common among this lower class, Jones found out that "rowdy loafers" like him paid a much higher price when the mayhem was directed at the gentry.
   
   In telling the story of Houston's founding and its first efforts to make something of itself, Hardin also shows how the new Texas government abandoned its war veterans, many of them recent arrivals from the United States who had volunteered to fight for the fledgling republic. Jones was a particularly tragic case. He was among a handful of Texans who escaped the Mexican slaughter of the Goliad defenders and later fought at San Jacinto, where Texas won its independence. When the fighting ended, the government had little to offer its veterans other than huge tracts of land, which few chose to cultivate and, in any case, lacked start-up funds for ranches or farms. Instead, many sold the land to speculators and, like Jones, quickly squandered the proceeds in Houston.
   
   Hardin introduces us to an assortment of truly odd characters, both rich and poor, including several ghoulish "medical" men, a self-righteous Yankee publisher and politician (an unbeatable combination), and ladies both of culture and of the night. The latter include Susannah Dickinson and her daughter, both Alamo survivors, who became prostitutes, although Susannah eventually found both happiness and respectability after marrying five times. Their story indicates the limited options women had at the time, which included little beyond marrying up or whoring. Like the abandoned veterans, they were victims of a society that closed most doors to them.
   
   Regardless of what we may think of these early Houstonians, Hardin is right in cautioning against putting our thoughts into the heads of those who lived so long ago or applying our 21st century standards to them. Readers can't help but admire the considerable grit these people must have had to stick it out in such a place and their persistence in trying to make something of it and themselves.
   
   Hardin writes like a polished novelist and he is a superb storyteller, but there's no mistaking his first-rate historical research (don't miss the fascinating endnotes). Throw in Gary Zaboly's superb illustrations and you have a truly unique look at the characters who populated Texas at the time of its birth.
   
   AW

No comments about Hertfordshire Casebook: A Reinvestigation into Murders and Other Crimes.

5 comments about Hollywood Kryptonite, The Bulldog, the Lady, and the Death of Superman.

1. As many books of this type I buy it because I want to find out more about the case or the person's life, like most people who buy the book. I found it interesting and intreaging. I learned a lot about George Reeves through this book and how people controled him in this book. I learned a lot about the case.
   
   The only thing is that the very end of the book was a little slow. But don't let that stop you from buying the book. To find out about what happened in his life then buy it. To find out what happened in the case then...



2. In hollywood you are owned by the studio of your contract. And plus had an adultery affair with a women scorned..This dark side of George Reeves of his life at the time at the end was a time bomb was ready to go off with the double life he lead as Clark Kent.
   Sad that he did not work on his character to be resonsible and take resonsibilities for the end result.
   The youngster as myself where aware that he was murdered..
   This book needs to be revised to many unreliable sources...
   Truth,Justice,the american way needs more research...



3. I'll tell you something about me: I don't like to read & I hate to admit it. It takes me forever to complete a book, cover to cover, unless it really grabs me. Being the end of tax season, with only 2 days left & lots of number crunching to do before I see my tax man, I received this book.
   Wow!
   I'm only half way through & instead of crunching numbers, I'm reading....and reading....and reading. I couldn't wait to tell you all --this is a great, great book. This book brings alive those characters of long ago. For any of you fellow baby boomers who watched this show, as I did growing up (it's never been OFF TV--check it out) this book fleshes out all those black & white people we loved so much & gives you an in depth feel of what George went through both in his career & personally. This man hated being superman, because he saw so much more for himself. After WWII, his career went boom & the Man of Steel just couldn't revive it. He died not knowing the impact he made. He went through alot, both with the love of his life & his mom--who lied & manipulated him.
   I won't give anymore away. If you love George, get this book in or out ot tax season & enjoy.
   If the rest of the book is not good, I'll delete this commentary, I promise. Until then, go with it.
   Thanks to the authors who really seem to have done their "number crunching" on this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!



4. I thought the book was great. The author brought me into the life of George Reeves and his misery.Life couldn't give him the one thing he wanted and that was to be A movie star and Kashner & Schoenberger detail his every struggle and disappointment with great epitome.Reeves other acquaintances and friends were interesting as well.



5. The story of the life and death of G.Reeves will accompany us for many years to come.George was and forever will be the man of steel.We have missed and will miss you wherever you are

5 comments about Little Girl Lost.

1. i just want to say i know the book is a true story because shiley curdit formely shirley wolf is living in our basement



2. This is the most haunting book I've ever read. The author did an excellent job of humanizing these cold blooded killers and making the reader sympathetic to their plights. The abuse these two kids endured is unimaginable. Reading of what they lived through, what they suffered at the hands of those who should have loved and protected them, breaks my heart.
   Although my heart goes out the family of the murdered victim, I am not untouched by the girls who carried out this crime. They haunt my dreams and my waking thoughts. Their stories are so tragic, so sad.



3. The author does an excellent job of explaining what brought two girls to a point where they could commit an act of unspeakable evil, without apologizing for their actions or portraying them as victims.
   
   These were two little girls that had been abandoned by their mothers, physically and sexually abused by their fathers, stepfathers and other male caretakers. Sadly, when these two became old enough and strong enough to fight back, it was an innocent old woman they chose as their victim.
   
   The laws in California have since been changed, but in 1983, the only option available to law enforcement was to charge Collier and Wolf as juveniles. Little Girl Lost is a most appropriate title for this true crime story. By the time Cindy Collier and Shirley Wolf crossed paths with their elderly victim, the system had already failed and abandoned them. In one instant, they were moved from the column marked victim to the one marked criminal defendant, and one has to marvel not at the brutality of these two girls, but at the fact that it doesn't happen more often.
   
   Had one adult stepped forward in time, perhaps a tragedy could have been averted. The best true stories of personal redemption and juveniles involve some adult stepping forward and doing something, anything to reach out to save a lost child's life. By the time a juvenile who has been an abused child commits a crime of violence against someone else, it's too late. They are indeed little girls and little boys lost.



4. I knew Shirley Wolf before the murder.
   
   I witnessed some of the events written in the book and would state that the author got it at about 90% but not every assumption nor portrayal was correct.
   
   For instance, Merriam wrote the accounts of Shirley's little brother having his head shaved was done as a punishment by Mr. Wolf was false. I recall the circumstances surrounding that and know for a fact that he wanted his head shaved and made up the story when he was teased at school. The reason he wanted his head buzzed was because another boy in the 4th grade, in fact the little brother of the girl named Cindy whom Shirley desperately wanted to imitate, had his hair buzzed first and that was why the other kids teased him.
   
   While attending Sacramento State University myself, I even took the time one afternoon to go down into the lower level of the library to study the Merriam's Masters thesis that centered around Wolf. It was very well written and made a great suppliment to what I had read.
   
   A year with Shirley in the 6th grade, where do I begin ? First of all while a lot of incidents did occur that centered around Shirley, it would be easy to imagine the past as her being the center of it. Well, she was not the center of everything that year nor the central focus of everything. Merriam did a wonderful job of portraying Shirley's personality. I recall Shirley as being a sweet and pleasant person but one who always seemed to be under attack for one reason or another. Our teacher was always moving our seating around and at one point I was directly next to shirley elbow to elbow and cannot say the experience even brings back a memory either pleasant or unpleasant.
   
   But I do recall some things that occured during the year. I was new at Gold Trail and waiting for the teacher to arrive the very first day of school and there was this boy "T" arguing with Shirley. Actually, he started in on her right away for no reason. I don't really recall the entire dialogue but only at one point Shirley said, "F--k you !!" at which point "T" said, "I would but it is against my religion." That is my first memory of Shirley.
   
   Near the end of the year, Shirley and a girl, "A" were really at each other, for what ? I didn't even know at the time. But one morning a storm of kids crowded into the classroom just before school was to begin and yelling erupted. What I recall was that something had happened at the bus stop and "A" was really upset and Shirley had threatened she ws going to bring a knife and stab "A" to death. The next day Sr. Wolf intercepted "A" in front of the school and threatened her with his cane. Sr. Wolf was scarry and all the kids who witnessed this were frightened to death. Sr. Wolf had been scheduled to come in that day to show our class a tiger skin he claimed to have killed in Africa. That was cancelled. I recall a boy in the class that crazy morning telling Shirley the tiger story was "b------t !". To this day I am convinced that while Shirley was murdering that lady emblazened in her mind was "A".
   
   Another thing I recall I was little more personally involved with. Me and Shirley were supposed to trade desks one day- but on the day we were supposed to do it I was absent. When I came in before school I noticed that Shirley had left my stuff in the desk but had put her stuff in it and left mine in. I was taking my stuff out when I found Shirley's diary. It was nothing fancy, just one of those paper folders that you remember from school that kids do their writing assingments in and she had written on the cover, "My Diary". Well, I opened it and descovered a section entitled, "How to Have Sex". She drew a diagram with two figures with arrows pointing at them giving titles for herself and a boy I knew from the other sixth grade class. I won't go into detail on the diagram. I went out onto the playground and found the boy with some of his friends and told him what I had discovered. This boy had danced with Shirley at a dance and had gotten hell for it ever since and his annoyance at Shirley spilled into outrage as he stormed into the classroom and Shirley's desk to retrieve that diary whom he charged up to his own teacher with and demanded justice. The teacher, to his disbelief, discarded the diary and never brought it up again. By this time Shirley was on scene, silent and hunched. Yes, after all these years I really regret the whole thing. Things are perceived a bit differently as an adult in hindsight.
   
   My last memory of Shirley was on the last day of school at the same exact spot where I had seen her for the first time. Shirley, a boy named Keven, and myself were sitting on the ground in front of the classroom just chatting about the upcoming summer and stuff. It is a really pleasant nostalgic memory. In no way at that moment of time could I have ever imagined that two years later I would wake up to see Shirley's face exploded on the front page of the Sacramento Bee.



5. Joan Merriam's LITTLE GIRL LOST recounts the 1983 murder of 85 year old Anna Brackett by teenagers Cindy Collier, 15, and Shirley Wolfe, 14, for no other reason than that they wanted to kill someone. After a few unsuccessful attempts at finding a victim, they found and brutally killed Ms. Brackett.
   This book has many positives. The research is outstanding with Merriam providing a continuing detailed account of the lives of the girls, both of whom were victims of mental and physical abuse and of incest, Cindy by her brother and Shirley, over a period of 10 or more years by her particularly sickening father. As a rare and totally interesting bonus which helps the reader to understand the degraded home lives led by the girls and ultimately the intense anger which led to the murder, Merriam even details in some depth the childhoods of the girls' parents, a wholly welcome and relatively rare occurence in the genre.
   
   Merriam's writing is strange in that it improves markedly in part two which is titled "Pilgrimage to Hell" and which is the beginning of the aforementioned family histories. The writing in this section - and through the remainder of the book - is fast paced, literate, and intelligent, and from that point - page 77 to the end of this 370 page book - LITTLE GIRL LOST is hard to put down.
   The writing in the first section is a different. In that section, Merriam seems to flounder about trying to "be a writer" rather than just writing straightforwardly as she does later on, and her attempts to re-create dialog are particularly weak. For example, when the EMTs respond to a 911 call reporting a dead or dying Ms. Brackett, Merriam has them knock on the door and say, "Open up please - it's the ambulance company." I can guarantee you that no EMTs arriving at an emergency call, ever said those words.
   And she quotes a young girl, Donna, who witnessed the girls running from the scene as discussing "...those two girls we seen off the balcony..." though in the next paragraph she says "We saw them..." The witness is also quoted as reporting the girls as "bangin'" on doors, "hollerin'", and "runnin'" Merriam wasn't there and she has NO way of knowing how that girl talked. In that light her decision to have the witness talk as I have described is irritating and not believable. And does Donna say "saw" or "seen"? As a final bow to the nonsensical, Merriam quotes Donna as saying about Cindy and Shirley, "They looked real suspiciouslike." Yes. She really did. There is NO way a girl in California in the 1980s said this unless she was practicing for her audition in "The Stereotypical Hillbilly Follies".
   I came close to quitting reading this book during this section, but I'm very glad I didn't, because the story is great and the writing - as noted - does a 180 degree turn.
   
   The book continues with the arrest and trial of the girls. Merriam in an epilogue reports a jailhouse interview with Shirley. This is very welcome and quite good as far as it goes, but it reports almost exclusively how
   she is dealing with her current situation and the changes she's gone through since her incarceration. I would have like to hear - in her own words - her thoughts on her upbringing, her horrible life as a child, and her incestuous love-hate relationship with her father. And there is no closing interview with Cindy at all. I feel that the expansion of the epilogue section would have helped create a considerably stronger book.
   
   Taken as a whole, LITTLE GIRL LOST is a well done true crime effort. Merriam states in her introduction that she too was a victim of incest and a dysfunctional family; and that she is able to write in a "warm" and understanding style which she manages to prevent from becoming melodrama, is commendable. I strongly recommend this book to lovers of true crime, even if you have to fight through some of section one.

1 comments about Unfinished Murder: The Capture of a Serial Rapist.

1. James Neff's book is a disturbing account of the crimes, trial, and conviction of serial rapist Ronnie Shelton. The chapters are divided into very short subheadings, and initially the episodic nature of the writing is somewhat distracting. However, the book gains momentum as the investigation draws to its climax and Shelton is captured. I was appalled to learn that during the years of Shelton's crime spree, he was arrested fifteen times for a variety of lesser offenses, yet every time he was released with no connection made between him and the highly-publicized rapes. There was little effective coordination among investigators in various precincts and divisions, who were slow to realize that they were all looking for the same man. The investigation was also hampered by the common misconception that voyeurs (like Shelton) don't engage in, or progress to, violence and rape

1 comments about Across the Border: True Story of Satanic Cult Killings in Matamoros, Mexico.

1. Gary Provost's book is not for the feign-hearted or the squeamish. It's for people like me who prefer reading to be shocked and this story is as shocking as any and a warning for those who go on Spring Break to be careful. Sadly, Mark Kilroy's disappearance and murder would uncover a mass grave and go into ritualistic killing involving a satanic group. There are 16 pages of pictures here plus a story that would make the hair on your arms stand up with shock. They died as human sacrifices to the prince of darkness not just for fun but they did seem to enjoy murdering innocent lives and took part in the occult. I got this book at a yard sale and so far it's an easy read.

5 comments about Murderer with a Badge: The Secret Life of a Rogue Cop (True Crime).

1. VERY INTERESTING STORY. CANNOT BELIEVE HIS WIFE DID NOT KNOW OF ALL HIS INVOLVEMENT OF STOLEN GOODS.WHAT A DISGRACE FOR LAPD..HE WAS LUCKY HE TOOK DEAL SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN MUCH HARDER SENTENCE. SO MANY LIVESCUT SHORT..WHERE IS HE NOW? BOOK WELL WRITTEN. EXPOSING THE CORRUPTION THAT COULD POSSIBLY BE IN MANY OTHER PD.LEASURE WAS A DISGRACE TO HIS PROFESSION. WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM AND WIFE THIS MANY YEARS LATER TERM OF 15 YEARS FINISHED..



2. The kind of cop i would like to pull me over - he liked to give traffic violators a verbal warning instead of a ticket, wish we had traffic cops like that here in Reno. But he built an 8 car garage and filled it up with stuff stolen from yachts. He had a WWII trainer plane, several corvettes, and his own yacht. A mild mannered cop who slept around on his wife, stole and was involved in three murders, but he hated to write tickets! His wife was an LA prosecutor, but she claimed she did not know about her hubbie cops illegal activities. She did not even know about his affair with a young Chinese woman. A great read - I could not put it down.



3. Those familiar with Author Humes know that his stories are lengthy and detailed. "Murderer with A Badge" is no exception. The central character is Bill Leasure, a quiet, mild mannered, unassuming Los Angeles traffic cop. Outwardly, he could put in his 20 years, qualify for a pension and quietly pass from the scene. That is the picture Leasure would paint for the public. His accusers in the DA's office and LAPD would present a different portrayal. They believe that Officer Leasure is guilty of arranging murder, committing murder, a WIDE range of burglaries, possession of stolen goods and even adultery. The formal charges against Leasure are extensive with many charges,incidents, witnesses, and accomplices to sort through. They were so extensive that several hard core low life criminals were granted immunity to testify against him. How the author, the trial judge, the District Attorney and the defense counsel kept the real life maze of facts, truths, lies, contradictions and witnesses straight are a wonder. MWB is a complicated tale and very challenging for the average reader. This reviewer admits to simply losing track toward the end. Author Humes still does a wonderful job of trying to make sense of it all but in truth MWB could easily have been compressed into a shorter story. The ending is somewhat muddled but so are many true crime resolutions. Life is like that and MWB is no exception. Please note that this reviewer did not reveal the ending, as did at least one reviewer below. MWB is a 5 star tale with one deducted for its' extensive length. It is arguable whethet even hard core true crime mavens would add back the fifth star. Two closing notes: 1) I purchased MWB "used". Amazon.com and the previous owner handled the transaction quite capably. 2) The "Ann Rule rule" can be suspended for MWB. The centerfold pictures are not giveaways to the ending and may actually assist in sorting out the action and characters.



4. Those familiar with Author Humes know that his stories are lengthy and detailed. "Murderer with A Badge" is no exception. The central character is Bill Leasure, a quiet, mild mannered, unassuming Los Angeles traffic cop. Outwardly, he could put in his 20 years, qualify for a pension and quietly pass from the scene. That is the picture Leasure would paint for the public. His accusers in the DA's office and LAPD would present a different portrayal. They believe that Officer Leasure is guilty of arranging murder, committing murder, a WIDE range of burglaries, possession of stolen goods and even adultery. The formal charges against Leasure are extensive with many charges,incidents, witnesses, and accomplices to sort through. They were so extensive that several hard core low life criminals were granted immunity to testify against him. How the author, the trial judge, the District Attorney and the defense counsel kept the real life maze of facts, truths, lies, contradictions and witnesses straight are a wonder. MWB is a complicated tale and very challenging for the average reader. This reviewer admits to simply losing track toward the end. Author Humes still does a wonderful job of trying to make sense of it all but in truth MWB could easily have been compressed into a shorter story. The ending is somewhat muddled but so are many true crime resolutions. Life is like that and MWB is no exception. Please note that this reviewer did not reveal the ending, as did at least one reviewer below. MWB is a 5 star tale with one deducted for its' extensive length. It is arguable whethet even hard core true crime mavens would add back the fifth star. Two closing notes: 1) I purchased MWB "used". Amazon and the previous owner handled the transaction from a previous owner. 2) The "Ann Rule rule" can be suspended for MWB. The centerfold pictures are not giveaways to the ending and may actually assist in sorting out the action and characters.



5. My interest in this story is due to one of the murders that Leasure committed took place a few blocks from my home. When the 1980 beauty shop killing occurred, it shook the community for how random and senseless it was. I also knew an LAPD officer who was close friends with Leasure and who was really shocked when all this came out. The story is full of great details, and is a must read for people who love true crime tales, or anyone who wants to keep up on any non-fiction having to do with Los Angeles.

1 comments about A Question of Innocence.

1. This book should have never had to be written. Luckily, Brandilyn Collins does a fine job of reporting the facts and making it into an easy to read form. Mallory Moore was only four years old when her half sister found her dead in her bed. All the evidence says Serena (a known compulsive liar) DOES love her sister, yet four months after her death, the evidence also says Serena smothered her little sister.

   In her own words--in her diary--Serena admits to killing her sister. Serena's mother, Sharri, turns the diary over to authorities when Serena leaves the home, hoping to find her daughter (she figures they will take her seriously, as she does, Serena needs to be found and needs help NOW). Knowing the police personally know Serena's past history of false police reports and fantastical lies, she never believed for a moment she might have incriminated her own daughter. She honestly believed they would see it as she did: another lie coming from Serena in the midst of her mourning her sister.

   Now wait a minute. I know what you are thinking. I was, too. Maybe she did do it. I mean, Mallory died from asphixiation. Serena wrote that she did smother Mallory. Serena is not exactly a "good" girl. She leaves the house when she is forbidden, she says horrible things to her mother and step-father. She tells people she has leukemia or that Mallory is really her daughter... the list goes on and on.

   As I mention, the police do take the confession seriously, but that's where it stops. They ignore her OTHER diary, in which she writes what happened the day she found her sister. They ignore what the doctors say about Mallory in the autopsies (if there's no homicide... you get the picture). They ignore the fact that she lies about serious things daily.

   Still, I admit that I still sometimes wondered if maybe she really did do it. In the end, though, the prosecutor secures the state's main witness and it is HE who helps me decide that Serena is indeed innocent and is being held captive to save face.

   Is that all there is? No, Serena's defense is a circus act of idiots playing a role for TV cameras. You just have to read the book to believe it.

   I wish the book moved at a bit faster pace, was a tad more exciting, but it does its job and tells a tragically fascinating tale that could happen to anyone's family.

4 comments about People: True Crime Stories: Cases That Shocked America.

1. I think the book was really well written and the cases they profiled were of great interest. A great read for anyone intrigued by true crime stories like I am!



2. Scott Turow wrote the introduction to this book. Turow is one of my favorite authors, and he's one of the few who writes both fiction and non-fiction (and keeps them separate, unlike Michael Moore and Dan Brown). Having read Turow books and having read his writings about how he changed his views on the death penalty, I trust Turow. Therefore, his name on this book made me want to read it.
   
   This work is non-fiction, and it gives credence to the idea that "truth is stranger than fiction." Remember the bizarre OJ Simpson "trial?" I never did watch the television coverage, so I got all of my information after the melodrama had subsided. Of course, you'll find the OJ spectacle covered in this book.
   
   Interestingly, I read this book in parallel with listening to a couple of audio books on the same subject (one by two detectives on the case, another by Marcia Clark).
   
   This book left some impressions on me:
   
   * Rich people can be terribly cheap and petty. You would think that, with millions or billions of dollars, a person would not be so concerned about getting more that he or she would go to great lengths to hurt others to get it. After all, don't we stop eating when full? But some people are just gluttons.
   
   * People can tell the most brazen, stupid lies. While most of the crimes are in this book are heinous, the lies the perpetrators spin are almost humorously pathetic. Of course, we see this all the time with the American Taliban (not their official name), which has a 95% error rate in the notices it sends out to terrified taxpayers.
   
   * Not everybody views people as people (again, we see this with the American Taliban).
   
   * People who commit the most awful crimes most often follow those crimes with behavior that says, "Catch me!" OJ Simpson was a classic example. The Menendez brothers epitomized this.
   
   Horrendous crimes are interesting because they say something about us as well as the criminals. What really separates us from horrendous criminals, and how can we maintain that separation?
   
   The first thing you notice about this book is it looks like a magazine. It's the same size as three or four magazines stacked on top of each other, and it is as photo-centric as any good magazine.
   
   The material in this book comes from the files of People Magazine, so the cases do not represent a cross section of America. They represent a cross section of People Magazine's coverage. And that coverage is primarily movie stars, notable eccentrics, and the ultra-rich.
   
   I've read People Magazine, because you find it in waiting rooms everywhere. To me, it's eye candy and is of little value. I really don't care what various celebrities are doing. They live on a different planet with different rules, and most of them are just plain crazy. This book bears that out.
   
   I was surprised to discover the book has less of a fluff factor than the magazine does. In fact, it's not fluff at all, but a serious treatment of the material. But all the vignettes are short enough that you never get bogged down in any particular story. And here's something you rarely hear from me: The writing is first-rate.
   
   Will you feel uplifted after reading this book? Maybe--that depends on whether you reflect on your own situation and your own circle of friends and loved ones. Will you be more able to see through deception and you might be more aware of dangers around you? Probably.
   
   You will certainly be aware that our "justice" system is far from perfect. But then, we're all imperfect. Whatever petty annoyances you "suffer" with your spouse or other important people in your life, it's good sometimes to put all of that in context. You read this book and you realize that those irritating habits of your friends and loved ones are not worth getting terribly flustered over.
   
   And what about your own foibles? Unless you are future subject material for a book like this, you should take comfort in the fact that you are not as flawed as you may have thought. That's reason enough to get up and face the world each day, to take on it challenges and be satisfied that you have done about as well as anyone can expect you to. We can all strive to be better, but sometimes a look at the dark side of humanity's worst can help us realize that--even with all of our imperfections--we are not so bad after all. And neither are those to whom we express criticism, disappointment, or irritation.
   
   After reading this book, I feel like telling various people I know how much I appreciate them after all. Sometimes contrast, as Martha Stewart (also a subject of this book) might say, is "a good thing."



3. From the files of People this book features every major true crime case from the last 20-30 years as well as a few lesser known cases. Most have to do with murder but there are some sensational crimes in here that have to do with other incidents as well.
   
   To name a few we've got Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson, Michael Kennedy, Ted Bundy, Versace, Preppy murder suspect Robert Chambers and many more. Plus funny close-up mugshots of a ton of celebrities who got arrested such as R. Kelly, Lil Kim, Bill Gates, Eminem, Ozzy Osbourne and tons more. Some I didnt even know that have been arrested are in here. Overall its a good book and has some nice pictures to go along with the outrageous stories. For the true crime buff this one will definitely interest you.



4. People Weekly magazine has captured the last 30 years of true crime stories in magazine-style reporting that includes multi-page feature articles as well as sidebars and photo spreads. People, originally a feature in Time Magazine, has been consistently lauded for excellence in editing and circulation, and since 2001 has maintained a 50/50 ratio of celebrity coverage to human interest coverage. In many ways, true crime reporting represents the nexus of celebrity (albeit usually unintentional celebrity) and human interest news reporting.
   
   The 144-page book opens with murder - cold-blooded, pre-meditated homicide, from Andrew Cunanan to Scott Peterson. Other opening chapters focus on unusual criminals, crimes of passion, crimes that are stranger than fiction, serial killers, and murderous con artists. The profile of female con artist Sante Kimes, leader of a mother-son team, is chillingly captivating. Strange high-profile crimes focus on the fraudulent billing of the agency that ran Miss Cleo psychic ads and the fertility doctor who sold a method of treating an infertile husband's sperm for re-insemination that was really the doctor's own sperm! Crimes that went in and out of the headlines over a matter of decades are also described in detail, as well as the unsolved mysteries and sudden twists of national true crime.
   
   Of course, Hollywood celebrities do take up a few chapters, from "The Many Trials of O.J." to "The Fall and Fall of Michael Jackson" to "Martha in the Big House" and the more recent Phil Spector and Robert Blake murder indictments. Several pages are devoted to the guilty pleasure of celebrity mug shots. There is even an entire section devoted to analysis and critique of the made-for-TV movies based on the true crimes of the last few decades. This is a highly-recommended coffee table book for any subscriber of People or fan of true crime from the macabre to the bizarre.