5 comments about Poisoned Love.

1. The author of this book, Caitlin Rother, did have the advantage of being a reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune during the investigation and subsequent trial of Kristin Rossum. That said, this is one of the better true crime novels I have ever read.
   
   
   Kristin appeared to be the "perfect child" growing up; in fact, this description may have led to her eventual descent into methamphetamine addiction as a teenager. Born into a highly academic family (both parents taught at universities in their fields), she had a LOT of pressure on her to succeed. She also trained extensively in ballet; this may also have been a contribution to her later drug use. Being an "ex-dancer" myself, I can relate to the feelings she must have had when a knee injury derailed any professional dreams in ballet for her forever. She may have become extremely insecure, and when you pair that with the pressure she had from her parents to be successful in all fields, that can be a recipe for depression, anxiety, and soemtimes drug and alcohool abuse.
   
   
   However, none of this negates Ms. Rossum's alleged actions when her marriage to Greg de Villers was failing. Kristin had been cheating on Greg for 6 months of the marriage at least, though I suspect she cheated while they were dating as well. When she met Michael Robertson, all hell broke loose. In each other, I am sure they found "a perfect soul". Their egos, narcissism, and blatant disregard for anyone's feelings but their own may have bonded them. I also get the impression that both are "in love with love", meaning they get bored once the intial thrill is gone. Michael was a serial cheater, as well.
   
   The only thing that continues to nag me about this case is the choice of fentanyl to murder Greg. I can definitely see that Kristin, who was back in the throes of her meth addiction, might not think too clearly or swiftly about how to go about murdering Greg. I don't think it was planned very well, specifically the bathub stopper being found with calcified material on a very high shelf in the shower on the night of Greg's death; she had told police that she took a bath before discovering Greg was not breathing, so why would the stopper have been pulled ALL the way out (it was one of those screw in and out kinds) and then placed on a VERY high shelf(Kristin is under 5"4) with hardened soaps and water on it? Hmmmm...?
   
   
   I have doubts toward Michael's direct involvement in Greg's death; being as experienced as he was in the field of toxicology, he would know of may other drugs that could have killed Greg and gone undetected. That does NOT mean that he wasn't aware of Kristin's involvement before or after the crime.
   
   
   Unfortunately, this case is an ultimate tragedy. Greg de Villers is dead, Kristin is in prison, and both families have lost their children, though at least the Rossums can visit their daughter in prison...Greg was cremated and it is noted in the book that his brother Jerome had a special place he thought Greg would have wanted his ashes spread around Mammoth Lake.
   
   
   
   Caitilin Rother is an EXCELLENT researcher; I have read another book regarding this case, and though it has more details in terms of "sexy" details (i.e. emails from Kristin to several paramours, Kristin having another boyfriend after her "true love" fled to Australia,etc.), Caitlin Rother really got to know the people within the prosecution and defense teams, the judge himself, and reported an unbiased story of the events before, after, and during November 6,2000.
   
   
   Kristin Rossum was found guilty of her husband's death on what would have been his birthday, November 12, 2002. I don't think the jury did that by accident.
   
   
   A MUST READ!



2. Caitlin Rother, although no stranger to newspaper reporting, did an excellent job with this story as a first time true crime author. Readers will find indepth background coverage on the major players in this twisted tale of drug abuse, adultry and murder. I simply couldn't put it down!
   
   This book is the story of Kristin Rossum, who is undoubtedly a spoiled, overindulged girl who has never grown into the maturity of womanhood. Her actions alone speak of someone who has never been taught that there are consequences for their actions. Being the only daughter of enabling parents, it isn't surprising that Kristin would kill her husband rather file for divorce (with monetary gain to be had) when he threatened to expose her relapse into her drug addiction and her affair with her boss, Michael Robertson.
   
   But I do not believe that Kristin acted alone...just as Kristin was childlike in demeanor, so was Robertson. While to some he may have seemed experienced and intelligent, his need to continously seek the "new feeling" of "falling in love," shows his immaturity as well. It would not surprise me to learn that his sophmoric attitude wouldn't lead him to assist Kristin to kill her husband in the niave belief it wouldn't be found out and would live happily ever after....or at least, till the new wore off with Kristin and he went in search of "the feeling" again. In addition, Rossum and Robertson are both arrogant individuals; and most often times, it those who think so highly of themselves that take the hardest falls.
   
   Overall, a must read for true crime fans. I'll look forward to this authors next true crime book.



3. This was the 1st true crime book I'd ever read. I don't know what made it so good--Caitlin's brilliant writing or the fact that it is a true story.
   
   
   This is the tale of Kristin Rossum. She was born into a wealthy and priviliged family. Before the age of 16, she lived a charmed life. Then, after years of constantly trying to please her strict parents, she began a relationship she KNEW her parents would never approve of--a relationship with crystal meth. From then on, Kristin went on to become a liar, cheater, thief, manipulator and eventually....a murderer.
   
   
   She took advantage of everyone who dared to love her and tried to help her. More importantly, Greg de Villers.
   
   I don't really believe her parents had truly "laid down the law". They had taught their kids that appearances matter more than anything. Kristin took this advice to heart. Most parents I know would either kick their kid out of the house or force their druggie child to fend for themselves and get help. Instead, Ralph and Constance decided that it was better to keep up their sweaky clean image and sweep everything under the rug than really help their daughter. Because of their irresponsble behavior, Kristin became the way she is now.
   
   They left that job to Kristin's boyfriends--1)Teddy Maya. And next...Greg de Villers.
   
   Greg was considered a 'savior', to his own family and Kristin. He had dedicated his last years to Kristin and she basically told to him to f--- off. She made it seem that she had no choice but to marry Greg after her parents had planned her wedding. But she knew Greg wasn't right for her and she didn't love him or want to marry him. I guess Rossums figured that if they marry their daughter off, she would be out of their hair and can go back to being the 'perfect family'.
   
   From what I read, Kristin seemed to be seeking love and reassurance from Greg while she was cheating on him with other men. But I think that was a fluke.
   
   
   Then Kristin finally met her soulmate, Michael Robertson. Robertson was basically a male version of Kristin. They were both selfish, immature, egotistical beings who only cared about themselves. They were the perfect couple.
   
   
   Kristin claimed to be unhappy with her marriage. If that was true, Why didn't she get a divorce? I guess she was waiting for someone better to come along. Most people I know would get counseling and/or a divorce.
   
   
   I don't believe Kristin planned to kill Greg. Sure, she had the brains, but not the experience. I don't even think it was her idea to do it. It may have been Michael's. It seems to me that he helped Kristin give Greg the drugs that eventually killed him. Might've even been in the apartment with her when it happened. But it doesn't excuse the fact that she did it. And when Robertson was finally considered a suspect, he hopped on the first plane back to Austrailia, where he knew he'd never be arrested.
   
   I guess Rossum didn't flee because she actually believed she would get away with it. She and Robertson almost did. But thanks to Det. Agnew, the prosecution and Greg's brother, Jerome, she was put away for life.
   The words of Greg's family were very moving. They were understandably furious with her for killing Greg. One of them even said they hated her! Brutal!! I still think that Robertson should be charged with Greg's murder and locked away too. But at least, justice was still done.
   
   
   Caitlin Rother is a great writer!!



4. This is a detailed account of a good girl gone bad. I really believe that had she not been under the influence of Methamphetamines, she would never have done what she did. That doesn't excuse her actions in any way, but it's a shame. I get the impression that once she came out of her drug induced mania she must really be sitting in that cell kicking herself. What a shame...for all involved. Her poor parents. They really thought that they'd be able to talk her out of jail. The only remark I have that would be a downside is the 'hole' left in the de Ville's family portrait, outside of a few brief passages, I was left with little of an impression of the family. It was truly all about Kristen and her family. But this is an excellent read - perhaps Rother could become the next Ann Rule. She did a remarkable job with this story, especially in maintained no bias, even toward the convicted.



5. Caitlin Rother's POISONED LOVE is the story of Kristen Rossum, her husband Greg DeVillers, and her lover Michael Robertson. Kristen is a rich, driven, intelligent overachiever. She is also an immature, selfish meth addict who marries Greg for no reason that I can fathom other than that he asked her and that, while she really didn't want to, she had nothing better to do that day. Unfortunately for Greg, there were numerous days thereafter when she found any number of better things to do.
   Kristen's addiction; the strong but seemingly superficial attraction she and Michael find for each other; and the poisoning of Greg - who is found dead in his bed covered with rose petals - form the basic story line.
   
   POISONED LOVE is formatted and written in standard true crime style.
   The author, Rother, was the San Diego newspaper reporter who covered the case, and the book is written reportorially and, as such, with a total absence of bias. The police work and courtroom sections of the book are well handled so that the information presented is both necessary to the story and interesting. Though the book is long, it contains no filler. Additionally background information on the main players, in my mind the most important facet in the writing of a true crime, is thorough and well done.
   POISONED LOVE is Caitlin Rother's first book. It is an excellent first effort, and fans of the genre and of intelligent writing will be glad they read it.

5 comments about The Paradiso Files: Boston's Unknown Serial Killer.

1. I could not put this book down. A fluid read of Massachusetts crime history, this portal into the Law & Order/CSI type relationship between a motivated DA and "biker" trooper was gripping. Only the love of family member could blind a reader from seeing Paradiso for the monster that he was in life. The always playing radio anchored the chapters to the events and offered a moment of reflection for the reader. This is a must read.



2. Not only is this a great true crime story, it's also extremely well written, not your typical dry rehashing of facts. I hope Burke writes more, I'll be waiting for his next!! I read this in one sitting.



3. This book is a chilling story and makes one think about who we let into our lives and why. My husband knew this guy and is mentioned in this book and still has a hard time believing the WHOLE thing, but does say that he did find some of The Quohogs comments over the years to be strange to say the least. Very well written and enjoyed reading what was found. Good Job.Looking forward to more information on this intriguing life of Lenny Paradiso.



4. Sounding like a non-fiction Mystic River, this is an excellent book about the darker side of the human psyche and one assistant DA's effort to protect society from it. Despite a previous reviewers' contention to the contrary, the author's case against a human predator is carefully laid out, citing corroborating testimony and evidence in a tightly constructed presentation. I found the writer's style refreshing and innovative. Facts from the author's experience and testimony are interspersed with minimalist best estimations of events and there's an interestingly variable boundary between a third and first person point of view. Its a real-life detective story that's difficult to put down.



5. I stumbled across an inaccuracy within the first few pages. Though licensure is through the Coast Guard, you either sail through a maritime union or with a private company. You do not get discharged for going AWOL. You are either blackballed with your union or fired by the company you're sailing for. The above holds true, even if you're sailing on a government contract vessel.
   
   After reading this, I closed the book and returned it to my local library. Got to say, I'm glad I didn't pay good money for this.

5 comments about Mississippi Mud: Southern Justice and the Dixie Mafia.

1. You just can't make this stuff up. Simply put, you've got to read it to believe it. Excellent book.



2. An unbelievable eye opener for me because I knew most of the people involved. It kept me on the edge of my chair and couldn't put it down. That is, once I was able to finally read the book.



3. Those who enjoyed the "Walking Tall" series of movies in the early 1970s will thoroughly enjoy this more recent, more exciting, and more accurate portrayal of one of the killers of the key figure in "Walking Tall," Sheriff Buford Pusser.
   
   Vincent Sherry was a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel who was making a pretty penny in the civilian world as a lawyer in the Sherry-Halat law firm. His wife, Margaret, was quickly moving up the political ladder to - possibly - the next mayor of Biloxi, Mississippi. But it all ended on the night of September 14, 1987, when a hit man ended the lives of both Sherrys in their house. "Mississippi Mud" is the story of how the couple's eldest daughter pursued justice for her parents that ultimately led to Vincent's law partner (and irony of ironies, Biloxi mayor) Pete Halat going to jail along with the hit man and a tough mobster on the Gulf Coast named Mike Gillich.
   
   The story begins with the story of a loosely associated gang of thugs known as 'the Dixie Mafia.' Unlike the close-knit family organizations that tend to comprise the Sicilian mob, the Dixie Mafia was simply a group of guys with common interests that killed people all over the South and Southwestern United States from the early 1960s into the mid-1980s. One of the most prominent members of the Dixie Mafia was the son of an Oklahoma judge named Kirksey McCord Nix, Jr.
   
   Nix was doing time in the Iron Hotel in Angola State Prison for the 1971 murder of a New Orleans grocer. According to Buford Pusser, Nix was one of the four trigger men that killed his wife Pauline and wounded him in a hail of gunfire on August 12, 1967. (The other three were dead by 1971, assuming Pusser's information was correct). It seems he figured he could purchase a government pardon, and using a fraudulent homosexual lover's ploy, Nix took the cash people sent him and had it kept in the law books of the Sherry-Halat firm.
   
   But suddenly, $65,000 came up missing.
   
   You can read the rest of what happened as well as the pursuit of justice by the Sherry's daughter, Lynne Sposito, who spent over a decade chasing down every lead until she managed to put the main perpetrators behind bars.
   
   The story was good and well thought out. There were a few dry spots, but I did enjoy the story. You will enjoy the fine factual crime writing of Mr. Edward Humes.



4. I read this book three or four years ago and I still vividly remember details in the book. Very good story about the Dixie Mafia and the back door activities they were involved with. This would make an excellent movie.



5. I think this was one of the best books I've ever read. I think that J.Johnson is wrong. This was a very good book. It did not put me to sleep. I applaud Lynne and the rest of her family. I have even met a member of the family. I will not say who though.
   --L. Kenedy

5 comments about Between Good and Evil: A Master Profiler's Hunt for Society's Most Violent Predators.

1. I just can't say enough GOOD about this book!!!!! It was a great page turner and hard to put down once started. I thought it would be primarily about profiling, but the added twist of how that affected his life and faith is phenomenal....



2. I am sure I have read the 'life story' type books of most of the well known profilers. I have to admit Roger L Depue was not a name I had come accross in any like books written in the same era. In fact I discovered only one well know book where his name appeared, then only a brief mention.
   That aside if you have an interest in this type of book this one is worth the read.
   The book essentially follows the life of Roger Depue from his childhood through his career as a rural police officer to the FBI. As most peoples' lives have there interesting aspects certainly anyone with the live experience of the author could not miss out in this area. Therefore I would see this book as esentially a biography. Certainly, in the book, there are many interesting examples of how profiling works and written in a style that is very easy to understand. The book also delves off into how his career and life events produced many 'turnings in the road'.
   One of the more interesting parts of the book I found was the author's brief summation of a number of the 'big name' profilers of that era. I found it interesting some get mentioned by their christian names and others by surname only. I guess we can form our own opinions as to why.
   Overall, yes 'Another Profiler's Life Story', but if you have an interest in that area, and don't mind a good dose of his personal life, go ahead and have a read. Might not be the best of these books but I found it interesting enough to go cover to cover in three 'sittings'.



3. He gives the insights of a profiler fine and good. But he is sickeningly boastful the whole book, not just in his description of profiler work, but before he even gets to that point. Its nothing but obvious delusion. Of course you have to try to make the book interesting, but you're NOT Charles Bronson, you're NOT Mike Tyson. I had to stop reading and skip forward in the book because I got tired of reading about how he won a fist fight in high school and then he said Claire Michigan was the closest thing the state had to the wild west, how he got beat up by two guys but should have paid attention because he could have taken them. That aspect of the book is nauseating. You would think he knocked out Muhammed Ali. I would skip this book if I had it to do over.



4. I enjoy profiling books and recommend John Douglas' Mindhunters and Obsession . This book has very little for the reader to learn except minor tidbits like how to tell (via "overkill") that the unsub was known to the victim. The book has a long backstory on the authors childhood, dating, marines, etc. and he seems like a bully. The last 1/3 of the book is his religion taking over which is boring. None of the life story or seminary time relate to criminal investigations, which is probably why you are interested in this type of book. The John Douglas books cover fascinating, yet horrible crimes while giving insights into clues to the traits of the criminal - thus are far more interesting than this book by Depue.



5. I do think criminal profiling is a valid service, and this book has some interesting moments detailing the author's career in that field, what his childhood and young adulthood were like that might have led him to such a career. I also thought his late-life foray into priesthood was fascinating. Basically, he's a good writer, however, the book is spotty. There are parts that drag and don't mesh with the rest of the book. And though I have no experience whatsoever, personally, with satanic cults, I have met a few credible, tragically damaged people who claim, with complete sincerity, the things that the author says are "impossible," because the FBI has looked into them for years and has never substantiated a case of, for example, child sacrifice/homicide. I, too, was skeptical at one time, and never gave it a second thought, but I must say - again - that a few people who seek no media attention for their stories, have confided some hair-raising stories that are quite similar in nature, though the parties telling them had no knowledge of each other, and were from different parts of the country. In a way, it reminds me a little of alien abduction stories - I'm sure the author would negate these, too, but there are just so many of them that have uniqely similar aspects, and credible witnesses. Still out on this subject...

5 comments about Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series (1919 World).

1. Author David Peitrusza deserves plenty of kudos for his sweeping biography of Arnold Rothstein, the mad credited for fixing the 1919 World Series. In "Rothstein" we have an overview of the man and his times with perhaps too much of an emphasis on peripheral people and events. The reader will be regaled by stories of turn-of-the-century through prohibition era gamblers and big time criminals. Readers will acquire a greater knowledge of the East Coast underworld and some of the prominent figures who walked the line between criminal and legitimate. From casinos, race fixing and high society's degenerate gamblers to crooks both small time and big, "Rothstein" is an excellent account of the times of the famed gambler. Rothstein surely ranks as one of this country's most notorious criminal master minds.
   As much as I enjoyed the book I would have liked getting to know the man himself a little better. While readers will enjoy an opportunity to learn what AR, (as Rothstein was sometimes called) did, where and with whom he did it you cannot be sure to understand what made him tick. His childhood and early years are skimmed over while great detail is given his murder and its subsequent investigation. Hopefully someone can come along who will provide a fuller view of Rothstein. For that biographer and anyone interested in a man immortalized by F. Scott Fitzgerald in "The Great Gatsby" Petrusza's book is a must-read. Whatever "Rothstein's faults as a biography, it is still a good read and highly recommended.



2. 
   Tackling the biography is Arnold Rothstein is not like undertaking to deal with the life of most equally known men of even the same time. Rothstein was covered, as can be seen in the bibliography, in hundreds if not thousands of articles of the time in newspapers, magazines, books, and legends. The problem is not lack of words written, but lack of actual knowledge of the subject. Simply put, much of what has been written is legendary, apocryphal, repetitive, speculative or downright false, and it must have been an overwhelming task to wade through the junk to find the goods. Pietruszka has done as good a job of it as likely can be done at this remove.
   
   Further complicating the task is the personality of the subject, in this case a man who was clearly highly intelligent, charismatic, and industrious, but was missing some kind of chip to his personal makeup that would have made him fully human. Judging from the book, AR loved the multiplication of money in any way possible, judging everything and everyone useful or not useful based strictly upon the expected financial return. Associates passed in and out of his life and he had no compunction about lying to them or ripping them off or leaving them hanging out to dry, to take whatever heat might come down in his wake, and he'd pick them back up again if there was money to be made with no personal feelings entering into it. It must have been hard to resist his charismatic pull, but harder to actually like the man.
   
   Before reading this book I had known a little about Rothstein, mostly from the gambling/World Series angle. I had been unaware of his deep involvement in drugs and similar financial adventures. I wonder to what degree some of the crimes ascribed to Rothstein are simply a case of saying that because he was involved in this, with so-and-so, he MUST have been involved in that, with so-and-so. Notably, Rothstein's own little black book of records may well have been `edited' by the cops after it was found, and of course the missing sheets are missing. There seems to have been little actual written proof of much of anything Rothstein did, and there are so many conflicting stories and points of view it is hard to know the man's actual deeds with any certainty.
   
   Rothstein's relationship with his wife stands in complete contrast: the one person from whom he did not intend to make money he put on such a pedestal that he found himself unable to approach her as a wife, as a woman, and of course this created further suffering.
   
   I think that this man was a very one-sided genius, essentially an amoral machine. Pietruszka has done an excellent job of trying to separate fact from fiction of his fascinating subject.



3. Without trying to repeat what has already been said, A.R. comes alive in reading this book. He really didn't have many friends, just business associates. His life was all business and that business was making money! He was the ultimate gambler seeing an opening and taking it (no matter who you were - family, friend or foe). A.R. was involved in all types of scams, legitimate and illegal, for the sole purpose of turning a profit. After reading this book - you also find out a few undesirable traits about A.R. such as him being a welsher, and not paying debts on time. He wasn't the most honorable among thieves. This was an interesting characteristic of the book for it isn't one-sided. It gives you the facts about A.R. whether good or bad. This book paints a true portrait of the extent of vice which involved politicians, mobsters, athletes, policemen and of course actors and actresses. There is extensive research with regard to who killed A. R. I found this part of the book to be very interesting to see all the facts and the "behind the scenes" work unravel. It reveals the motives: the who, what, when, where, why and how. The last chapter keeps you very motivated and wanting for more. There were some great quotes from some old timers and I think one can learn a few things from reading this book. The book is recommended to other readers.



4. A glimpse into history and a ruthless time in America. Not only a good baseball story but a great read for anyone wanting to learn more about the time period.



5. Although the 1919 Series is in the title, the book goes beyond that, so if you're a curious baseball fan this book might have more than you are game for. Pietrusza seems to know his New York criminal element of the era, and the books travels down spokes out from the Rothstein hub into these areas, which certainly helps to put Rothstein into perspective, at least from a "buisness" standpoint.
   
   I have uncovered additional info about Rothstein's personality with simple google searches, and in other books; the sources seeming to be reliable. Presuming these are accurate, they do help to supplement what we learn about Rothstein here. That's no big criticism, but the book left me with some unanswered questions about Rothstein's personality -- answers that might or might not be difficult to answer.
   
   Rothstein was not a well-kept secret, even in his era, and there seems to have been enough written about him that I would think it might not be difficult for an author to give us more about his personality. This author choose to focus on dozens of peripheral characters, and if you're a history fan that proves to be illiuminating, but does not always illuminate Rothstein, just places him in a context. Still, readers can argue the "business" of Rothstein and his fellow criminals is the compelling part of his personality, and speaks volumes itself.

5 comments about A Soul on Trial: A Marine Corps Mystery at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.

1. A Soul on Trial provides a fascinating glimpse into family life, politics, and military crime in the early twentieth century. I particularly enjoyed learning about the role a mother took in challenging military assumptions on the death of her son Rosa Sutton was a courageous and dedicated leader ahead of her time. The rich story, compelling narration, and detailed historical references make A Soul on Trial an excellent book that both serious and casual history buffs can enjoy.



2. Other reviews, excerpts and lots of new photos related to this book can be found on the website www.asoulontrial.com, or google Robin R Cutler. See also www.arlingtoncemetery.net for recent photos of Jimmie Sutton's grave and moving stories of our troops who gave their lives for their country since 2001, plus others.
   
   Prof Thomas C Mackey writes:
   In this excellent historical narrative, Cutler sheds light on many aspects of the social, cultural, military and legal history of the Progressive Era. Her appreciation of the historical context combined with good control of the legalities at stake make this intriguing story about the Sutton case hard to resist. A Soul on Trial exhibits a nice feel for the new worlds of women in the early 20th century. She also offers us a detailed portrayal drawn from aggressive digging into archival documents, of the culture and traditions of the Marine Corps. We see in the Corps' handling of the media scrutiny regarding Jimmie Sutton's death that everything old is new again. A super story about military justice and the way military culture and civil society and relate to one another.



3. This book reminded me why I love nonfiction. Nothing is more compelling than a meticulously research account of true events motivated by intense feeling. A mother's quest to clear her dead son's name after his mysterious death as a young Marine Corps lieutenant at the training academy takes the reader into courtroom drama, forensic investigation, and a unique account of the interface between the world of facts and visits from beyond the grave. Cutler tells an engrossing tale of a citizen mother pitted against the closed,and often imperious, ranks of the military establishment in her quest to clear her son's name. The story is also presented in the context of the sweeping social changes of the early 1900's that made such a challenge to the military establishment possible. Cutler is a consummate historian and skillful writer. Excellent.



4. Not long after midnight on October 13, 1907, a Marine Lieutenant from Portland, Oregon by the name of James N. Sutton died a violent death on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland under mysterious circumstances. He had been shot through the head, and apparently beaten before the shooting. Yet the military inquest ruled his death a suicide. Though he was buried at Arlington Cemetery, as a reputed suicide Sutton received no salute, no service, and no priest's blessing at the funeral.
   
   His mother Rosa had a vision of her son in which he denied the inquest finding and asked her to clear his name. Thus begins the story of a mother's two-year quest for justice, of many letters written, of support from an Oregon senator and a Catholic bishop, of an older sister's suspicions and "investigation," and finally a Navy Court of Inquiry into the matter - a "trial" that was not a trial, by "a court that was in many respects `above the law' and not necessarily governed by the law."
   
   As in any good court story, there were conflicting accounts by witnesses (including all the Marine officers who saw Sutton that night), and a surprise legal maneuver by the defense halfway through that caught the prosecution by surprise, necessitating a week-long recess. Rosa even managed to obtain an autopsy for her son nearly two years after his death.
   
   It's also the story of how the press covered one of the first U.S. cases of national notoriety. The New York Times ran more than 57 articles and six editorials about the events surrounding Sutton's death. As the Washington, DC Evening Star put it, "the whole Marine Corps is on trial."
   
   Cutler, a professor of history and public historian for the National Endowment for the Humanities, seamlessly weaves together the proceedings with side trips into the widespread interest in the paranormal at the time, William James, military tribunal procedure, a little forensic medicine, politics and media spin, circa 1909. The resulting tapestry never seems contrived or unduly weighted with tangential diversions, the way Erik Larson's bestsellers sometimes may.
   
   If, like many true-crime accounts, A Soul on Trial ends rather unsatisfactorily, with significant threads remaining untied, one cannot fault the author. Cutler does offer some final notes with her opinions on the affair as well as a last, mild personal surprise.



5. "A Soul on Trial" is a very extraordinary book to read.
   
   It is a well written book about the truth of James N. Sutton's life and how the military tried to discredit his reputation, cover up, and claim that he committed suicide.
   
   A mother who was willing to risk everything, including her marriage, to clear her son's name. The visions from her son, that are so true and very inspiring to someone like me who has those visions and understands that part of life. Even the instincts that something was wrong with James, are truly things that I can relate to.
   
   A book that was wrote from the heart and showed how Rosa's husband and family didn't doubt her visions. It shows their strength, perseverance and faith in God to see them through the trials and tribulations.
   
   I believe that Robin's book was inspired and directed by our ancestor's to reveal the truth about the things that continue to go on in the military today. She has shed light on a subject that not many people want to hear and one that will open the door to help other families when a tragedy like this happens.
   
   I was unable to put the book down, as it spoke to my Spirit in such a great way.
   
   This a must read for everyone.

4 comments about Truth At Last: The Untold Story Behind James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr..

1. I must start off this review by stating for the record that I have never been one of those "CONSPIRACY NUTS". In fact I have never even paid such claims a second thought. I even made fun of Oliver Stone. But the detail provided in this book by James Earl Ray's brother, John Larry Ray and Lyndon Barsten, a lay historian is quite compelling! John takes the reader all the way back through the entire history of the Ray family, "warts" and all. In fact the "warts" (criminal activity) are an essential element that adds veracity to the conspiratorial intersection of the CIA, FBI, Mafia and the United States Government. Aiding John's real-life firsthand knowledge regarding the people, organizations and events that culminated in Martin Luther King's (MLK) assassination is Lyndon's expert use of the "FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT" (FOIA) which freed up TENS OF THOUSANDS OF NEW PAGES OF NEW MATERIALS ON THE MLK ASSASSINATION.
   
   When James went into the Army he became a military policeman "for a year and a half in the 382nd MP Battalion. Later, he joined a new organization largely formed out of the old OSS, (Office of Strategic Services) which had been the Army's wartime intelligence service", but after 1947, the outfit was generally known as the CIA. "When James joined the Central Intelligence Agency, he was given a new U.S. Army serial number." James involvement in the Army with the OSS/CIA and his civilian criminal contacts would haunt and control him for the rest of his life. James would later say: "When you join the OSS, it's like joining the Mafia, you never leave." According to the authors, the CIA is probably the closest thing to a worldwide Mafia that ever existed. James was assigned a "handler" that would manipulate and direct him the rest of his life. "James would frequently say that when he joined the Army, it put him on the road to ruin. From the time he left the service in 1948 until his death in 1998, James Earl Ray spent forty-three of those fifty years in prison." In my opinion, if it wasn't for the FOIA the things I'm about to tell you would seem like science fiction. "Documents clearly indicate that the CIA was busy trying to reprogram people, and it was doing it in 1948. Several thousand mostly financial documents on mind control, drugs, and many other subjects the public would consider crazy survived a document-destruction project ordered by the director of Central Intelligence, Richard Helms, and Sidney Gottlieb, head of mind control studies, as they left the CIA in 1973. Today you can get the surviving several thousand pages of CIA mind control documents on three CD's that detail the bizarre experiments done in the name of "national security." The Army had their own programs that paralleled the CIA's: tens of thousands of surviving government documents detail, among other subjects, how they endeavored to create HUMAN ROBOTS to be used as killing machines. The CIA's own documents say it best. This document, "Hypnosis and Covert Operations" (written May 5, 1955) is released through the FOIA by the CIA as MORI 428311." "The CIA's MK-Ultra brainwashing program included feeding Army soldier's mescaline, sodium pentothal, depressants, amphetamines and LSD both on base and at local bars."
   
   On many of the occasions that the post-military James was ordered to report to his "handler" he was directed to smuggle weapons in and out of Mexico. The potential reader should be made aware that the CIA and FBI had a very close working relationship with the Mafia. "They used the Mob for clandestine operations so that they could maintain plausible deniability if the operation went wrong." Just a few of the documented examples are Lucky Luciano in World War II and the planned assassination of Castro in Cuba. So because of James's relationship with certain mob figures, when he met his "handler" in the time leading up to the MLK assassination he was led to believe he was going to be a "wheel-man" in a diamond heist. (In fact one of the hardest things for the government to cover-up was the money they gave James to keep him available and indebted to them when the conspiracy was questioned years later.) He was even directed to buy the rifle that the government would attempt to say killed MLK. The flophouse bathroom that the government said James shot MLK from was proven to be too narrow to fit the length of the rifle in at the proper angle without James either making a ten-inch-deep hole through the wall or hanging out of the window.
   
   It gets more insane from there as FOIA documents later proved that while James was given a lawyer from a government approved list, the FBI was secretly giving an author bogus incriminating evidence about James to be published in "LOOK" and "LIFE" magazine before James ever got his "fair" trial. By this time Coretta Scott King "was now openly and publicly beginning to discuss her suspicions of government conspiracy in her husband's death and in the death of her brother-in-law." Add to this, Judges about to approve an appeal dying of heart attacks, new lawyers handling James's case dying of heart attacks, and witnesses dying of heart attacks. NOTE: "One of the most common methods used by intelligence agencies for murder is HEART ATTACKS!" There is so much more documented detail in this expose that even if you start reading this book with a closed-mind... by the end of this book it will be opened to the possibility that...???



2. John Larry Ray's oldest brother was James Earl Ray (p.1). John spent 25 years in federal prison and now lives in Illinois. John claims he was imprisoned because he knew too much about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr on April 4, 1968. Lyndon Barsten is a historian who frequently lectures about the assassination. This is a very readable book that is fast-paced like a novel, except it is based on fact. John begins by telling about the Ray family history and culture, and debunks the stories reported in the Corporate Media. John gives the facts as he witnessed them. The Ray brothers were often in trouble and in prison. John claims his brother was a "patsy" like Oswald. He tells what he knows and what he was told by his brother James.
   
   John says there was "no evidence that Jimmy killed King" because the Feds didn't use it in the extradition proceedings (p.128). James had to plead guilty to escape the death sentence (p.129). Was there a conspiracy to murder Martin Luther King (p.131)? A famous lawyer takes a criminal case for "free advertising" (p.134). Should James have gotten a new trial (p.135)? Were there mysterious deaths associated with this case (p.136)? Chapter 8 tells of John's conviction for conspiracy (summarized on page 149). William H. Webster was both the FBI and CIA chief after convicting John (p.151). Do you have to "bend the Constitution" (p.153)? Did two journalists, Bill Slater and Louis Lomax, die under suspicious circumstances (p.158)? Both investigated the King assassination.
   
   In October 1974 James got an evidentiary hearing in an attempt for a new trial. Herb MacDonnell testified as an expert witness to say the shot that killed King could not have come from Ray's room (p.162). Did the King family question the Federal version (p.164)? Are the mentally ill recruited as assassins (p.165)? Would a Federal judge be bumped off for political reasons (p.168)? James was never tried for his escape attempt (p.173). There was a problem about James' money during 1967-68 (p.175). Is reality irrelevant (p.179)? John says he was the victim of a "Federal Vendetta" (Chapter 11). Was he convicted for "not picking up someone on the highway who was found not guilty of robbing a bank" (p.190)? Does greasy food destroy your liver (p.191)?
   
   The importance of this book is its presentation of a counterpoint to the Establishment Media version. "Only one in five people believe the mainstream media." If the rifle bought by James did not match the bullet that struck Dr. King (p.115) that would establish James as a "patsy". The 'Bibliography' lists the articles, books, and other references to this event.



3. You certainly do get another side of the story with this book. It is written by convicted assasin James Earl Ray's brother, and boy, does he lay out some whoppers. You would have to believe in about three different major conspiracy theories to wind up with the conclusion that John Ray comes up with. The cia warped Jame's mind with LSD, hired the mob with FBI approval to get a hit man to kill MLK jr and use James Earl as a patsy.
   
   Why did James leave finger prints all over the place and his gun behind? Because he was a not too bright con man.
   
   Unsubstantiated allegations, assertions with no proof or facts to back them up. If there was another gunman as stated, what evidence is there to back it up? None is provided.
   
   Whatya expect, it's his brother. Not likely he's going to come out and admit James Earl killed one of the most important and influential Americans of all times.
   
   I kept reading this like one would a bad sci-fi book - just to see how outlandish the author dared to be. That's the only value this book had to me. Frankly, I'd skip it altogether.



4. This book is complete made up crap...written by a hairdresser (yes I said a hairdresser not a writer or author or someone with intelligence) The publisher who took on this must be the biggest morons on the planet...the Lyons Press, it just goes to show that there are alot of 6th rate publishers with such a low caliber of talent....they don't deserve even to be on Amazon.

5 comments about What the Corpse Revealed.

1. This book was recommended to me as a book related forensic pathology/forensic anthropology, my favorite reading areas. When I settled down to read it, the "Note to the Reader" was the first clue I had that the book was ficitious: "This book not intended to portray, and should not be read as portraying, actual persons, living or dead. Yet, on its cover it says "True Crime", what I took to be a tacky way of saying "Non-Fiction".
   Whatever. - bONNY



2. While reading this book I found the details of some cases to be unbelievable. Also, the "photographs" of the murderers and detectives all looked fuzzy and more like drawings. I've read a lot of true crime and never heard of catching a murderer because he breathed his asthma medication on the murder victim's hair. Or because they chemically deduced which cologne he wore. And who leaves their backdoor open when they know a violent Doberman Pinscher has been getting through their backyard fence? Sure, just let that dog on in. And whose place of employment has a record of all employee's blood "groups" (not their TYPES, just their GROUPS), when the employee doesn't even know HIMSELF what group he is?
   
   Then I read the introduction, which I always skip, and found out this book is FICTION, not true crime as the cover announced and in which section it was in in the book store.
   
   As FICTION, it's okay, (I prefer Agatha Christie), but I don't believe the forensic work in this book is even based on any fact. So read it for entertainment, but don't be so gullible as to believe any of it.



3. I enjoyed reading this book - it shows how far forensics have progressed, even over the last few years. They have to try & keep ahead of the criminal/murderers/and all other elements of the darkest side of humanity.



4. I was going to write a review stating how fascinating I found this book, then I read the other reviews that revealed this "corpse" of a book to be pure fiction. What I enjoyed about this book most, as a longtime fan of forensics and true crime, was that it was full of cases I'd never heard of before, and didn't know how they would be resolved, so it kept me reading. Now I realize why so many of the cases took place in Hungary, Spain, or Argentina--to deceive the reader. This also explains why there is absolutely no record of "Mia Clark" the pyromaniac that supposedly killed upwards of 60 elderly people in California and Colorado.
   
   Now the entire book seems like a cheap trick. Fooled me once Hugh Miller. Won't fool me twice.



5. Everyone who's watched an episode (or two) of one of the "CSI" franchises can probably do armchair forensic work, but for many people it's how they pay their bills. There are sixteen cases in this book, but names and places have been altered; however, the forensic details of each case are largely intact. There are a few pages of photos, most of which are far tamer than what's seen on an average "CSI" episode. I work with pathologists, so forensic science interests me but if you're really looking for true crime fiction (as some other reviewers apparently were), stick to Ann Rule's books.

3 comments about Naked by the Window: The Fatal Marriage of Carl Andre and Ana Mendieta.

1. Ana Mendieta was a Cuban-born girl who moved to Iowa in the early 1960's as part of "Operation Peter Pan", a relocation program for Cuban children. First she was placed with her sister in an orphanage in Dubuque, before finally reuniting with her family in Cedar Rapids.
   
   The Cuban girl Mendieta grew into a beautiful woman who began expressing herself in performance art and sculpture with themes relating to the practice of Santeria, blood, earth, birth and death within the contexts of primitive Hispanic symbolism. In short, she was brilliant. However, she had a predisposition to form relationships with her artistic mentors. One of these was Carl Andre, an established minimalist sculptor that Mendieta married, using him as a bridge to join the New York art establishment. Mendieta eventually became disenchanted with the bearded Andre, a rather odd and stilted personality, perpetually clad in Grant Wood-style overalls. She made plans for a divorce, but tragically died in a fall from the thirty-fourth floor New York apartment of Andre.
   
   A trial ensued, in which most of the New York art establishment remained in solidarity with Andre, even though the alibi that he offered--that Mendieta committed suicide in a fit of jealousy--lacked plausibility. There simply was not enough evidence for the judge (Andre opted to forego a jury trial) to convict, and so justice was denied for yet another woman who lacked the power given her male counterpart.
   
   This is a fascinating story that could have been told in a better form--this book has a fractured format which hacks up Mendieta's life and death instead of presenting it logically. But, as the best book available on the subject, it deserves your attention.



2. this is an amazing book about our art world. Two big personalities clashing, outspoken women going down, an important voice lost.



3. This is a fascinating account of the life, and untimely death, of the gifted Cuban artist Ana Mendieta. The writer, Robert Katz says, I have "sought to narrate these events as they were revealed to me, certainly not chronologically or in any other 'logical' way." In spite of the odd sequence in the recounting of events it is a riveting read. Ana Mendieta was lovely, free-spirited, magnetic, and a rising star in the art world. Her tragic fall from a NYC highrise is a great, and enduring loss to the world. Carl Andre is depicted as a complicated, proud, eccentric individual. He had fatal flaws in his character, and at the time of Ana's death his star was descending. Nevertheless, he was an iconic figure who was defended, and protected, by his powerful and wealthy friends in the art world. A burning question remains, did Andre get away with murder?

2 comments about Murder at Green Springs: The True Story of the Hall Case, Firestorm of Prejudices.

1. Over the last few months a rather large stack of books has been accumulating on my bedside table -- books I'm eager to read but haven't found enough time for. So I wasn't exactly thrilled when a friend pushed a copy of MURDER AT GREEN SPRINGS into my hands and told me "You gotta read this!" I've never been a fan of accounts of true-life crime, being more an aficionado of general history books (or, my heart be still, mysteries) and having always found true crime accounts to be dry and gossipy in tone. But as I began reading the first few pages of MURDER AT GREEN SPRINGS, I was immediately struck by the ease with which I sank into Brandau's prose; the book zips along like one of those cleverly written novels designed to keep the unwitting reader from getting enough sleep. M at G S is equal parts crime scene investigation and gothic romance (I say the latter because Brandau unravels a dark, generations-old family secret concerning the plight of a woman who's as tragic a figure as any gothic heroine.) -- with a dollop of conspiracy theory thrown in for good measure. All this unfolds against a well-painted canvas of life in Virginia circa WWI, firmly placing the story into a much broader historical context. Clearly, the author is an adept storyteller, but it certainly doesn't hurt that he picked a cracker of a true tale to tell us -- involving (are you ready for this?) a skeleton long hidden in Brandau's own family closet. It's the story of Elizabeth Hall (great-grandmother of the author's wife), who was falsely accused of the 1914 murder of her husband in rural Louisa County; of her arrest and conviction, of the grossly mishandled investigation in which the evidence was made to fit the verdict, of scandal in a small town, and of the long legal battle to free an innocent woman. It's also a story as surprising and compelling as any thriller I've read, and one that reminded me that fact is always stranger than fiction. I'll stop here: anymore might undermine Brandau's skilled account of this thoroughly researched story. Certainly it would spoil the reader's pleasure of reliving what surely must go down as one of the most bizarre crime cases in Virginia history.



2. "Murder," J. K. Brandau writes, "was relatively rare and shocking." You don't have to know the era he's describing to know that it is not a recent era. Murder is so common these days, and our fascination with it so accomplished, that only the most bizarre of murders are able to shock (if at all). The most popular TV show in recent years not only shows that, but also shows, in scientifically explicit detail, how such murders are solved. It is hard to imagine a time when modern forensics did not exist; harder still to imagine how a murder--especially one of any complexity--was handled investigatively in such a pre-forensic time.
   
   On both accounts, Brandau leaves little to the imagination in recounting a murder case that unfolded in Virginia in the early 1900s, in his debut book, Murder At Green Springs. A former analytical chemist and material failure investigator, Brandau applied laser-like focus to researching what data exists about the murder of one Victor Hall in Louisa County (northwest of Richmond), Virginia. The massive research shows, as he recreates, in somewhat novel fashion, the world of the infamous Hall murder.
   
   He wastes no time immersing the reader in that world long gone--a world before computers, before modern forensics and even investigation (in the formal sense of the word). Over 350 pages later, when he lets the reader out of that world, he concludes with a brief but fascinating series of observations about the Hall murder. If there is sweat to wipe from your forehead at that point, you half expect to see it mingled with dust from a passing railroad car--blown right up off of the page. Brandau's immersion is that complete.
   
   Think Little House On the Prairie crossed with A Few Good Men and...well, let's leave the rest of that to the imaginations who have yet to read it. And it is well worth reading. It's an antiquated CSI episode--or miniseries, rather--except it's a true story. This isn't quite Lawrence Schiller's Perfect Murder, Perfect Town--the crisp book that breezed through the vast Ramsey murder case in all of its infamy--but it's close. The Hall case was, in its own way, equally infamous, but Brandau's book is a slower breeze. It's meant to be, for it's a slower time, more than a stone's throw away from the "jet-set" air that the 20th century would soon become known for. Once you're acclimated into the 1914 atmosphere, you can see why the Hall murder dropped like a torch into the Virginia environs, sucking up air and causing grasps.
   
   There are closer similarities worth making here between Brandau and Schiller. Where Schiller gives you Boulder, Colorado as context for the Ramsey case, Brandau gives you Louisa County, Virginia as context for the Hall case. Where Schiller gives you the twists and turns, from detective and court points of view, about the case evidence, Brandau does the same. There are fewer pieces of evidence for Brandau to deal with, yet the evidentiary back-and-forth is just as compelling--perhaps even more so than the Ramsey case, with its convoluted unfolding at a DNA level of investigation. The reason why is easy to see once you grasp how officers of the law and the courts dealt with blood and bullets before there were even such terms as bloodstain pattern analysis and ballistics. There are other points to be compared here: the local politics, the multiple detectives, personal histories and more. It is curious to see, at the very least, the things that haven't changed--the incendiary role of the press, for example. On that point alone, Murder At Green Springs might find itself amid college coursework reading about the effects of the media.
   
   As a historian and former crime scene investigator, I tip my hat to Brandau. It is a Virginia Tech hat--not because I went there, but because I am a lifelong Virginian--and for the slice-of-Virginia-history alone, I was intrigued, like one standing at an engraved historical marker never seen before until someone finally brushed away the leaves and grime to invite reader's eyes. Seeing how he amassed and arranged such a moth-eaten mass of information about a murder case that, apparently, many people from that time were content to leave to the moths, I was duly impressed. Seeing how a murder investigation was handled in a time just before modern investigations as we know it began dawning on that century, I was even more intrigued--all the way to Brandau's endnotes. You will be too. It is a historical marker worthy of being read by many.