Ann Rule was a writer working on the biggest story of her life, tracking down a brutal mass-murderer. Little did she know that Ted Bundy, her close friend, was the savage slayer she was hunting.  

Ann Rule's shocking and powerful account of the destructive forces that drove Diane Downs, a beautiful young mother, to shoot her three young children in cold blood.

On the night of October 23-24, 1995 in Prairie Village, Kansas, a fierce, wind-driven fire devastated the luxurious mansion of Dr. Debora Green and her husband, Dr. Michael Farrar. Trapped and burned to death in the flames were twelve-year-old Tim and his six-year-old sister Kelly. Lissa, ten,...  more

On the night of October 23-24, 1995 in Prairie Village, Kansas, a fierce, wind-driven fire devastated the luxurious mansion of Dr. Debora Green and her husband, Dr. Michael Farrar. Trapped and burned to death in the flames were twelve-year-old Tim and his six-year-old sister Kelly. Lissa, ten, was barely able to leap to safety from the garage roof into the arms of her mother, who was standing outside the house. When Michael Farrar returned to the scene, he had lost more than his children and his home. His entire life was in ruins. The fire was the climactic event of Michael and Debora's lives. Until that summer, they seemed to have it all -- a happy marriage, successful medical practices, three bright and beautiful children. Then they went on a trip to Peru with their son. There, they met attractive, blonde Celeste Walker, whose husband, John was also a successful doctor. But after that trip, nothing was the same again for either couple, and all the dark hidden places in Debora and Michael's marriage bubbled to the surface in a series of almost unbelievable horrors. Bitter Harvest is the chronicle of this tragedy in the heartland of America, the true story of the disintegration of a marriage and its horrifying consequences. Rule takes us deep in the psyche of a killer whose behavior was so twisted and so evil that it defies belief. Gripping, powerful, and ultimately terrifying, Bitter Harvest is a vivid recreation of an unthinkable crime -- and a depiction of the unimagined depths of a darkness within the human spirit. Read by Mary Beth Hurt.  Abridged: 4 audio discs (4 hr.)  

Jeffrey MacDonald was the quintessential American golden boy: a young Princeton-educated doctor and Green Beret who married his high school sweetheart and had two adorable daughters. But then, in 1970, someone viciously murdered MacDonald's wife and children, stabbing them many times....  more

Jeffrey MacDonald was the quintessential American golden boy: a young Princeton-educated doctor and Green Beret who married his high school sweetheart and had two adorable daughters. But then, in 1970, someone viciously murdered MacDonald's wife and children, stabbing them many times. MacDonald maintained that the murders had been committed by demented hippies, Manson-like intruders who had broken into his home and, after tangling briefly with MacDonald himself, had moved on to the rest of the family. Various investigators and laypeople felt differently, but the evidence was inconclusive and it took years of court battles to bring MacDonald to justice. Joe McGuinness combines meticulous forensic analysis with a riveting narrative of the crime, investigation, and trial. He also paints a subtle psychological portrait of MacDonald, which unfolds over the course of the book to create a harrowingly plausible answer to the question: how could a man like Jeffrey MacDonald slaughter his entire family in cold blood?

When businessman Frank Columbo, his wife Mary and their 13-year-old son, Michael, were savagely murdered on their suburban Chicago home, one thought raced through everyone's mind...who would tell Patty? But Patty already knew.Led into an adult world of drugs and kinky sex parties by Frank...  more

When businessman Frank Columbo, his wife Mary and their 13-year-old son, Michael, were savagely murdered on their suburban Chicago home, one thought raced through everyone's mind...who would tell Patty? But Patty already knew.Led into an adult world of drugs and kinky sex parties by Frank DeLuca, a married man twice her age, the fifteen-year-old had become his sexual slave--desperately, blindly devoted to him. when her parents divorced their daughter's shocking secret life, her enraged father threatened to kill them both. But the lovers struck first, leaving a scene of appalling family carnage.rowing into womanhood in a maximum security prison, Patricia Ann Columbo has finally revealed to author Clark Howard what really happened that dark and fateful night. From their intimate conversations come a chilling, first-hand view of cold-blooded murder--and a twisted love gone horribly wrong.

Hero, Husband, Father . . . Monster? In Creekstone, Texas, a small, quiet suburb of Houston, football was king . . . and David Temple was a prince. A former high school and college gridiron star-turned-coach, he had a fairy-tale marriage to bright, vivacious Belinda Lucas, a teacher at the...  more

Hero, Husband, Father . . . Monster? In Creekstone, Texas, a small, quiet suburb of Houston, football was king . . . and David Temple was a prince. A former high school and college gridiron star-turned-coach, he had a fairy-tale marriage to bright, vivacious Belinda Lucas, a teacher at the local high school who was so warm and popular her colleagues called her "The Sunshine Girl." The fairy tale ended savagely on January 11, 1999, when Belinda's lifeless body was discovered in a closet. Her skull had been shattered by a shotgun blast at close range. She was eight months pregnant. There was no damning evidence directly linking the brutal murder to husband David, who stood by emotionless and dry-eyed as police searched the crime scene. But a dogged eight-year investigation would expose a shocking history of cruelty and domination, infidelity and rage -- ultimately resulting in an epic courtroom battle for the ages -- as the scandalous truth was revealed about love betrayed and innocent lives . . . shattered.

Betty Broderick was positioned, by personality and acculturation, to be a victim of her husband, in the view of Stumbo, a recently retired reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Betty, described as beautiful and intelligent, was raised by her rigidly Catholic parents to be the loving wife of one...  more

Betty Broderick was positioned, by personality and acculturation, to be a victim of her husband, in the view of Stumbo, a recently retired reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Betty, described as beautiful and intelligent, was raised by her rigidly Catholic parents to be the loving wife of one man and the mother of his children. She was also trained to have "an infinite capacity to put on a happy face." She helped support Dan while he attended Cornell Medical School and Harvard Law School; after they moved to San Diego, he became a millionaire and president of the local bar association. When Dan began an affair with a former airline stewardess, he divorced Betty and determined to deprive her of their shared assets in a settlement. The San Diego legal community closed ranks behind him in his campaign of what one psychiatrist described as "legal abuse." In 1989, after several years of this treatment, Betty fatally shot both Dan and his new wife Linda. Betty's first trial ended in a hung jury, her second in a guilty verdict and a sentence of 30 years to life. Stumbo's sensitive portrait is not so partisan as to depict Betty as a saintly martyr, but it is nonetheless a searing depiction of a woman so conditioned by what she perceived as traditional femininity that she became self-destructive, "a woman in ruins." Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

What makes a model father murder his estranged wife, then go on TV pleading for her to come home? How does a devoted wife and mother walk into a beauty salon and shoot her ex-husband's pregnant lover in cold blood? No one ever knows what really goes on behind the closed doors of a marriage in...  more

What makes a model father murder his estranged wife, then go on TV pleading for her to come home? How does a devoted wife and mother walk into a beauty salon and shoot her ex-husband's pregnant lover in cold blood? No one ever knows what really goes on behind the closed doors of a marriage in freefall. The people in this book weren't born evil, but in the heat of a relationship break-up, all restraint melted and violent passions spiraled out of control. The most basic of emotions are involved in these stories of spouses who have gone to extreme lengths to rid themselves of their partners.

WAS SHE A SWEET SOUTHERN CHARMER? OR A COLD-BLOODED KILLER? For their wedding portrait, petite Pat Taylor and handsome Tom Allanson posed as Rhett and Scarlett. Both came from fine Southern families, and dreamed of the Tara-like plantation where they would grow roses, raise horses, and move...  more

WAS SHE A SWEET SOUTHERN CHARMER? OR A COLD-BLOODED KILLER? For their wedding portrait, petite Pat Taylor and handsome Tom Allanson posed as Rhett and Scarlett. Both came from fine Southern families, and dreamed of the Tara-like plantation where they would grow roses, raise horses, and move in the genteel circles of Atlanta society. Less than two months later, their dream exploded in terror and murder: their beautiful home mysteriously burned to the ground and Tom was convicted of the brutal slaying of his mother and father. Pat's only brother had died in a puzzling suicide, her grandparents-in-law were poisoned with arsenic, and no one -- from her wealthy employers to her own children -- was safe when Pat Allanson didn't get her way. It took Georgia lawmen more than two decades to stop her for good -- if indeed they have. In this fascinating account, Ann Rule delivers a tour de force: a whirlwind of misguided love, denial, guilt, and passions out of control; a series of brilliantly manipulated crimes; the bizarre and horrifying tale of two families brought to ruin; and, at the center of it all, the heartless, supremely selfish sociopath whose evil hid behind soft words and gentle manners, but who destroyed -- without mercy -- those who loved her.

Follows the murder of attorney Cheryl Keeton and the trial of her husband, Brad Cunningham, recounting his bizarre life of multiple marriages, financial manipulations, and acts of harassment and revenge. When attorney Cheryl Keeton's brutally bludgeoned body was found in her van in the fast...  more

Follows the murder of attorney Cheryl Keeton and the trial of her husband, Brad Cunningham, recounting his bizarre life of multiple marriages, financial manipulations, and acts of harassment and revenge. When attorney Cheryl Keeton's brutally bludgeoned body was found in her van in the fast lane of an Oregon freeway, her husband, Brad Cunningham, was the likely suspect. But there was no solid evidence linking him to the crime. He married again, for the fifth time, and his stunning new wife, a physician named Sara, adopted his three sons. They all settled down to family life on a luxurious estate. But gradually, their marriage became a nightmare... In this gripping account of Cheryl's murder, Ann Rule takes us from Brad's troubled boyhood to one of the most bizarre trials in legal history, uncovering multiple marriages, financial manipulations, infidelities, and monstrous acts of harassment and revenge along the way.

The shattering crime story that shocked the nation: the Thomas Capano murder case. On a June evening in 1996, 30-year-old Anne Marie Fahey, secretary to the governor of Delaware, vanished without a trace following a restaurant rendezvous with her secret lover of more than two years: Thomas...  more

The shattering crime story that shocked the nation: the Thomas Capano murder case. On a June evening in 1996, 30-year-old Anne Marie Fahey, secretary to the governor of Delaware, vanished without a trace following a restaurant rendezvous with her secret lover of more than two years: Thomas Capano. One of Wilmington's most prominent and respected figures, a millionaire attorney and former state prosecutor, "Tommy" was a charming, soft spoken family man. But in the weeks and months that followed Fahey's disappearance, investigators would gradually uncover the shocking truth: Capano was a steely manipulator driven by power and greed -- and capable of brutal murder. In a riveting narrative expertly documented by probing interviews, diary entries, and e-mail correspondence, and with superb insight into the twisted motivations of a killer, Ann Rule chronicles a real-life drama of Shakespearian proportions: ambitions fall, love turns to obsession, family names are tainted, the facade of success crumbles -- and a beautiful but vulnerable young woman pays the ultimate price in a convoluted and deadly relationship.

In September 2007, a packed courtroom in St. George, Utah, sat hushed as Elissa Wall, the star witness against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, gave captivating testimony of how Jeffs forced her to marry her first cousin at age fourteen. This harrowing and vivid account proved to be the most...  more

In September 2007, a packed courtroom in St. George, Utah, sat hushed as Elissa Wall, the star witness against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, gave captivating testimony of how Jeffs forced her to marry her first cousin at age fourteen. This harrowing and vivid account proved to be the most compelling evidence against Jeffs, showing the harsh realities of this closed community and the lengths to which Jeffs went in order to control the sect's women. Now, in this courageous memoir, Elissa Wall tells the incredible and inspirational story of how she emerged from the confines of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and helped bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice. Offering a child's perspective on life in the FLDS, Wall discusses her tumultuous youth, explaining how her family's turbulent past intersected with her strong will and identified her as a girl who needed to be controlled through marriage. Detailing how Warren Jeffs's influence over the church twisted its already rigid beliefs in dangerous new directions, Wall portrays the inescapable mind-set and unrelenting pressure that forced her to wed despite her repeated protests that she was too young. Once she was married, Wall's childhood shattered as she was obligated to follow Jeffs's directives and submit to her husband in "mind, body, and soul." With little money and no knowledge of the outside world, she was trapped and forced to endure the pain and abuse of her loveless relationship, which eventually pushed her to spend nights sleeping in her truck rather than face the tormentor in her bed. Yet even in those bleak times, she retained a sliver of hope that one day she would find a way out, and one snowy night that came in the form of a rugged stranger named Lamont Barlow. Their chance encounter set in motion a friendship and eventual romance that gave her the strength she needed to break free from her past and sever the chains of the church. But though she was out of the FLDS, Wall would still have to face Jeffs--this time in court. In Stolen Innocence, she delves into the difficult months on the outside that led her to come forward against him, working with prosecutors on one of the biggest criminal cases in Utah's history, so that other girls still inside the church might be spared her cruel fate. More than a tale of survival and freedom, Stolen Innocence is the story of one heroic woman who stood up for what was right and reclaimed her life.

THE MIRACLE OF LIFEWhen Lisa Montgomery presented her husband Kevin with their new-born baby girl, he was ecstatic. Naming the child Abigail, the couple brought her to their local pastor. Miles away, police were investigating the brutal murder of a pregnant woman...THE HORROR OF...  more

THE MIRACLE OF LIFEWhen Lisa Montgomery presented her husband Kevin with their new-born baby girl, he was ecstatic. Naming the child Abigail, the couple brought her to their local pastor. Miles away, police were investigating the brutal murder of a pregnant woman...THE HORROR OF MURDERTwenty-three year old Bobbie Jo Stinnett was found by her mother, lying in a pool of blood, looking as if her stomach “had exploded.” Investigators soon determined: Someone had strangled Bobbie Jo to death—and then cut her fetus from her womb...THE WOMAN ACCUSED OF KILLING FOR AN UNBORN CHILD...In late 2004, two women met in a dog-breeding internet chat room. When Elizabeth Montgomery came face to face with eight-months-pregnant Bobbie Jo Stinnett, prosecutors claim she already had a plan. Investigators knew that Bobbie Jo had fought desperately for her life—and that her fetus, alive or dead, was gone. Investigators scrambled after a killer. An “Amber Alert” went out for an hours-old infant. And this horrifying case was about to shock neighbors and a nation: of a woman accused of murdering for a baby...

On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues. Five years, four months and...  more

On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues. Five years, four months and twenty-nine days later, on April 14, 1965, Richard Eugene Hickock, aged thirty-three, and Perry Edward Smith, aged thirty-six, were hanged from the crime on a gallows in a warehouse in the Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing, Kansas. In Cold Blood is the story of the lives and deaths of these six people. It has already been hailed as a masterpiece.