Customer Reviews

Crime Scene USA: A Traveler's Guide to the Locations of Famous and Infamous Murders

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This guide to crime scenes in the United States is a wonderfully usable source book for both road warriors and armchair travelers. It provides detailed descriptions of famous and infamous crime sites, ranging alphabetically from Alcatraz Prison to bankrobber Butch Cassidy's cell in the Wyoming Territorial Prison, geographicallly from New York City (site of John Lennon's murder)to Honolulu(where Hawaii's only serial murder case remains unsolved). Packed with facts, vivid descriptions, useful details, maps and directions, it makes for a very informative and entertaining read--whether you follow one of these "paths of crime" or not.

Who says crime doesn't pay? It paid for the members of BADGE (Bureau of Amateur Detectives and Gatherers for Evidence) who compiled this tongue-in-cheek , but quite useful, book that hopefully will make a killing. Why go to sunny Bermuda when you can visit rock-cold Alcatraz? Why hit the slopes of Colorado when you can ski along by the home of JonBenet Ramsey? Why bank on good taste when you can get a taste of real fun and drop by one of the banks robbed by Butch Cassidy and his Sundance kid? This state-by-state guide offers crime buffs (and the mere curious) the chance to trace the steps of murderers, thieves, spies, kidnappers and organized crime bosses. Not loving it would be, well, criminal.

This book really didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. I was expecting some more detail in the maps, and only a couple events in each state were highlighted. There were some really big cases completely ignored that I thought deserved attention more than the ones that he chose. California's Zodiac Killer and Florida's University of Florida Gainesville College Murders were among those that I was surprised to see were overlooked. I can only recommend this if you're looking for scant information on a very limited number of cases. Otherwise, look elsewhere.