Grave Accusations: A True Story of Lies, Family Secrets, and Death (True Crime (St. Martin's Paperbacks)) [Mass Market Paperback]

Andrea Egger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2004 | Series: True Crime (St. Martin's Paperbacks)

A shotgun blast blows away beautiful thirty-one-year-old Monica Dunn, the mother of three young daughters, in the bedroom of her suburban home. Her husband stands only feet away from her. Is it suicide or murder?

Police officer Paul Dunn is suspected of killing his estranged wife. Maintaining his innocence, he is ostracized by his fellow officers and friends, is condemned by Monica's well-connected family, loses custody of his children, and is finally indicted for murder by a grand jury.

As a trial that gain national attention ensues, Monica reached from beyond the grave with an avenging testament. But will her chilling words convict Paul Dunn, or free him?

A real-life whodunit, Grave Accusations exposes the shocking secrets of a doomed marriage and a sensational trial that would destroy lives and tear apart a town with whispers of betrayal, obsessive romance, and violent death.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Egger has skillfully combined Paul's and others' memories with a variety of sources, including court documents, interviews, testimony and press accounts into a potent psychological drama." -Publishers Weekly

From the Back Cover

A Wife and Mother Lie Dead
A shotgun blast blows away beautiful thirty-one-year old Monica Dunn, the mother of three young daughters, in the bedroom of her suburban home. Her husband stands only feet away from her. Was it suicide or murder?

A Husband Indicted
Police officer Paul Dunn is suspected of killing his estranged wife. Maintaining his innocence he is ostracized by his fellow officers and friends, condemned by Monica's well-connected family, loses custody of his children, and is finally indicted for murder by a grand jury.

A Dead Witness
As the trial that gained national attention ensues, Monica reaches from the beyond the grave with an avenging testament. But will her chilling words convict him or free him?

A Grave Accusation
A real-life whodunit, Grave Accusations exposes the shocking secrets of a doomed marriage and a sensational trial that would destroy lives and tear apart a town with whispers of betrayal, obsessive romance, and violent death.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime; 1st THUS edition (February 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031298524X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312985240
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,537,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Crime & Criminals > Criminology

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save Your Money and Don't Buy This Book, February 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Grave Accusations: A True Story of Lies, Family Secrets, and Death (True Crime (St. Martin's Paperbacks)) (Mass Market Paperback)

I am an avid true-crime reader and have read over 300 true crime books. I have never read one as bad as this one. Quite frankly, I am very surprised that St. Martin's published this.

Ms. Egger states that she is an "investigative journalist." Evidently she only investigates one side of the story. Ms. Egger makes little to no attempt to tell both sides of this story. The book is written by Ms. Egger "in collaboration with Paul Dunn" - who was the defendant in the case. In reality, the book appears to have been written by Dunn with Egger's name attached. Ms. Egger appears to me to be infatuated with the man -- how else to explain this nonsense?

This is the first time I have ever written a bad review for a book. But, honestly, I thought this one was so bad it deserved comment.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Just Plain Lame, July 12, 2008

By 

S. Rynd - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grave Accusations: A True Story of Lies, Family Secrets, and Death (True Crime (St. Martin's Paperbacks)) (Mass Market Paperback)

I made a mistake in getting this book as I usually try to avoid anything that is co-written by a principle in the case.

This book is an excellent example of why I try to avoid such books. It is poorly written with just plain boring useage of language. It is also written as if serial philander Paul Dunn is some sort of God or at least very special being. There is no balance of characters.

Whether or not he killed Monica (and he probably did), he is now trying to make a profit by dragging his dead wife's name through the mud. I feel so sorry for her poor daughters.

This would have been interesing if written by an unbiased party, but as it is, it is pure garbage that St. Martin's should not have published.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Amazing story, June 11, 2004

By 

W. Flood "WmFlood" (Allentown, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grave Accusations: A True Story of Lies, Family Secrets, and Death (True Crime (St. Martin's Paperbacks)) (Mass Market Paperback)

This isn't much of a whodunnit, per se. You know fairly early on which side the author is on. (This is likely because so many people on the opposite side refused to cooperate). However, you really don't know if justice is going to be done until the end of the case.
I produced a TV show on the case, and the book is extremely accurate. The writing -- like most true-crime writing--left me underwhelmed because it seems so overblown. But if you want to learn how the justice system does and does not work, this is an excellent look at it. A good explanation of the politics, pressures, and forensic analysis that are crucial in so many cases.