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Hastened to the Grave: The Gypsy Murder Investigation [Hardcover]

Jack Olsen (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)


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Book Description

May 1998
The bestselling author of Son and Doc investigates a chilling series of alleged murders that exposes the sinister underworld of Gypsy culture in America

In June of 1994, the Oakland Tribune cracked a story of a string of bizarre deaths in the San Francisco area. The victims were elderly, well-to-do and, in each case, had been befriended by members of an extended Gypsy family -- the Tene Bimbos.

Fay Faron, also known as Rat Dog Dick, a dynamic and unconventional private investigator in the Bay Area, was contacted by a lawyer to investigate the strange accusations of an elderly widow who claimed she was being swindled out of her hilltop mansion by a young man named Danny Tene. Within days, the widow was dead and Danny Tene stood to inherit a fortune. Olsen chronicles Faron's hunt for Danny Tene, his mother Mary Steiner, and his beautiful sister Angela -- a family of suspected con artists who may have been responsible for the deaths of as many as five helpless elderly men and women, whose property -- and possibly whose lives -- the family allegedly stole.



Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jack Olsen's Hastened to the Grave: The Gypsy Murder Investigation features a delightful hero: a female private investigator who calls herself "Rat Dog Dick." Rat Dog relies on an ancient Everex 286 computer (Evil Evie), a Toyota Tercel (The Frog Prince) that is so outrageously green it's useless for surveillance, and a big, funny-looking dog (Beans). She is probably the best skip tracer (someone who finds people) in San Francisco. Once she gets her teeth into the "Foxglove" case--several old people who dwindle and die quickly after being "befriended" by a local Gypsy family--the fact that she has no client to pay her for her work is just not an issue. The police are ignoring clear evidence of elder abuse, and Rat Dog is outraged. We follow every step of her adventures as she learns a whole lot about Gypsies and turns into a fierce advocate for the elderly.

Jack Olsen's prose style is supple and engaging, with funny dialogue and colorful characters worthy of an Elmore Leonard novel. His observations about people (especially women) are priceless, and his account of Gypsy crime and police negligence is balanced and thought-provoking. Hastened to the Grave is a true crime classic by a master at the top of his form. --Fiona Webster

From Publishers Weekly

Author of 27 books (Salt of the Earth, etc.), Olsen has found a winning protagonist in Fay Faron, the straight-shooting, busty blonde proprietress of Rat Dog Dick, a down-and-out San Francisco detective agency comprised of Faron and her trusty mutt, Beans. Olsen's latest true-crime saga begins when Faron is hired by a lawyer friend to check out Danny Tene, who the lawyer suspects is bilking an elderly client out of her life savings. When the client turns up dead, Faron suspects murder. Her investigation leads her to the shady and mysterious world of the Tene Bimbo clan (the family Peter Maas chronicled in King of the Gypsies), and six more bodies, all elderly men, all seemingly seduced by Tene women as far back as 1984 and duped into giving the women their money and property. Apparently not content to wait for the natural demise of their aging charges, the Tenes allegedly dosed them with the heart medication digitalis, which acts as a slow, difficult-to-detect poison. Faron finally gets the police to act on the evidence she's uncovered; as of the writing of this book, the supposed perpetrator of the so-called Foxglove murderer (named for the plant that produces digitalis) was still to go to trial (Olsen concludes with the November 1997 indictments). As the trial promises to be fascinating in its own right, readers with an interest in the case would have been better served by a definitive account. Even so, Olsen does his usual professional job here, turning in a brisk, well-researched treatment of murders most foul. 8 pages of b&w photos, not seen by PW. Literary Guild, Mystery Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 276 pages
  • Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (May 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312183623
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312183622
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,554,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Could NOT put it down!, September 8, 1999
By A Customer
I read ALL of Jack Olsen's books and this one was one of the best! So great, that I visited Fay Faron's website and e-mailed her to tell her how much I admire what she did. SO WHAT that he wrote so much about Fay's personal life. It's a true-crime story, and Fay's true life was part of it for over four years. This book should be read by anyone vulnerable to any type of con game, Gypsy or not. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Book, Incredible Subject, August 4, 2000
By 
Debra L. Fisher (LaFollette, TN United States) - See all my reviews
My first Jack Olsen book and definitely not my last. Read it straight through the night. Although I found the focus on Fay Faron a bit much and would have prefered more pictures of the victims and especially the perps (the better to watch out for them), this book was an excellent read. The outcome is absolutely amazing--proving once again that police politics win rather than justice. Thank goodness that people like Fay Faron exist. Taking into consideration that we all will grow old, this book should be read by everyone.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Hastened to the gave:the Gypsy murders, July 20, 2000
A Kid's Review
I can't believe someone had the courage to write this book. I am sad to say that it is more serious than this book could ever expose. It is hard to fathom that people could be so vicious and sick and to do such crimes. My grandmother was a victim of some of these sick, twisted people. I am so glad that Jack Olsen had the guts to write this book. I could not put it down. I wish there were more books on Gypsy scams, crime and murder.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
FAY FARON ALWAYS answered her phone with a cheery "Rat Dog Dick!" even though she was well aware that some of her callers would gladly garrote her and feed her to the crabs off Pier 45. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
trash raids, joint tenancy agreement, magic salt, fraud unit, fraud inspectors, skip tracer
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
San Francisco, New York, Jerry Lama, Tene Bimbo, Mary Steiner, Angela Bufford, Danny Tene, Richard Nelson, Uncle Dick, Harry Glover Hughes, Frog Prince, George Lama, Hall of Justice, Jim Vlasto, Dan Reed, French Village Deli, Greg Ovanessian, Fay Faron, Konstantin Liotweizen, Fourteenth Avenue, Hope Victoria Beesley, Ken Chan, Mary Tene Steiner, West Portal, Andrew Vlasto
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