Customer Reviews

Lovers, Killers, Husbands and Wives

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Author Martin Blinder, MD, is a psychiatrist who testifies in criminal court as an expert witness in murder trials, both for the prosecution and the defense. His specialty is establishing competency or incompetency to stand trial, as well as bolstering or disproving the claims of defendants who claim to be insane.

This book is written so that a regular person can understand the concepts, even without a legal or medical background. The author summarizes fifteen different murder cases in which he interviewed and evaluated the defendants. In the introduction, he also explains the significance of the M'Naughten rule, as well as the history of this interesting bit of legal history, in a way that a regular person can easily understand, instead of having to wade through pages of complicated legal jargon.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the subject of what makes people kill, especially within the context of a family relationship.

There is also one chapter in this book about a highly controversial murder case in San Francisco. Dr. Blinder evaluated defendant Dan White who was charged with the murder of two men - Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. After this case, Blinder was later unfairly tagged with the public persona of having invented 'The Twinkie Defense.'

This book is well written and makes complex legal concepts easy to understand. The case histories are chilling to read.