Series: Ann Rule's Crime Files | Publication Date: January 2008
Includes Ann Rule's insider commentary on the Mary Winkler murder case
REAL-LIFE MURDER. REAL-LIFE MYSTERY.
In some murder cases, the truth behind the most tragic of crimes crystallizes with relative ease. Not so with these fascinating accounts drawn from the personal files of Ann Rule, America's #1 bestselling true-crime writer. What happens when the case itself becomes an intractable puzzle, when clues are shrouded in smoke and mirrors, and when criminals skillfully evade law enforcement in a maddening cat-and-mouse chase? Even the most devoted true-crime reader won't predict the outcome of these truly baffling cases until the conclusions revealed in Ann Rule's marvelously insightful narrative: An ideal family is targeted for death by the least likely enemy, who plotted their demise from behind bars.... A sexual predator hides behind multiple fake identities, eluding police for years while his past victims live in fear that he will hunt them down.... A modest preacher's wife confesses to shooting her husband after an argument -- but there's more to her shattering story than meets the eye. These and other true cases are analyzed with stunning clarity in a page-turning collection you won't be able to put down.
Ann Rule is the author of more than two dozen New York Times bestsellers, all of them still in print. A former Seattle police officer, she knows the crime scene firsthand. She is a certified instructor for police training seminars and lectures frequently to law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and forensic science organizations, including the FBI. For more than two decades, she has been a powerful advocate for victims of violent crime. She has testified before U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittees on serial murder and victims' rights, and was a civilian adviser to the VI-CAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program). A graduate of the University of Washington, she holds a Ph.D. in Humane Letters from Willamette University. She lives near Seattle and can be contacted through her Web page at www.annrules.com.
--This text refers to the
Mass Market Paperback
edition.
I am an author of true-crime books, and I'm now working on my 25th and 26th: NO REGRETS and TOO LATE TO SAY GOODBYE. I have lived in the Seattle Area for many years. Before that, I grew up in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and lived in Texas, Oregon, and near Niagara Falls, N.Y. I always wanted to be a police officer--because my grandfather was a sheriff in Michigan. I joined the Seattle Police Department when I was 21, worked a year and a half, but then I couldn't pass the eye test. After five years of rejection slips, I finally sold my first article for $35! Soon, I found my niche when I began writing for the fact-detective magazines like TRUE DETECTIVE in 1970, and I wrote more than a thousand homicide cases, and went to hundreds of trials. My first book, THE STRANGER BESIDE ME, was about Ted Bundy, but, amazingly, I had the book contract to write about an unknown killer six months before Bundy was identified as the "Ted Killer." And I had known him all along, and didn't realize it; he was my partner in the all-night shift at Seattle's Crisis Clinic! Oddly, I started out writing humor, but unless you are Erma Bombeck, Garrison Keillor, or Fanny Flagg or Dave Barry, it's hard to make a living. Now I write humor for fun and for my friends.
I graduated in Creative Writing from the U of Washington, with minors in criminology and psychology. I also have an AA degree in law enforcement, taking classes in crime scene investigation, arrest, search and seizure, crime scene photography and forensic science. I've lectured in seminars all across America to detectives, prosecutors, and even at the FBI Academy. My subjects have been serial murder, high profile offenders, and women who kill. I write two books every year--one hardcover single-case book, and one Ann Rule's True Crime Files original paperback. Although people tend to think I write only about the Northwest, I go wherever the cases are most interesting. I've written about murder cases in Florida, Georgia, New York, Kansas, Texas, Hawaii, and California, too.
I raised five children on my own--starting out with articles for baby care magazines, Sunday features, true confessions, and then "slicks" like Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, and Reader's Digest. Now, my children are grown.
I like to keep in very close touch with my readers, and I'm able to do that with a weblog and a guestbook on my website pages at www.annrules.com This also gives readers a chance to talk with each other, and its' a pretty lively spot--as I'm sure this page will be.
To choose a book subject, I weed through about 3,000 suggestions from readers. I'm looking for an "anti-hero" whose eventual arrest shocks those who knew him (or her): attractive, brilliant, charming, popular, wealthy, talented, and much admired in their communities--but really hiding behind masks.
I'm a reader myself, and I always have several books going at once--one upstairs, downstairs, near the bathtub, in my car, and beside my hammock (in the summer, of course!)
I haven't met an Ann Rule book I didn't like, but they are always too short! This one I read in two days. This book focus' on women in abusive relationships that lead to murder or almost-murder. I really liked the stories that are older cases. With so many true crime shows on TV, it's hard to find something new and fresh. Since this is a "crime file" you have the option of dipping into the book when you'd like, story by story. Ann also has many resources for women in trouble in this volume including websites to visit. Ann always makes the victims come alive in each of her books, honoring them in a way few can.
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I highly recommend Smoke, Mirrors and Murder. This book is a powerful and purposeful look at the entanglements of abusive relationships. Ann Rule is keenly attuned and deals clearly with the dauntingly difficult subject of abuse. Not only does Ann give you the red flags to ponder in a relationship she tells you where to get help in this book. The stories are riveting. The Deputy's Wife is an intimate portrait of an individual that abused his wife and family and the fear one feels in this situation. All the stories in this book are noteworthy and fascinatingly insightful. This book is a must read.
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I am a long-time admirer of Ann Rule's true crime genre. Usually, when I know she has a book coming out, I make sure I don't get into any other reading, book-wise, so I can totally enjoy her latest offering. What has always made her books so interesting, and impossible to put down, are her incredible descriptions of all the players. This is definitely missing this time around. The first story just seemed to go on and on and on, with a lot of it feeling repetitive. I had hoped to get more out of the following stories, but, alas, it was not to be. I didn't find even one of them that really drew me in, and actually was glad when I finished, so that I could go on to another book I've been saving. She has always been the number one true crime writer, but I sure hope the next book is more on par with the quality of her former books. Sincerely, Karol Santiago
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Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bill Jensen, The Deputy's Wife, Mary Winkler, The Minister's Wife, Yancy Carrothers, Matthew Winkler, Cheryl Snow, Dorothy Jones, Raoul Guy Rockwell, Doris Mae, Martha Carelli, Sue Jensen, The Antiques Dealer's Wife, Cloyd Steiger, King County, Larry Light, Doug Parry, Jim Reed, Orange Beach, Church of Christ, The Truck Driver's Wife, Newport Hills, Judge Jones, Steve Farese, Dante Blackwell
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