Tacoma Confidential: A True Story of Murder, Suicide, and a Police Chief's Secret Life (48 Hours Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Paul LaRosa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 3, 2006

Gig Harbor, Washington, a quiet Tacoma suburb, knew little of tragedy and scandal-until April 26, 2003. On that day, David Brame, distraught over his impending divorce, shot his wife to death in a busy public parking lot. Then, with the couple's two children only feet away, he turned the gun on himself. It was a horrific event, but Tacoma residents had special reason to be shocked. Brame was, after all, the chief of police.

But as the investigation unfolded, a bizarre and depraved side of Brame and his marriage came to light. Here, in chilling detail, is the full story of one of Gig Harbor's most violent and disturbing crimes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

LaRosa, a journalist and TV producer who was won two Emmy Awards, does a fine job detailing the tragic chain of events that led to the 2003 murder of Crystal Brame at the hands of her estranged husband, David Brame, the chief of police of Tacoma, Wash., who immediately killed himself. That this murder-suicide came as a shock to the local citizens was a testament both to the timidity of the press and the mishandling of David Brame's growing instability and violence by city government, including fellow members of the police force. The essential sadness of the tale comes through in LaRosa's careful prose, though he leaves some important ambiguities unresolved, perhaps by necessity. Some readers might have preferred more of an emphasis on the local politics that contributed to the enabling of Chief Brame's domestic violence, but this is a solid summary of the depressing basics of the case. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Signet (January 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451217268
• ISBN-13: 978-0451217264
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dear Friends,

I have some exciting news! My memoir "Leaving Story Avenue: My journey from the projects to the front page" will be published in April, 2012. Be assured that if you have any type of e-reader, it will be available in that format. If you do not have an e-reader, it will be available as a trade paperback.

It's a story about striving to become who you want to be and deals with the years I grew up in a Bronx housing project and how I made the leap to become a reporter at The New York Daily News when reporters were fun, full of life and sometime booze. It was a grand time. A memoir of a now lost era, the last days of the Front Page Era.

I've already received some very positive feedback. Ken Auletta, a writer & author at the New Yorker Magazine said: "Paul LaRosa has written a poignant and funny memoir that stretches in an unstraight line from mean Bronx streets to the newsroom of the Daily News. Along the way, in snappy prose, he sprinkles wisdom about New York, the pull of peers and of family, the ambition and pride that propels a working class kid to succeed, and a portrait of the zany New York Daily News newsroom that is one part exhilaration, and one part Front Page. At the end, readers will come to miss the engaging, self-deprecating author whose book reads as breezily as a delicious tabloid newspaper."

You can pre-order it now but the pub date is April 18, 2012. It will be published as a trade paperback and on Kindle and other e-formats. Thanks for taking a look.

Paul

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Story!!, June 7, 2006

By 

J. Johnson (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tacoma Confidential: A True Story of Murder, Suicide, and a Police Chief's Secret Life (48 Hours Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Paul LaRosa did such an extensive investigation it was as if he was there himself watching this brutal marriage and the lives and death of David Brame and his wife Chrystal. You can't put this book down for minute. So much research in the details of this horrible crime,from the family to David's Co workers to everyone around the both of them. Paul Larosa is an incredible author and can't wait to read his next book. This book is a must read.

26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "You are there....", May 18, 2006

By 

Anne Salazar "inveterate reader" (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tacoma Confidential: A True Story of Murder, Suicide, and a Police Chief's Secret Life (48 Hours Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I had never heard about this case so I didn't know what to expect when I started the book. It immediately had a "you are there" ring to it because of the easy flow and the details and descriptions. It read like a novel. This is such a sad story, especially for the children. How sick does a man have to be before somebody notices and does something about it? Do these psychopathic men really hide their evil so well? I can think of Scott Peterson, of course, and Laurie Hacking's husband, as well as others -- and David Brame fits right in with them. Nobody notices the sickness in these men until it is all over and their wives are dead? It is so sad. In any case, this was a very well-written book and I am going to check to see if Paul LaRosa has written any others.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent True Crime Read!!!, June 21, 2007

By 

Melanie Craven (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tacoma Confidential: A True Story of Murder, Suicide, and a Police Chief's Secret Life (48 Hours Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is AWESOME! A real page turner. Couldn't put it down...and when I had to, I couldn't wait to return to it! Paul LaRosa did an excellent job of taking you there! I read a lot of true crime..and this is definitely a great one!