Tailspin: The Strange Case of Major Call [Hardcover]

Bernard F. Conners (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2002

Written by former FBI agent and best-selling author Bernard F. Conners, TAILSPIN is a suspenseful true crime narrative which contains stunning revelations regarding Major James Call's role as Marilyn Sheppard's killer. It has received glowing endorsements from some of the top law enforcement and literary figures in America.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

James Arlon Call was a distinguished Air Force major whose life veered off course after his wife's unexpected death in 1952: he went from career military man to career criminal. Drunk, drifting from city to city, using the spoils of his crimes to cover his gambling debts, Call committed serial burglary in the suburbs of Cleveland and upstate New York that culminated two years later in a deadly shootout with police. With his temerity and survival training, Call slipped through the East Coast dragnet (a newspaper termed him "the phantom killer of the Adirondacks") and was finally captured several months later in a Reno pawnshop. But this crime spree is not the bombshell here: tracing Call's fugitive days, Conners (Dancehall), a former FBI agent, posits that Call was in fact the notorious "bushy-haired intruder" wanted in connection with the death of Marilyn Sheppard, better known as the wife of Dr. Sam Sheppard. Marilyn's murder (and her husband's avowed innocence) provided the basis for the television show The Fugitive and its spinoff film franchise, and was recently reexamined brilliantly so and toward a different conclusion in The Wrong Man by James Neff. Part of the problem with Conners's account lies in his narration, a liberal dramatization based on the facts garnished with re-created conversations. Moreover, the Sheppard theory's evidence occurs not in the narrative but in an exhausting 150-page addendum compiled of largely circumstantial evidence, and the decision as to whether Call was involved in the murders is left to the reader's discretion. The result is a two-part book whose conclusions are far from satisfactory. 150 b&w photos.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Major Call had it all: he was a war hero with a beautiful wife, a new baby, and a promising aviation career ahead of him. But when his wife died in 1954, Call's life went into a tailspin. Always a gambler and a risk taker, he went AWOL and began a crime spree that would end in the murder of a policeman in Lake Placid, NY. But novelist and former FBI agent Conners thinks that Call was involved in another murder and shows evidence that he was the "bushy-haired stranger" in the notorious Sheppard murder in Bay Village, OH. The book is split rather awkwardly into two parts, the first narrating Call's life from 1949 (when he met his wife) to his death in 1974 and the second offering circumstantial evidence that links him to Marilyn Sheppard's murder. Possibly, this should have been two books. But Call's life is interesting even without the speculation about the Sheppard case, and this should be considered for regional libraries and large true-crime collections. Deirdre Bray Root, Middletown P.L., OH
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 506 pages
• Publisher: British American Publishing; First Edition edition (May 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945167504
• ISBN-13: 978-0945167501
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,765,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars thrilling story. but hard evidence?, August 3, 2002

By 

jeremiah (Hamburg) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tailspin: The Strange Case of Major Call (Hardcover)

Tailspin is a real thriller, a book you'll try to finish in one go. the "true story" of Major Call and his crimes and his link to a gruesome murder some 50 years ago seems so much more thrilling as it is non-fiction - or is it not? To be critical, a lot of conversations, thoughts, moves, have been liberally construed by the author, and the link between Major Call and the Sheppard-murder is circumstial, at best. So there is a lot of fiction in this book.
Nevertheless, it's worth reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 Star Book, May 12, 2003

By 

S. E. Rowland "It's your birthright to be cre... (Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tailspin: The Strange Case of Major Call (Hardcover)

There is not much I can add to the other reviews. I couldn't put it down either and spent the whole day reading until my eyes gave out. Bernard F. Connors can really write. Major Call, the poetry loving desperado was an almost likable fellow, but as usual, "there was something about him." And God help the person who got in his way. A dedicated military and family man, he couldn't control his rages or his weakness for dangerous situations, fast cars, and stealing. He may very well have been the mysterious bushy haired stranger seen in the Bay Village neighborhood where Marilyn Sheppard was murdered in the 50's. Did he kill her? Read the book and decide for yourself. I went back and re-read parts of the story and studied the haunting photos. There are also documents and additonal photos in the back of the book. This is one you will want to own.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Major Call was my grandfather..., August 1, 2006

By 

Mrs. W. Ardoin (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tailspin: The Strange Case of Major Call (Paperback)

Major Call was my grandfather. I never knew him and know very little about him due to the fact that no one in my family has ever been willing to speak of him. I tried to read this book objectively. I was aware of the fact that my grandfather was a murderer growing up so it wouldn't have been difficult for me to accept the premise of this book.However, I don't think there is any solid evidence to implicate my grandfather in this case. I also think the book is poorly written (the made-up conversations are overly dramatic, the scant evidence poorly presented) and I think the author is basically trying to use lightning to illuminate a match, as it were.