The Millionaire's Wife: The True Story of a Real Estate Tycoon, his Beautiful Young Mistress, and a Marriage that Ended in Murder [Mass Market Paperback]

Cathy Scott (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 27, 2012

The Millionaire's Wife

Cathy Scott

The beloved son of Holocaust survivors, forty-nine-year-old George Kogan grew up in Puerto Rico before making his way to New York City, where he enjoyed great success as an antiques and art dealer. Until one morning in 1990, when George was approached on the street by an unidentified gunman—and was killed in cold blood.

Before the shooting, George had been on the way to his girlfriends’s apartment. Mary-Louise Hawkins was twenty-eight years old and had once worked as George’s publicist. But ever since they became lovers, George’s estranged wife, Barbara, was consumed with bitterness. As she and George hashed out a divorce, Barbara fueled her anger into greed—especially after a judge turned down her request for $5,000 a week in alimony.

Barbara, who stood to collect $4.3 million in life insurance, was immediately suspected in George’s death. But it would take authorities almost twenty years to uncover a link between her lawyer, Manuel Martinez, and the hitman who killed George. In 2010, Martinez agreed to testify against his client…and Barbara eventually pled guilty to charges of grand larceny, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder in the first degree. This is the shocking true story of THE MILLIONAIRE’S WIFE.

 

 

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

MONEY
The beloved son of Holocaust survivors, forty-nine-year-old George Kogan grew up in Puerto Rico before making his way to New York City, where he enjoyed great success as an antiques and art dealer. Until one morning in 1990, when George was approached on the street by an unidentified gunman—and was killed in cold blood.

MADNESS
Before the shooting, George had been on the way to his girlfriends’s apartment. Mary-Louise Hawkins was twenty-eight years old and had once worked as George’s publicist. But ever since they became lovers, George’s estranged wife, Barbara, was consumed with bitterness. As she and George hashed out a divorce, Barbara fueled her anger into greed—especially after a judge turned down her request for $5,000 a week in alimony.

MURDER
Barbara, who stood to collect $4.3 million in life insurance, was immediately suspected in George’s death. But it would take authorities almost twenty years to uncover a link between her lawyer, Manuel Martinez, and the hitman who killed George. In 2010, Martinez agreed to testify against his client…and Barbara eventually pled guilty to charges of grand larceny, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder in the first degree. This is the shocking true story of THE MILLIONAIRE’S WIFE.

Includes 8 pages of dramatic photos

About the Author

Cathy Scott is a veteran crime writer and award-winning investigative journalist. She is the author of several true crime works, including The Killing of Tupac Shakur, a Los Angeles Times bestseller, and The Murder of Biggie Smalls. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime; Original edition (March 27, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312594356
• ISBN-13: 978-0312594350
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cathy Scott is a tour de force in true crime. She is the bestselling author of The Killing of Tupac Shakur and The Murder of Biggie Smalls and an award-winning journalist.

Her eighth book, The Millionaire's Wife, was released March 27, 2012. by St. Martin's Press about the 1990 contract murder of George Kogan on an Upper East Side Manhattan street in broad daylight. Fast-forward nearly 20 years, and Barbara Kogan, George's estranged wife, admitted to hiring a hit man to have her husband gunned down.

Cathy's next project is the Dawn Viens case. Dawn, 37, disappeared on Oct. 18, 2010, after leaving Thyme Contemporary Cafe, in Lomita, California, that she and her husband ran. David Viens told police that he and his wife had argued. She didn't take her cell phone or stash of cash, and her car was later towed as evidence when she did not return. The husband, after throwing himself off a cliff -- and surviving -- admitted to killing his wife but has not told police where Dawn's body is.

You can find out more about this author by visiting her Web site at cathyscott dot com and her blog crimeshewrites dot com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars I'm ready to throw it out the window... March 29, 2012

By Lisa

Format:Kindle Edition

...and let the birds have it for nesting material.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, and even pre-ordered it. NEVER AGAIN! From now on, someone else can buy it first.

I'm 86% into it, and am surprised I made it this far & kept my sanity (I think). This book HONESTLY & SERIOUSLY gave me a migraine. It's less than 300 pages long but feels like it will never end.

The writing is flat & bland, the repitition annoying, the mis-spellings so "distrubing" I would rather die of "asphixia" than read another word "of a the story" (quoted as mis-used in the book).

During the trial part of the book, the author explains:
(1) what the witness WILL SAY
(2) (which we ALREADY heard in detail when the shooting took place
(3) then tells us the TESTIMONY
(4) THEN, as if we still don't "get it," she tells us, in different words, what the witness SAID.

That's 4 times the same thing is repeated.

If that's not bad enough, the other chapters are the same way. You read a paragraph, then the same thing is repeated in the next, just re-worded.

When she relates news stories, it goes something like this: "The daily news had this to say xxxx, said the daily news."

It's like watching a movie where each scene is on a perpetual loop. I keep seeing this poor guy walk, get shot, fall down while money flies out of his pockets... then stand up, walk, get shot, fall/money...boing! stand...etc, etc.

You get the point. I have to stop. If I keep reading, I'm afraid my head will explode.

UGH!!!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Has The Potential For A Good True Crime Book April 1, 2012

By Crabigail Cassidy TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback

The facts of this case should make it interesting and compeling. What better than the oft told story of a rich and successful man scorning his used up wife for a younger woman. Old as time itself and even better when you toss in resentment, greed, and a hitman that will even the score and then some. Everyone puts suspicion on the wife, but they never manage to get the goods on her for twenty years.
I liked the story a lot and if it hadn't been bogged down with excessive repetition that stretched on to the point of tedium and a bad editing job , this would certainly have rated 4* or possibly even 5*. This was a moderately complex story that was plausible and interesting. It should have been engrossing but it droned on too much in places. I found myself losing interest when it seemed the narrative was unfocused and slowing down. The only thing that kept me reading is that I wanted to get the whole story.
This book is by no means awful, but it had the promise to be way better.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars couldn't put it down September 25, 2012

By Spfarr

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I saw the true story of the Millionaire's Wife, on a television program and was very intrigued about this lady. When I got the book I finished it within two weeks. Cathy Scott writes in such detail making you feel as if you are there, in person, with all the characters themselves. Excellent writing, loads of information, specific details... I give this book FIVE STARS!