Too Late to Say Goodbye - A True Story of Murder and Betrayal [Paperback]

Ann Rule (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847390358
• ISBN-13: 978-1847390356
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,388,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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!)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ann Rule is a master of true crime writing!, June 21, 2007

By 

Z Hayes (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal (Hardcover)

I read Ann Rule's latest offering within a few days, it is that riveting, and heartbreaking. Ann Rule, who has given us past works of true crime, does an amazing job of piecing together the story of two women who were killed in cold blood for being involved with a man who could not bear losing them. What is even more amazing is that the two women died fourteen years apart - the first, dental student Dolly Hearn was found shot to death and her death was ruled as a suicide, and the second, Jennifer Corbin, young mother of two sons, also found shot dead, and initially believed as a suicide. Only with the sleuthing and investigative skills of the officer presiding over the investigation does the sinister truth surface - that both women were the victims of a ruthless killer, Bart Corbin. Ann Rule manages to convey the victims sympathetically, and their stories are told with great empathy. We feel for these two women who died senseless deaths just because the man in their lives could not bear the thought of losing them. It is also a portrait of a marriage gone bad, of emotional and psychological abuse that drives a young mother to pursue an online affair, only to find out towards the end of her life that even that one refuge from her failing marriage is a lie. This true crime account reads like a work of fiction, but unfortunately, is based on actual events, and it will shock and sadden. Nevertheless, it is a story that deserves to be read, for the world needs to 'hear' the victims' stories, and find relief in justice being served.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Dentist From Hell., September 18, 2008

By 

Bloomsbury (melbourne australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal (Mass Market Paperback)

Ann Rule's meticulous research means that, as with all her books, we get an insight into the various personalities involved in the case. She's very skilled at pointing out the small personal quirk or even decorating style that makes us feel we know the victims & their killer.

Where the book doesn't work for me is that despite this insight & compassion, she resolutely maintains a good/bad, black/white view of the world that doesn't quite jell with the facts she reveals.

The killer, Bart Corbin, is so bad tempered, nasty, anal, & just plain crazy that it's hard to believe the two murdered women had anything to do with him.

The author is so busy maintaining the "good girl" personae of the two unfortunate victims that we learn little of why they were happy to embark on relationships with him. This, for me, trivializes the tragedy of their deaths. Relying heavily on relatives of the victims for information on the killer's personality seems unwise. Who could be impartial in such circumstances?

Despite the length of the book I learned little of the character & motivations of the killer. On the other hand, the persistence of the investigators in bringing him to justice is detailed in a fascinating & enthralling part of the story.

I'd recommend this book, but with reservations as given above.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Read, June 13, 2007

By 

Cecilia Sheppard (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal (Hardcover)

I live in the Atlanta area and was very much aware of the media coverage of the Corbin case. Jennifer's death, as you will discover from the book, was first reported as suicide, but no one I knew believed this. Bart Corbin's callousness, not only toward his victims, but toward his children, is truly chilling, and Anne Rule paints a great portrait of two families who are tarnished by that callousness. These were lovely, compassionate women, and Anne Rule helps to see what a great loss their deaths were to their friends and families. At least Jennifer's death caused authorities to re-open Dolly Hearn's case; who knows how many more victims may have been saved by this? This book is, as another poster said, a real page-turner.