Diane FanningBesprekingen

Murder

This story was bizarre to say the least. I’d never heard of the author, but then I haven’t read much true crime in the last 20 years or so. The writing was just okay. It felt like just a recitation of bullet points. It didn’t feel fluid. I listened to the audio version and was definitely not enamored of the reader. At times, it felt like digital AI was reading the story.

This book details the shocking death of a church of Christ minister, Matthew Winkler by his wife Mary. This true crime occurred in Tennessee in 2006. Fanning covers the trial extensively and delves into the background of both Mary and Matthew.

As in any crime or trial, there are a multitude of unanswered questions. Was the shooting intentional or an accident? Only Mary knows, and she may not know for sure. Was the emotional and physical abuse as bad as described? Again, only Mary knows. Was justice served? Was the best interest of the children served by returning them to Mary after her sentence was served? Many questions linger that remain unanswered.

This is a fascinating story and book that I read in only 3 days. I just could not stand to put it down. I highly recommend it, especially for fans of true crime stories.

My only complaint is Fanning’s story has much false information about the church of Christ. Starting with the title, Winkler was not a pastor. A pastor is the same as a church elder, of which the Bible indicates there must be a plurality. One man alone cannot serve scripturally as an elder, and furthermore, Winker was not an elder, nor was he qualified to be an elder. Fanning repeatedly refers to a “sanctuary” in the building. No church of Christ refers to their building, or any part of it, as a sanctuary. The building is not holy, people are. Without belaboring the point, there are other inaccuracies regarding the church of Christ in the book. Other than these quibbles, I highly recommend the book.

This was well written and engaging. Wesley and Jocelynn are married but the marriage is not going well. Divorce is imminent. This is true crime. Jocelynn is found dead by her bff and a murder investigation commences. Wesley is the number one suspect, as spouses always are. This follows the investigation and trial of Wesley.

While I learned a little about Oak Ridge, Tennessee, one of the first places in the US to conduct nuclear research, the story was just not well told. Even with a female scientist and a murder mystery, the characters did not come to life for me.

I used to read a lot of true crime but quit reading it for some reason. After reading and enjoying this book, I think it's time to start reading more in this genre. I find it interesting to find out the story behind the news story and to try to understand the mind of a person who feels that murdering another person is ok. In this case, she murdered someone that she was engaged to which made the crime even more unimaginable.
The story begins on a perfect day when Angelika and Vincent go on a kayaking trip in the Hudson River. They were both experienced kayakers but something went wrong at the end of their day. The water got rough and she called 911 to try to get help after his kayak turned over. The authorities considered it an accidental death until they questioned her. Her story kept changing and she didn't seem too upset over the death. In fact, she seemed almost happy that he was gone. As the police questioned her, they kept getting more and more honesty from her and finally had information to charge her with murder. As more details emerged—including a $250,000 life insurance policy—a killer question remained: Did Angelika remove the plug of her fiancé’s boat…and knock away his paddle as he sank?
I hadn't heard anything about this crime before I read the book and found it all very interesting. Since I finished the book, I have watched several videos about Angelika and her life today.

I thought that this was an well written and deeply researched book and recommend it to readers of true crime.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

(35) Gawd. Embarrassed to have read this really. Blame it on the Netflix documentary 'The Staircase' and the fact that I've lived in Durham, NC for the past 20 years and have watched this all play out on local news. The true crime genre just emphasizes something faintly horrifying and voyeuristic about us as readers. But I can't deny that at times I am strangely fascinated. This is the story of a novelist and mayoral candidate in our city who found his wife at the bottom of the staircase in the wee hours of the morning bloodied and ultimately dead. First responders thought the scene suspicious and the blood dried which didn't jive with the husbands story. Unbelievably many years prior he had been the last one to see a close female friend alive before she too was found at the bottom of a staircase bloodied and dead - another accident. Or was it? The body is exhumed and the medical examiner rules this case too as a homicide. So a twisted story with high court theatrics and a slick high-priced defense attorney. A family divided with most standing behind the aggrieved and potentially wronged husband who is arrested.

The writing is decidedly pedestrian and I am not sure I would have been engaged if I hadn't seen the documentary or lived contemporaneously with this case in the news. While 'The Staircase' is quite biased for the defense; Michael Peterson - this book favors the prosecution. This book brings in things that were not emphasized in the documentary that shed a bad light on the defendant. In particular and most damning for me was the fact that there was a fracture of the hyoid bone - a classic finding in strangulation; as well as the fact that autopsy suggested she was alive for hours in shock from blood loss. And really, really - all this time he was out at the pool in shorts and T-shirt in 50 degree weather. That is not what he suggested when asked initially by first responders - he said - 'I just went out to throw out the trash.' And there is something off about his personality - even in the biased defense documentary; his actions/reactions all seem a bit choreographed.

Anyway, hopefully I have gotten this bit of true crime obsession out of my system. It just seems wrong to me to be fascinated by this. just wrong. Yet - here I sit writing my review. And how many hours now have I watched/read about this case. Basta! RIP Kathleen; I am so sorry for you and your daughters/family.

Book about a female scientist working at Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project? Yes please!
Oh, it's part of a mystery series. Not really my genre, but I'll try.

This book has all the elements of something I should love, but I definitely did not love it. The main character, Libby, is such a Mary Sue I can't stand it. I can't believe that someone would have been able to get away with as much as she did without consequences. The characterizations of the men in this book were sorely lacking. I couldn't differentiate between the different members of the Walking Molecules because there weren't any! The mysterious sabotage was very elementary and seemed to be resolved too easily. I expected to get more of a reason why it was done, but all I got was a huge gaping plot hole about how it was accomplished.

For the record, I did go back and read the first two books in the series. I didn't think either one was very good, but I gave this one a shot because sometimes it takes a couple of books for a series to warm up. Unfortunately, this series remained tepid. This ending seemed to indicate this is the last book in the series, and I say thank goodness for that.

Laura Jean Ackerson was murdered and dismembered in 2011. She was the mother of Grant Hayes' sons and he wanted her completely out of the picture. Apparently, his wife Amanda Hayes, wanted the same. So they made it happen, and tried to make it look like they had nothing to do with it. They had made life extremely difficult in the past years, so of course, they made this new plan difficult, and extremely heinous as well. This book was well-written and well researched. I felt it was balanced between all of the focuses, but never lost sight of the actual victim, Laura Jean Ackerson. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all who read true crime.

I'm not putting a rating on this book simply because I had a very hard time reading it took me 2 months. There are several inconstancy's in the book, it is to be expected of some true crime novels. The reason it took me so long to read this book and know about the inconstancy's is because I am close friends with his sister the one who turned him in. She was completely devastated by this she had no clue that he was this monster until the night his surviving victim thankfully got away she knew the only way to stop him was to turn him in. I feel very badly for all the victims and their families, as well as my friend it was very hard for her for a while but is doing better.

This is a book that was recommended to my by my Book Club, the San Antonio Reader's Circle.

I read it in a good part of a day. It is a True Crime read which is why I gave it the category of Nonfiction as all the information in this book is factual and on record.

Diane Fanning does a good job of capturing the events in the life of one Michael Peterson who was convicted of First Degree Murder in a Durham NC courtroom for the death of his wife Kathleen Atwater.

I commended Diane for the tremendous amount of research in getting all the details regarding not only the case but the history but also all involved in the murder of Kathleen Atwater. This book kept me very interesting in the details surrounding this case and all the behavior's exhibited by those involved in this Murder. Now, I don't want to spoil all the details but just because others were not convicted of the crime doesn't mean they were not involved. It is interesting to see how the lives of all the family members changed due to this trial. Also, it is interesting to see the history of the family members and how everything falls in place at the end.

Also, Michael Peterson hid a secret that devastated the entire family.

The beginning was kind of hard to get through in that there were so many characters involved, that I felt like I needed a score card to keep up with them all. Also, I would have liked Diane to have blended more storytelling in with the actual facts. There were parts of the book that were kind of dry simply because only the facts were given.

I would recommend this book as a read. It was entertaining and was kind of exciting to know that indeed fact (in this case) is stranger than fiction.

This book alternates between reams of unnecessary facts (the history of areas to which the family moved) and a biased, anti-Julie commentary. There were also times when I wondered how the author could "know" certain things, for example, if Julie and Beau Schenecker were alone in the car when she shot him, how could anyone know what Beau was thinking and feeling just before his mother killed him?

The impression I was left with - which started even from the sub title of the book - was that of a narrative based on a judgement already made: that Julie is a Bad Person. But, despite the pro-Parker (husband) slant to the book, one is left with certain questions, such as, knowing how damaged and unstable his wife was, how could Colonel Schenecker have left his children in her care?

Ultimately, this is a shallow and subjective account of a terrible tragedy. Instead of wasting space on recounting unnecessary detail and an overt judgement of Julie Schenecker as "a cold blooded killer of her children", a more interesting perspective would have been a deeper exploration of the clearly damaged psyche of a lost soul.

The ancient Greek tragedy Medea written by Euripides is a far more compassionate and deep portrayal of why a woman would be driven to kill her children.

While reading this I was truly upset that no one paid attention to the red flags that were waving. I could see them from just reading. I am truly irate at the husband who knew his wife was mentally unstable and had to have some inkling that she was harboring unreasonable resentment towards her children, yet left them alone with her. She had been hospitalized many times before and just weeks before this incident. Why would you leave her alone with kids? Anyways the book was an okay read. It was bland in places as it didn't really go inside the story. It read as someone on the outside getting their knowledge from a newspaper.

To my surprise I really liked this book. Normally I very much dislike books that were written before the trial date but not so with this case.

Maybe because this is one case I read about when it was happening. Normally I read a true crime book and afterwards i will go and find more information but this time it was the other way around. Before i read this book I did hear the 911 phone call and read about the lies Casey told the police and watched on YouTube a clip where the parents of Casey were fighting with protesters. All of those things and much more were mentioned in this book.
As Kelly said in her review, the reason why people are still so engaged in this case is not only because a mom killed her child, but that that mom is telling so many lies, which were so easily dismantled and still expects people to belief her. I am still shocked about her parents. Did watch Cindi on a show with Greta. What a piece of work. I am pissed off at them but also feel sorry for them. Diane managed to write a book based on a lot of transcripts which read like a novel. 8.5

Read from 6/8 april of 2010

who is who?
What is it with the name Peterson and murder?

I recall that when I read this book at around the same time there was another guy also called Peterson who also murdered his wife. But there was also another Peterson who murdered his young pregnant wife.

I am trying to find out if Fatal Vows is a book I might buy. If that book is about the same case.

Fatal Vows is about Drew Peterson who killed his wife Kathleen and Stacy.

Then you have a Scott Peterson who killed his wife Lacy. Lacy Stacy. See why I am confused?

Drew Paterson also killed his wife Kathleen Savio. That name sounds so familiar.
Now Michael Peterson, the guy in this book also has a wife called Kathleen?

WTH.

I guess I am going to give fatal Vows a try. I can assure you that once I do I will have even more trouble remembering who is who.

Like most true crime books, this book covers the lives of the suspects and the victims. Diane Fanning also gives us the history of the town, background information, the search for Bobbie Jo’s baby, how this case changes certain laws. Included in this book are accounts of other women who stole babies from their pregnant mothers and other tragedies that happened to the family.

There was not much on the trial, and I took a star off because there is no resolution to the case. The book does not tell us if Lisa was found guilty or not. It could be the trial was not over when this book was written. Also there was a conflict between Bobbie Jo’s mother and Bobbie Jo’s husband over visiting the baby. This is also mentioned, then we are left hanging in the air.

This was an enjoyable, well written book. If the things I mentioned in the last paragraph won’t bother you, I recommend this book.

The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells

Ten-Year-Old Krystal Surles Watched In Horror As Her Best Friend Was Murdered At The Hands Of An Intruder.

Through extensive interviews with law enforcement personnel, prosecuting attorneys, the victims family and Tommy Lynn Sells (another serial killer with 3 names, it’s a pattern) Diane Fanning has recreated a life of crime and details the bravery of one little 10-year old, who even when doctor’s were saving her life insisted on talking to police, her goal was justice for her friend.

This is a compelling read and Dianne Fanning’s writing keeps you interested until the last page, she sticks to the facts, always telling when something has or hasn’t been able to be verified.

For readers of True Crime, I recommend this book.

Secret lives, who knows what goes on when the front door is locked and the children in bed? Abusive men threaten women with death and taking away their children all the time, but the women go to the police, they go to Women's Shelters, they go to various charities, churches or their family. They don't in general pick up guns to threaten their husbands and oh, it went off accidentally, so then they take the kids and run away trying to cover their trail as they go. Was she guilty of murder or manslaughter or was the abuse-excuse justified?

I knew a man, aged about 24, a chef, a white guy, he grew up in Zimbabwe. He left home in his mid-teens because he was fed up with the physical abuse from his very strict father. When he went back to visit his mother one day he said he caught his father abusing her and so he picked up a gun to threaten him but oh, it went off and so he ran away to South Africa and with the help of a bent lawyer got himself a passport and a fast exit (at almost the same time as the bent lawyer) to a tiny island in the Caribbean. He married an English girl from a posh family and went to the UK where they now have a little country house pub and restaurant. She has no idea.... Was he guilty of murder? Was the pastor's wife?

Wow. I've followed this case from the beginning and was still shocked at the volume and depth of Casey's lies to family, friends and authorities. It was heartbreaking yet infuriating to see her parents in such obvious denial, to the point of looking like utter fools. Even though the trial is over and the not guilty verdict was handed down, this book followed a well documented timeline of the early stages of the investigation as well as what Casey was exactly doing during those first 31 days that Caylee was apparently "kidnapped" by the babysitter. How the jury ever found Casey Anthony not guilty is way beyond me........

This is a scary book because it's true. Tommy Lynn Sells kills because he gets mad. If he thinks someone was disrespectful, he kills them and leaves no witnesses, except one. 10-year-old Krystal Surales. He slit her throat in her bed after she watched him kill her friend in their bedroom. She laid in bed until she was sure he was gone and then walked a 1/4 mile with her windpipe severed to a neighbor's house and got help, but she didn't stop there; she was able to give a description which led to Sells' arrest and then testified against him which landed him on death row in Texas.

The book chronicles his years of murdering across the country. Sells' would break into a home and kill the occupants. More often than not, they didn't know him. He didn't break in to steal, he did it to kill.

What's even scarier is the fact that there are so many serial killers roaming across the country. Like Sells' they've honed their skills to the point they don't get caught. Sells' would still be out there if it wasn't for Krystal. He left no prints, no DNA - meticulously cleaning up his crime scene.

The book was interesting until the end. The trial portion of the book dragged and I found myself skimming over parts of it.

By the end, I felt the author wasn't being objective, but then how could she, having spent so much time with Sells'? It was obvious that she doesn't support the death penalty. During the trial, a psychologist basically said Sells' couldn't help himself due to his past abuse, and the fact that he had borderline personality disorder and because of that he couldn't help himself.

Fanning also included a letter from Sells' one in which he said people lied about him. He rambles on and on and makes a lot of racial slurs. I'm not sure that was necessary in the book and didn't add anything in my opinion.

The first 3/4 of the book was good, the last 1/4 I could've skipped.

I suppose almost everyone in America knows about this case but here is a synopsis anyway: A little girl named Caylee goes missing in June 2008 and her mother inexplicably waits for about a month to report her little daughter missing. This book delves into the dynamic of the Anthony Family - especially George and his interactions with the rest of the family. It explores the beginnings of the case against Casey and although it was written before the 'Not Guilty' verdict, it does some investigation of the pathology of Casey Anthony as well.

I have to say that I truly believe that Casey had something to do with her daughter's murder, whether it was accidentally or out of spite towards her parents, I just can't decide. I suppose that we will never really know the truth of Caylee's death but I certainly will never forget little Caylee or all the other missing children out there. I give the book an A+!

This book was fantastic. The detailing and storyline were so well written, I was not able to pit the book down until it was finished. Diane Fanning is a wonderful author of true crimes as well as novels.

This book was written before the trial. The author has put together what she believed happened from personal interviews, transcripts and police interviews. With that being said, what she says sounds very plausible. Casey Anthony weaved elaborate lies for her friends, family and the police. She often contradicted herself and when called on it she had no answer.½

True Crime books will either engross me or bore me, black or white with little gray. One of the hardest subjects to engage readers in, because facts are hard to get through without putting the reader to sleep. This book was at times boring... like when the author went through huge details of the state, when I really didn't care and mostly paragraph skipped through it. On the flip side of the coin, she did a pretty good job of keeping me wanting more info on the crime itself and the personalities behind the perpetrator, the victim and all those involved then delivering those facts without completely losing me. Still... It was just an okay book for me.

I enjoyed this book very much. It flowed and the chapters were not that long. I was amazed to learn that the author writes true crime books.
Lucinda is back on the job as a detective after being physically and emotionally scarred as the result of a call that turned violent. She gets assigned to a case that involves the murder of a mother , (Kathleen Spencer)of 2 young girls and the victim's husband Evan, who wants to forget it. Lucinda comes to develop a relationship with one of the children, charley , and wants to find out who could have comitted such a violent crime. Also, she comes to realize that Evan, the murder victim's husdand maybe hiding something .