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Ghost Burglar: The True Story of Bernard Welch: Master Thief, Ruthless Con Man, and Cold-Blooded Killer

door Jack Burch, James D. King

Leden	Besprekingen	Populariteit	Gemiddelde beoordeling	Aanhalingen
17	6	1,244,955	(3)	9
Co-written by Minnesota author Jack Burch. Sociopath, murderer, thief... Bernard C. Welch was all these yet he passed himself off as normal. One of his favorite aliases, of the 11 known he used, was Norm. How did this One Man Crime Wave; manage to escape from two prisons, elude police for years and amass a huge personal fortune to become America's Most Wanted burglar? Reporter Jack Burch and Detective Jim King (who was the first to finger Welch) peel back the layers of the criminal career of the single individual that most Washington D.C. enforcement agencies thought was a gang of roving of thieves. The night of December 5, 1980 when Washington's most beloved cardiologist, Michael Halberstam and his wife Eliot Jones-Halberstam returned home to feed the dogs, Bernard C. Welch was doing his fifth burglary of the night in the Halberstam home. Halberstam fought back and Welch shot him twice in the chest. As Welch fled on foot, Halberstam, driving himself to Sibley Hospital, spotted the criminal and ran him down with his 1977 Monte Carlo. Halberstam died that night, but Welch - AKA Norm Hamilton - lived and the resulting trial became a media circus. This is the fascinating story of a criminal mind and life that wreaked havoc in the lives of thousands and thousands from New York to Washington to Duluth, Minnesota. - Publisher.… (meer)

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JohnMB69, cangemee, Dhartanya, RJSMCKAY, Robin_Miller_Cresci, lauren.nagel, seasonsoflove, hghtashbry, drneutron

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1-5 van 6 worden getoond (volgende | toon alle)

Deze bespreking is geschreven voor LibraryThing Vroege Recensenten.

This was one of those books that was just fine. Nothing wrong with it, but still not as good and as gripping as you would hope. Ghost Burglar competently tells the true story of Bernard Welch, who went on an unprecedented crime spree, and was brought down by his own hubris. A fascinating story, it took me a while to finish because the writing style and method of storytelling wasn't as interesting as other books calling to me from my shelves. (

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seasonsoflove | Aug 12, 2013 |

Deze bespreking is geschreven voor LibraryThing Vroege Recensenten.

Bernard C. Welch was born at an ideal point in history, with just that right (unfortunate) mix of an impoverished and neglected childhood, to become one of the most successful burglars of all time. In today's world of online banking and digital footprints Welch may have turned out to be just another common criminal, but in the 60's, 70's and early 80's he managed to amass a fortune of millions before a fatal run-in with one of his victims cut short his web of fraud.

Ghost Burglar by Jack Burch and Detective James King does a clever job of intercutting between the whereabouts of Welch and the efforts of King's Property Crimes Department in trying to catch him. Originally they thought Welch was a team of burglars because of how efficient his crimes were. Bernard Welch, the person, is a fascinating study by himself. He was brilliant in some things and woefully ignorant in others. He spent an early stint in prison learning to be a better burglar. He rationalized his misdeeds as reparations against a well-to-do world that denied him the luxuries he wanted when he was younger.

Welch's life of crime was the only life he knew, and he apparently had no apprehension about devastating the lives of others to achieve his ends. (

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Daniel.Estes | Aug 5, 2013 |

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Burch and King present the history of Bernard Welch, "The Ghost Burglar" whose life of crime began in NY state. After being caught and sentenced to five years in prison, he was determined not to get caught again. His crime spree spanned states from NY to PA, Maryland and the DC area and Minnesota. Welch only entered upscale homes where no one was home, thus lessening his chance of getting caught. He would fence the goods at flea markets and antique dealers far from the burglaries where people wouldn't recognize their belongings. Gold jewelry was melted down and sold to a dealer on the west coast.

His life of crime finally escalated to murder when he shot and killed Dr. Michael Halberstam during a burglary, when the Halberstam's came home unexpectedly. When the police finally arrested Welch, he was wealthy, lived in an upscale neighborhood with his family, and had absolutely no remorse for his life of crime.

The book was well researched and facts presented without bias. I would recommend this to anyone who reads detective or true crime genre. (

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LeHack | Apr 24, 2013 |

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Bernard Welch was an almost unbelievably successful burglar. He stole millions of dollars from thousands of people in the Washington, DC, area between the mid-70s and the early 80s, mostly concentrating in silver, gold and small antiques. His methods for converting his stolen goods into cash were brilliant, and through this he was able to support a lavish - and garish - lifestyle. He also occasionally raped and murdered on those occasions when he was surprised by a homeowner. And he was pretty good at escaping from prison.

Ghost Burglar is written by Jack Burch, a journalist, and James King, one of the detectives who eventually caught Welch. Both are first-time authors, and the book, while good, has some first-time author flaws. The chapters written by Burch are a pretty good retelling of the story from a more objective point of view. King's chapters are told from a more personal point of view and are, frankly, not as well written. I think if Burch had taken more of a hand in these chapters, the book would have been quite a bit more recommendable. (

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drneutron | Mar 30, 2013 |

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I would recommend this book to people who are interested in criminology or criminal law. If you're not, you can read the first chapter and skim the rest. It's definitely an interesting story - and one of those that you can't believe it's real. So while it wasn't necessarily the best written book, I was still very curious how it all turned out. The writing acts more as a description of events, although occasionally it attempts to be a narrative. Some of those attempts go better than others, with some stilted police dialogue helping break up the very long paragraphs. It doesn't read like a mystery novel, so don't go into it hoping for a cop who follows his nose to track down the bad guy. (

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Alliebadger | Mar 30, 2013 |

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Auteursnaam	Rol	Type auteur	Werk?	Status
Jack Burch	—	primaire auteur	alle edities	berekend
King, James D.	—	primaire auteur	alle edities	bevestigd

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Co-written by Minnesota author Jack Burch. Sociopath, murderer, thief... Bernard C. Welch was all these yet he passed himself off as normal. One of his favorite aliases, of the 11 known he used, was Norm. How did this One Man Crime Wave; manage to escape from two prisons, elude police for years and amass a huge personal fortune to become America's Most Wanted burglar? Reporter Jack Burch and Detective Jim King (who was the first to finger Welch) peel back the layers of the criminal career of the single individual that most Washington D.C. enforcement agencies thought was a gang of roving of thieves. The night of December 5, 1980 when Washington's most beloved cardiologist, Michael Halberstam and his wife Eliot Jones-Halberstam returned home to feed the dogs, Bernard C. Welch was doing his fifth burglary of the night in the Halberstam home. Halberstam fought back and Welch shot him twice in the chest. As Welch fled on foot, Halberstam, driving himself to Sibley Hospital, spotted the criminal and ran him down with his 1977 Monte Carlo. Halberstam died that night, but Welch - AKA Norm Hamilton - lived and the resulting trial became a media circus. This is the fascinating story of a criminal mind and life that wreaked havoc in the lives of thousands and thousands from New York to Washington to Duluth, Minnesota. - Publisher.

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