Book picks similar to
A Wife's Revenge by Eric Francis


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Green River Serial Killer: Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife


Pennie Morehead - 2007
    Gary Ridgway, who has become known as "The Green River Serial Killer" by the rest of the world.For fourteen happy years, Judith shared her life with an attentive and kind husband, never suspecting there was a secret side to the man she loved until the storybook romance of her life turned into a terrifying nightmare. Gary Ridgway masterfully managed his two identities: one that included romantic vacation, bicycling, and raising Poodles with his wife, the other that included obsessions with a two-decade habit of soliciting prostitutes and young runaway girls near the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, strangling those who angered him. Subsequent to his arrest in 2001, Gary confessed to murdering 48 females, in a deal that spared his life. In addition, he alluded to his having killed many more - too many to remember!'Green River Serial Killer - Biography of an Unsuspecting Wife' examines America's most deadly serial killer through the loving eyes of his wife. Also included in this exclusive, authorized biography, are photographs from the Ridgway private albums, letters handwritten by Gary from prison, and the author's own professional analysis of his handwriting.

The Best American Crime Writing: 2004 Edition: The Year's Best True Crime Reporting


Otto Penzler - 2004
    Kennedy Jr., from The Atlantic Monthly “Watching the Detectives” by Jay Kirk, from Harper’s Magazine “For the Love of God” by Jon Krakauer, from GQ “Chief Bratton Takes on LA” by Heather Mac Donald, from City Journal “Not Guilty by Reason of Afghanistan” by John H. Richardson, from Esquire “Megan’s Law and Me” by Brendan Riley, from Details “Unfortunate Con” by Mark Schone, from The Oxford American “To Kill or Not to Kill” by Scott Turow, from The New Yorker

Seduced by Madness: The True Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case


Carol Pogash - 2007
    She was twenty-five when she married him and forty-four when she killed him.In October 2002, the quiet northern California town of Orinda was rocked by murder when Susan Polk, the mother of three teenage boys, was arrested for stabbing her husband and former therapist, Dr. Felix Polk, to death. The arrest and subsequent trial quickly became one of the most talked about murder cases in the country, as spectators and reporters learned the strange history behind this shocking killing.Now in Seduced by Madness, Carol Pogash—the leading journalist working the case—has written the definitive account of the Polk family saga, offering a rich and textured re-creation of this disturbing and tragic American tale. Examining the decadent culture of California in the 1970s, Pogash looks at how, in this period of drugs and sexual exploration, a fifteen-year-old Susan found herself caught in the grasp of Felix, her therapist—who, like others in the mental health profession, fell for every passing trend in mental health therapy. Culled from years of careful research, Pogash reconstructs the vague beginnings of the couple's sexual relationship in the therapist's office, exploring how Felix's relaxed attitude toward therapy blinded him to the complex nature of Susan's mental state, and how their mutual obsession with each other sealed their fate.With lyrical prose, Pogash skillfully traces the Polks' story—from their early yearnings for one another through their flawed marriage, which produced three highly intelligent but emotionally divided sons. Weaving a complex narrative of a family who lived in multimillion dollar homes but lingered in the shadow of dysfunction, Pogash reassembles their life in the years and months before Felix's death, intimately describing what led this soft-spoken wife to murder.Three years after Felix's death, Susan Polk was tried for first degree murder, and here Pogash provides a first-hand account of the wild, media-circus trial in which Susan defended herself and cross-examined two of her sons. Illustrating how the prosecution and the court responded to Susan's volatile behavior, Pogash takes you inside the deliberation room and uncovers how jurors reached their surprising verdict.Filled with the most complete case facts and interviews available, Seduced by Madness offers an unparalleled look at one of the most captivating murder cases in recent years.