Amazon.com
Mindhunter enters the minds of some of the country's most notorious serial killers to tell the real-life story of the Investigative Support Unit (ISU) -- the FBI's special force that has assisted state and local police in cracking some of the country's most celebrated serial murder and rape cases. The unit specializes in understanding the chemistry and mechanical workings of the brain's of these serial criminals, and did its homework by interviewing such murderers as Charles Manson and David Berkowitz (the Son of Sam). John Douglas, who worked for the FBI for 25 years, is an authority on the unit, and his book combines the best of nonfiction with that of a murder mystery.
Book Description
During his twenty-five year career with the Investigative Support Unit, Special Agent John Douglas became a legendary figure in law enforcement, pursuing some of the most notorious and sadistic serial killers of our time: the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, the Atlanta child murderer, and Seattle's Green River killer, the case that nearly cost Douglas his life.
As the model for Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, Douglas has confronted, interviewed, and studied scores of serial killers and assassins, including Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and Ed Gein, who dressed himself in his victims' peeled skin. Using his uncanny ability to become both predator and prey, Douglas examines each crime scene, reliving both the killer's and the victim's actions in his mind, creating their profiles, describing their habits, and predicting their next moves.
Now, in chilling detail, the legendary Mindhunter takes us behind the scenes of some of his most gruesome, fascinating, and challenging cases -- and into the darkest recesses of our worst nightmares.
Customer Reviews:
Another great J. Douglas book!.......2007-09-16
What can I say other than John Douglas never fails to deliver? This book is a great read, and I loved it!
Great inside look.......2007-07-10
Given Douglas' background there was little question that he would have a story or two to tell. In Mindhunter you get a glimpse of what it takes to conduct good profiling and what an instrumental tool the profile can be. The book covers some of America's most feared monsters and what role the Behavioral Science Unit played in their capture.
James A. Forrest - Eye of the Storm
Glad To Know They're There.......2007-06-09
With crimes becoming more and more heinous, it's good to know the FBI has minds like these working behind the scenes. Predicting the profile of criminals behind specific crimes is not only an art, after years of on-the-job training but also a very special gift. A fantastic behind-the-scenes look at crime busting well worth a read.
Absolutely Fascinating - A Must for "Criminal Minds" fans!!.......2007-05-29
I have been hooked on the TV show "Criminal Minds" lately and was so interested in profiling that I purchased this book. At the time I had no idea that the author was the basis for the main character in my now favorite show. Although undrestandably full of himself, this book gives amazaing insight into the criminal profiling world, discusses many infamous serial killers, and delves into an exciting world of criminal psychology. It has made me want to track down and read every similar book!
Mindhunter.......2007-05-13
Fascinating insight into the development of profiling. Full of real case studies, it is hard to put down.
Amazon.com
Confident in his opinions and systematic in his examination of high-profile whodunits, FBI veteran John Douglas proves his worth once again as one of the world's best psychological detectives. You may think you've read all there is about Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, and the Lindbergh kidnapping, but Douglas has a few surprise conclusions in his modern analysis of these gripping crimes. By applying criminal personality profiling techniques he developed while stalking more current killers, Douglas provides a fresh, sage outlook on some disturbing history. He also sheds new light on San Francisco's Zodiac Killer, the Black Dahlia murder, Bambi Bembenek, the Boston Strangler, and the continuing mystery of who killed 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey. Douglas sometimes reveals his chief suspect; other times he simply narrows down who the killer is not. In the JonBenét mystery (in which Douglas was hired by the Ramseys to find the killer), he presents a convincing case for why he believes the girl's parents are not guilty of murder. Douglas is founder of the FBI's Serial Killer Profiling Unit. His method of solving a crime by entering the mind of the killer inspired Thomas Harris's book The Silence of the Lambs. In this dissection of our most sensational crimes, Douglas proves that reality can be more horrifying than fiction. --Jodi Mailander Farrell
Book Description
America's foremost expert on criminal profiling provides his uniquely gripping analysis of seven of the most notorious murder cases in the history of crime -- from the Whitechapel murders to JonBenet Ramsey -- often contradicting conventional wisdom and legal decisions.
Jack the Ripper. Lizzie Borden. The Zodiac Killer. Certain homicide cases maintain an undeniable, almost mystical hold on the public imagination. They touch a nerve deep within us because of the personalities involved, their senseless depravity, the nagging doubts about whether justice was done, or because, in some instances, no suspect has ever been identified or caught.
In The Cases That Haunt Us, twenty-five-year-FBI-veteran John Douglas, profiling pioneer and master of modern criminal investigative analysis, and author and filmmaker Mark Olshaker, the team behind the bestselling Mindhunter series, explore the tantalizing mysteries that both their legions of fans and law enforcement professionals ask about most. Among the questions they tackle:
Was Jack the Ripper actually the Duke of Clarence, eldest grandson of Queen Victoria, or perhaps a practicing medical doctor? And did highly placed individuals within Scotland Yard have a good idea of the Ripper's identity, which they never revealed? Douglas and Olshaker create a detailed profile of the killer, and reveal their chief suspect.
Was Lizzie Borden truly innocent of the murder of her father and stepmother as the Fall River, Massachusetts, jury decided, or was she the one who took the ax and delivered those infamous "whacks"? Through a minute-by-minute behavioral analysis of the crime, the authors come to a convincing conclusion.
Did Bruno Richard Hauptmann single-handedly kidnap the baby son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the most famous couple in the world, or was he an innocent man caught up and ultimately executed in a relentless rush to judgment in the "crime of the century"?
What kind of person could kill six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey on Christmas night in her own home? Douglas was called in on the case shortly after the horrifying murder, and his conclusions are hard-hitting and controversial. Why, in the face of the majority of public, media, and law enforcement opinion, including former FBI colleagues, does Douglas believe that John and Patricia Ramsey did not murder their daughter? And what is the forensic and behavioral evidence he brings to bear to make his claim?
Taking a fresh and penetrating look at each case, the authors reexamine and reinterpret accepted facts and victimology using modern profiling and the techniques of criminal analysis developed by Douglas within the FBI. This book deconstructs the evidence and widely held beliefs surrounding each case and rebuilds them -- with fascinating and haunting results.
Download Description
America's foremost expert on criminal profiling provides his uniquely gripping analysis of eight of the most notorious murder cases in the history of crime--including JonBenet Ramsey--often contradicting conventional wisdom and the courts' decisions.
Customer Reviews:
Worth buying.......2007-09-16
This book is interesting, worth buying, and informative. I liked the varied accounts of interesting well known cases. It provided insight into the Jon Benet Ramsey case, among others. I would recommend this book to anyone. John Douglas is a good author.
Exceptional!.......2007-07-12
This is one of those books that can completely change your view of events on a daily basis. It's the best of Douglas' books, and it creates order out of what had once been utter chaos. His Jack the Ripper chapter was particularly valuable. There has been so much garbage written about that case that Douglas's logical analysis was very welcome. After reading this book, I can't look at any crime the same way again, and I have also come to a different understanding of human psychology. I have recommended this book to everyone I know, and even the skeptical ones, once they started it, couldn't put it down! It made the rounds of my office, and then of my friends, and then of my friends' friends! Warning: it can be grim and horrific. The Lindbergh baby case and the JonBenet Ramsey cases in particular were painful. The authors are skilled at conveying the horrors of these crimes, yet at the same time really delving into the psyches of the criminals in an unflinching way.
Can't Put it Down!.......2007-07-09
After reading this book, I'm convinced the little Ramsey son murdered his sister. He did it out of jealousy because Patsy Ramsey lavished all her attention and love on Jonbenet. That would explain the extremely juvenile "ransom" note, the fact that Jonbenet's body was dragged instead of carried, the fact that John Ramsey's best friend turned against him after he caught him, red-handed - trying to cover up evidence, etc, etc. John and Patsy Ramsey looked guilty because they were trying to protect their son from facing the consequences of his crime.
Interesting & Analytical, but Stiff.......2007-04-08
FBI veteran John Douglas (with Mark Olshaker) takes a detailed, analytical look at several infamous crimes including Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, The Lindbergh Baby, Zodiac Killer, Joan Benet-Ramsey, etc. Only two of these crimes were solved, and even then some wondered if justice had prevailed. As an FBI agent Douglas has tracked killers via investigative techniques and personality profiling. Here he strives to establish truth without any seeming prejudices. Of course, establishing the truth in difficult cases isn't easy, and the result is many best guesses by the author. I found parts of their book to be a bit staid or long-winded, but a good investigator needs to be thorough. I particularly liked the coverage of the Lindbergh Kidnapping, where Douglas concludes that Bruno Hauptman was almost certainly guilty (he was hanged) but probably had accomplices (something the court doubted). I wasn't quite convinced in a couple other cases (like JonBenet Ramsey), but Douglas' approach remains logical and persuasive. Also, if Olshaker was not just co-author but co-investigator let's give him credit too. If you like thorough investigations and don't mind a detailed read, this book may be for you.
Murder most foul!.......2007-01-07
Jack the Ripper. Lizzie Borden. The Zodiac. Bruno Richard Hauptmann. The psycho who killed JonBenet Ramsey. Crispin Glover. O.k., that last name doesn't belong there, but the guy is so weird I thought I'd throw him in for good measure. All of these folks (except for Crispin Glover), according to former FBI profiler turned author John Douglas, share a common theme. One is murder, of course, but the other is their involvement in criminal cases that continue to haunt the public imagination. Plug in any one of the abovementioned names into a search engine and you'll understand why the authors chose "The Cases That Haunt Us" as the title of the book. On one of the most popular search engines JonBenet Ramsey brings up 780,000 returns. Jack the Ripper has over two million, Zodiac a million and a half. While not all of these links directly relate to these infamous cases, obviously, the numbers do show how these names have worked their way into the popular consciousness. And that occurred, sadly, because the crimes documented in this book are truly hideous, bone-chilling incidents of murder most foul that stand out even in a country as violent as America.
John Douglas is a familiar name to those of us who follow dastardly deeds. He once worked as one of the premier criminal profilers at the FBI. Profiling is a cutting edge psychological approach to fighting crime that attained national prominence thanks to the film "The Silence of the Lambs". It's also a lot older than the FBI. Profiling an unknown criminal in an attempt to catch him or her stretches all the way back to the 19th century. But Douglas and his ilk updated the techniques and have used them to catch many murderers. Clever killers who would never have been captured are now sitting in prison thanks to profiling. So what exactly is profiling? Well, according to this book it involves assembling every scrap of available evidence and using said evidence to assemble a mental profile of the suspect. Douglas and his colleagues then determine if the killer is "organized" or "disorganized". They can then use the profile to identify likely suspects. Many times their profile matches a person being held in another, minor case. The purpose of "The Cases That Haunt Us" is, therefore, an attempt to apply profiling to major unsolved crimes. The results are, to say the least, interesting and likely controversial.
If you believe Lizzie Borden killed her father with forty whacks, Douglas agrees with you--except for the forty whacks part. It took far fewer blows to do in Andrew Borden. But Douglas does believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lizzie killed her father and stepmother. He also comes up with a compelling suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders, although it's nothing we haven't seen in other treatments on the monster of Whitechapel. His analysis of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping endorses the view taken by history, i.e. that Bruno Richard Hauptmann was guilty of the crime, if not its prime architect. As for the Zodiac case...well...Douglas does a great job summarizing his terrible crime spree. Coming up with a viable, living suspect is another matter entirely. He also tackles the Black Dahlia mutilation, Bambi Bembenek, and the Boston Strangler outrages. He doesn't really shed new light on these cases, at least not in my opinion, but he does do an excellent job of assembling the facts and giving us an insight or two into the twisted minds that carried out the crimes. Ahh, to have had a modern profiler back in Jack the Ripper's day!
The most controversial part of the book deals with the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. If you ever want to read about a crime that chills the blood, peruse the various accounts of this horrific killing. It's a case so bizarre in nearly every one of its aspects that solving the crime has proved insurmountable to everyone involved. That doesn't stop Douglas, who once worked as a paid advisor to John and Patsy Ramsey, from taking a crack at this mystifying incident. Those who believe the Ramseys killed their daughter will fume at Douglas's conclusions. He believes that an intruder invaded the house and murdered the young beauty queen. So do I, actually, although there's always that little part of me that suspects the parents. How else to explain the pineapple on the table, or that weird ransom note? To totally exclude the parents, one has to believe them incapable of carrying out such an evil act, and we know from the newspapers and television that such evil acts (and far worse) occur every day. We can't seem to rely on the evidence, which points to just about everyone in JonBenet's life as a possible suspect. Douglas does a great job of condensing the pertinent facts down to a few pages, but his analysis will do nothing to stop the endless speculation concerning the case that continues unabated to this day.
On the whole, I'd say "The Cases That Haunt Us" is a worthy effort. It's not going to solve any of these cases, or even bring about a seismic shift in how we view these crimes, but it is a well-written account of these nightmarish events. I would definitely recommend this book to someone just starting to read about famous crimes. Douglas's ability to summarize the evidence is masterful, always a plus when you're refreshing the old memory banks or just charting a course into the dark waters of real life murder and mayhem. If you're an old hand looking for new information on Saucy Jacky, Lizzie, and JonBenet, I'd probably look elsewhere. You have already seen everything that appears here, and you have already heard about the suspects Douglas names in these pages.
Book Description
In Obsession, John Douglas once again takes us fascinatingly behind the scenes, focusing his expertise on predatory crimes, primarily against women. With a deep sense of compassion for the victims and an uncanny understanding of the perpetrators, Douglas looks at the obsessions that lead to rape, stalking, and sexual murder through such cases as Ronnie Shelton, the serial rapist who terrorized Cleveland; and New York's notorious "Preppie Murder."
But Douglas also looks at obsession on the other side of the moral spectrum: his own career-long obsession with hunting these predators. Douglas shows us how we can all fight back and protect ourselves, our families, and loved ones against the scourge of the violent predators in our midst.
The first step is insight and understanding, and no one is better qualified to penetrate Obsession than John Douglas.
Customer Reviews:
book purchase.......2007-01-15
I received this item in a timely manner and it's in great condition.
Not his best work.......2006-03-16
I've read several other John Douglas books, including Mindhunter, Journey into Darkness, and my favorite,The Anatomy of Motive. Obsession just seems weak in telling the stories in a compelling fashion. I'd recommend one of his other books, particularly for first time readers.
Crime fighting trilogy completed.......2005-03-30
Third in a series of criminal profiling by the best in the world. This edition is more how to survive and tips for defending against sexual assault, kidnapping and other violent offenses. Douglas takes one chapter to explain how the Hannibal character from Silence of the Lambs was created. Cases are introduced to illustrate point of safety. Well written and easily to understand, but much different from the previous two Douglas has written. If you are looking for case after case of gruesome crimes, this is not the book for you.
had a personally emotional effect..........2005-03-03
I've been a fan of several of Douglas's books, finding them facinating. But I never thought I would relate to one of the stories directly....until i got to "Katie's Story". Destiny Souza was a classmate of mine, and a neighbor. It was emotional to read what happened to her, and the reactions of members of our community I looked up to as a child, because they were involved in my life also. When it happened, being a child, details were given to me pretty vaguely, but reading the story as an adult was a really good expirience for me. As with all his books, i've learned a great deal about how to observe and interact with people and keep myself safe in the process.
Honors victims and homicide survivors (oxymoron).......2004-04-15
I wept, wept and in a way still weeping. John Douglas is masterful at profiling and gives us the knowledge and the warning signs of. Since murderers don't just wake up one day and decide to start killing. In this book I feel that he also challenges the murderers (probably ones operating right now if their pick up his book) to view their victims as human beings and not just object to be humiliated and controlled. I can hear the voices of the victims and their families crying out for justice no, demanding for justice against the "losers" that seek to control them. Highly recommend this book.
Amazon.com
Some authors are worth reading because of their area of expertise, even when their objectivity may be questionable. This is true of John Douglas, who follows up his Mindhunter with another assortment of his observations and opinions from his ex-job as the FBI's top expert on constructing behavioral profiles of criminals. This book contains several passages of interest: a detailed discussion of the modus operandi versus the "signature" of a murder, and how each relates to motive; thoughts on how the press and the public can be used to flush out a killer; a taxonomy of pedophiles, with a chapter on how to protect children from them; a detailed analysis of the savage sex-murder of a female Marine; a profile of the Nicole Simpson/Ron Goldman killer; and a report on how the courts are handling behavioral testimony. Always biased, often egotistical, but uniquely experienced--that's Douglas.
Book Description
There is only one John Douglas.
We first met Douglas in Mindhunter, which told the story of his brilliant and terrifying with the FBI until his retirement in 1995. And now, again with coauthor Mark Olshaker, he goes even further. We accompany him on the Journey Into Darkness that marks every case he examines; every instance in which he helps police identify the unknown perpetrator of a violent series of rapes, kidnappings, or murders through his remarkable criminal personality profiling.
In this fascinating audio experience, we journey with some of the brilliant and sensitive agents John has trained, who have carried on his work. We take a startlingly fresh look at the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman as if John had been asked by the LAPD to identify the killer through behavioral profiling. And we hear how a lifetime around killers and their victims has shaped his views on justice and punishment.
The Journey Into Darkness is a perilous one, but ultimately a hopeful one as well. For not only do we see from the men and women who track the most sadistic of criminals what a powerful weapon profiling has become, we also get advice on how we might better keep our children, our families and ourselves safe from harm. By making the Journey Into Darkness with John Douglas and his colleagues, we come away with an insight into the human condition that no one else can offer.
Customer Reviews:
Great Read!!.......2007-09-16
This book was a great reading experience. Douglas is an experienced storyteller, and being that these are not just stories, but actual accounts of reality make is a bonus! This book was a satisfing buy for my evil sweettooth. I loved it. It was worth adding to my collection of true crime interests.
There are Lot of Other Victims not Mentioned in the dedication!.......2007-06-22
I won't go much further. John E. Douglas is an excellent expert on true crime particularly the gruesome serial killings. I got the book before the Green River Killer was identified as Gary Leon Ridgway. Anyway, he analyzes cases and gives his opinions but he is pro-law enforcement most of the time. He doesn't like to give the benefit of the doubt towards the law enforcement community. Sadly, his dedication in the beginning of the book mentions only a portion of the victims in the book which some are well-known like Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson and the victims of Bernardo-Homolka crimes in Canada, as well as a few others. There were others who were murdered, brutalized, and their names are bearly mentioned in the book. Unless he changed their names to protect their true identity which I doubt because most of the murdered victims are identified. Since he is pro-law enforcement, he may not have a total open view of the criminals themselves. Granted, he knows how to identify the criminal whether a child molester or serial killer from his actions. He aids in their capture, prosecution, and their sentence whether death penalty or life in prison. He doesn't suggest ways to prevent such disasters such as a pedophile or serial killer from becoming such a creature because they aren't really human.
The Art of Detecting Serial Killers.......2005-04-15
This book explains his career as a criminal profiler for the FBI. John Douglas solved unusual kinds of crimes done by those who kill or rape or torture because they enjoy it. Profiling requires "creative-type thinkers", not accounting or engineering types. They must work well both alone and in groups. They need good judgment based on instinct, which can't be defined in an objective nature. Douglas says serial killers are mostly made, not born. Most come from broken or dysfunctional homes, and are victims of some type of abuse. Real-life killers were used as models for "The Silence of the Lambs", "Red Dragon", and "Psycho". The modus operandi is what the offender does, the signature is why he does it (that doesn't change). Virtually all multiple killers are male. Chapter 2 gives an example of solving murders where there was only a vague eyewitness description.
Chapter 3 shows many examples where profiling was used to describe the habits of killers. Chapter 4 tells of more cases, some of which will never be dramatized for TV as they are too horrible. Chapter 5 deals with pedophiles. One warning sign would be a man whose house has games and amusements that appeal to children. Chapter 6 tells of the possible dangers to young children. One example is the murder of Megan Kanka. It doesn't tell you that her murderer was released from prison against all advice because a new governor wanted to cut costs. Fast footwork by propagandists made it appear to be the fault of the parents since "they didn't know". I wonder if this law affected the crime rate? Chapter 7 tells of the Collins family; its too long. Chapter 8 tells of the murder of Suzanne Collins, a sad tragedy. Chapter 9 tells of the after-effects on Suzanne's parents, and their support group. Chapter 10 is about the savage murder of a wife and her two girls. It established the use of criminal profiling at trials. Chapter 11 tells about the crimes of a rapist-murderer near Arlington Va. [Was this the inspiration for Patricia Cornwell's "Post Mortem"?] When they noted a 3-year gap in the crimes, they looked for someone who had been in prison for burglary; they found a likely suspect. This suspect was convicted, the first person in the world to be executed on the basis of DNA evidence.
Chapter 12 is about the unsolved murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. John Douglas was not called in by the police and the prosecutors, but has formed a strong opinion of the case. [Ever notice how many people's opinions are set by the first news and can never consider the facts in the case?] Note that his discussion of the attack omits the fact that two different knives were used (autopsy report). Douglas talked of the "widespread conspiracy" argument, but didn't read Steven Singular's "Legacy of Deception" which tells how a journalist in Denver got news about the LAPD! The timeline says O. J. Simpson is innocent. The limo driver arrived at 10:22 and saw no one enter or leave until the 11pm trip to the airport. Any evidence like a glove or blood drops had to be planted the next day. Ron Goldman was 5'9" and 175 lbs. His unexpected visit to Nicole's place put him in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nicole had been involved with another man who was 5'9", 175 lbs, but a few years older. In the dark the killers attacked the wrong man, then the witness who came out of the house. If her boyfriend then went into hiding, then that would confirm this theory.
Chapter 13 gives the authors views on crime and punishment. Rehabilitation which makes a good guy out of a bad guy is best. But some offenders can never be rehabilitated and must be isolated from society. Capital punishment prevents the worst from recommitting their crimes. But the problem is to be sure those convicted are truly guilty. Criminals are manufactured from a poor home life. [But isn't this the result of poverty in many cases?] The problem is apparently without a practical solution.
Sequel to Mindhunter.......2005-03-30
John Douglas continues showing the inside of the criminal mind in Journey. High Profile cases like O.J. Simpson are included. Other cases are also included that are not as well known such as Suzanne Collins, a Marine killed by a civilian on post. As with the first installment, not for the faint of heart or anyone offended by graphic descriptions or language. Well written and easily to understand, a real page turner.
A real Journey into Darkness.......2003-11-26
I have been an avid true crime reader for several years although this is the first book that I have read by John E. Douglas. This book makes you see the darkness that a lot of people seem to have inside and what they are prepared to do to realise their fantasies whatever the cost. I was not able to put down this book even though it filled me with anxiety and sadness because the title is true - he really does take you on a journey into Darkness, although John Douglases telling of these brutal cases is masterly. He explains even the most complicated of theories in a way that is understandable to all. After reading this book I have already ordered his other books and can't wait for them to be delivered. Gripping stuff!!!
Book Description
It is February 1355, and Oxford has exploded in one of the most serious riots of its turbulent history. Fearing for their lives, the scholars flee the city, and some choose the University at Cambridge as their refuge. They don’t remain safe for long, however—within hours of their arrival, two people have died. When Bartholomew and Brother Michael investigate the deaths, they uncover evidence that the Oxford riot was part of a carefully orchestrated plot. With the Archbishop of Canterbury about to honor Cambridge with a visitation, and a close colleague accused of a series of murders that Bartholomew is certain he didn’t commit, the race is on to bring a ruthless killer to justice.
Customer Reviews:
Review of the Audio Download -- Busy Medieval Mystery.......2007-10-09
This book was read by Andrew Wincott, a British actor on stage, television and radio. He has a nice flexible voice and handles the various characters in this book with ease. It wasn't his fault that I ended this book feeling vaguely dissatisfied because I've had this problem with other books in this series by this author.
While I feel that the author, Susanna Gregory, has a fairly reliable grasp of Cambridge history the plot seemed to rely overly on coincidence. And sometimes she shows then tells again as though the reader might not be relied upon to catch on without one of the characters explaining things to us.
For instance, the portly Brother Michael, Proctor, has been eating too much. Matthew, the doctor, encourages him to eat less for the sake of his health. Matthew also muses to himself that if he were involved in a fracas where Michael was his backup while they were solving a crime that Michael might not be able come to his aid if Michael was too overweight. So of course a fracas occurs and Michael cannot come to his aid. Next thing we know Michael is cutting down on his food intake. Enough said, right? No, Matthew has to muse to himself again that Michael is dieting in because he found out that he would not be able to help his friend if he were too much overweight.
When the plot isn't being driven by coincidence it's being pushed by Matthew's not very good judgment when it comes to the character of others.
It probably sounds like I do not like this book, but that is not true. I did enjoy the 16 or so hours I spent in 14th century Cambridge but I wish Ms Gregory would hone her mystery skills a bit to equal her historical skills.
Puzzling Overkill.......2007-01-31
I am an admirer of Gregory's Chronicles of Matthew Bartholomew series but this one falls short of her usual standard. The historical background to the story is, as one expects from this author, well researched and written about with authority. The basic plot centres on a riot in Oxford after which a number of scholars flee to Cambridge. Along with them go a small group of men from the town who are investigating a murder that took place during the rioting.
At the same time there is a subplot centred on a Cambridge lecturer who appears to be manifesting symptoms of insanity. A local prostitute with whom Matthew has become overly familiar, at least to those who do not know what they are really doing, has a part to play in the mystery. As do two men associated with an Oxford owned manor in Cambridge. Then there is an old feud plus an old friend now so altered by time and age that Matthew wonders if he was mistaken in his admiration as a youth, bodies galore and a plot that gets more and more entangled as the story progresses.
The plot plods along as Matthew and Michael discover body after body until the lists of corpses and suspects reaches an almost ridiculous length. The solving of the crime is more likely to be done by the reader well before the end of the book simply because of the repetition of the main clue to the point where the reader may well wonder why the editor of the book did not call a halt to its appearance.
In the end the murderers are exposed and the corpses buried while the Archbishop of Canterbury starts his visit to the town. A neat but not very satisfying ending left me hoping that the next book from Miss Gregory will be more like the others in the series.
Wonderful Medieval Mystery.......2006-07-22
Susanna Gregory is not as prolific a writer as many of the authors who write this style of book and the anticipation of waiting for a new title can be quite frustrating for the reader. However the wait is always worthwhile.
I am not sure whether it is Matthew Bartholomew himself, or the setting of Cambridge in the mid-fourteenth century but Miss Gregory's books seem to carry an aura all of their own. Certainly for me and hopefully for other readers as well.
It is St. Scholastic's and Oxford is embroiled in one of the most serious riots in it history. Fearing for their lives many of the scholars flee from the city, some choosing to travel to Cambridge in the belief that the murderer of one of their colleagues may well be found in town that rival them for scholastic endeavour.
Brother Michael is furious that anyone else should try to search for the killer and is dismissive of the insistence of these upstarts that Cambridge is harbouring the murderer.
He is also annoyed that Matthew Bartholomew appears to more interested in the town's leading prostitute than the murder that has taken place.
It eventually becomes clear that the riot was not a case of random violence but part of a carefully orchestrated plot . . .
A richly told tale of murder and mayhem........2006-06-07
This eleventh book in the Matthew Bartholomew series is a real page-turner. I have been enjoying reading this series for a number of years now, and look forward to each new installment. Ms. Gregory writes in a complex and vivid manner that demonstrates her intimate knowledge with the time frame that she is writing in, while treating her readers to wonderful characters, tightly knit plots and intricate murders and murderers. This book uses the historcal Oxford riots of 1355 to build a story around. Everyone in Cambridge is aware of the devastating riots in Oxford, and they want to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen in their city. Especially because they are planning for a celebratory visitation from the Archbishop of Canterbury. But people keep turning up dead and Michael and Matthew are hard-pressed to sort it all out in time. This is another totally satisfying medieval mystery. Bring on the next one.
Engrossing story & intriguing characters.......2005-09-23
This is an excellent story for anyone who likes a traditional 'whodunnit' well-written, with deftly-drawn characters and a real sense of place. Set in a damp, isolated Cambridge which is vividly portrayed, the scholarship and period knowledge is fascinating but never intrusive.
This is the eleventh story to feature Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael in mediaeval Cambridge. Although it isn't necessary to read them in order, it's probably better to have read a couple of others first for the ending to have its intended effect.
I now have to wait nearly a year before the sequel comes out in hardback! Highly recommended.
Amazon.com
Mark Seltzer is a professor of English at Cornell University who has previously explored, in his book Bodies and Machines, the notion of a technological society as one in which processes of "registration, recording, and reproduction" break down distinctions between individual and mass, private and public. In Serial Killers, he argues that this "machine culture" constitutes a "pathological public sphere" that sets up the serial killer as an icon of our "wound culture"--a public not only enthralled by, but addicted to, murder and mayhem. The Washington Post writes of this book: "Drawing with equal dexterity on sources ranging from gay pulp novelist Dennis Cooper to French philosopher Jacques Lacan, Seltzer sees the serial killer as a sort of performance artist around whom we gather in an unhealthy attempt to exorcise our own demons."
Also recommended: Of Men and Monsters: Jeffrey Dahmer and the Construction of the Serial Killer by Richard Tithecott
Book Description
In this provocative cultural study, the serial killer emerges as a central figure in what Mark Seltzer calls 'America's wound culture'. From the traumas displayed by talk show guests and political candidates, to the violent entertainment of Crash or The Alienist, to the latest terrible report of mass murder, we are surrounded by the accident from which we cannot avert our eyes. Bringing depth and shadow to our collective portrait of what a serial killer must be, Mark Seltzer draws upon popular sources, scholarly analyses, and the language of psychoanalysis to explore the genesis of this uniquely modern phenomenon. Revealed is a fascination with machines and technological reproduction, with the singular and the mass, with definitions of self, other, and intimacy. What emerges is a disturbing picture of how contemporary culture is haunted by technology and the instability of identity.
Customer Reviews:
Reader from New Jersey.......2003-07-02
Mark Seltzer's fascinating book is not for the faithhearted. It is not an easy read, but it is therefore also not to be dismissed (as some reviewers here seem to do).
Seltzer's mind is quite keen. He is a penetrating reader of texts and culture. And he sees relationships where others might see separate phenomena. In many ways building on his previous book about machine culture in America and its relationship to various texts (_Bodies and Machines_), Seltzer here probes the interaction between serial violence in real life and in novels and film. Among other things, he maps the generative influence of the one upon the other, and vice versa.
This book will probably appeal more to scholars and graduate students than to a general readership, for along the way Seltzer does draw on various critical theorists, whom those uninitiated into the world of theory will no doubt find obscure. A recommendation for them might be a book by Seltzer's former colleague at Cornell, Jonathan Culler, _Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction_.
If, however, you are not searching for beach reading, but rather a serious, challenging, and often macabre, look at the ways in which our society is obsessed with violence, this is a book that will repay your close and sustained attention. Moreover, it will probably, like Seltzer's other work, rub off on you in some way and help you read texts -- and culture -- with a more critical eye.
Insubstantial..........2003-03-10
This is the worst example of cultural studies. The book is full of vague, insubstantiated claims, tenuous theoretical and historical connections, sweeping generalizations, and marred by a fatal lack of basic organization. Cultural studies doesn't have to be this simplistic and thin. Each chapter reads like a series of promises ("I will deal with this issue later in this chapter") that remain unfulfilled, as though the writer couldn't actually deliver on the task of real analysis, but can only give vague and hollow summary. Avoid it.
good work, but the author is missing some pertinent aspects.......1999-01-24
Curiously missing from this text is a discussion of the fiction of Poppy Z. Brite--particularly her novel Exquisite Corpse. This novel,strangely enough,prefigures the Andrew Cunanan(I hope I'm spelling his last name correctly)murder spree. Also, Seltzer shows no evidence of having read the work of intellectual historian Louis Kern. His essay on the splatterpunk phenomenon would have been useful to Seltzer's arguments.
Too much cultural studies.......1998-10-23
I disagree with the other reviewer who praised this book for, among other things, its historical accuracy. This book has no claims to contribute to historical studies at all. It is a work in cultural studies, and shows all of the characteristics of that genre - obscure language, complex theories, loose historical claims, and a confusion between fictional and non-fictional sources. Obviously the analysis of fiction and non-fiction, together, is essential to the argument of the author, but as no attempt at historical or even literary context is attempted, one is left with a series of under-argued observations.
Book Description
In The Poet and the Murderer, acclaimed journalist Simon Worrall takes readers into the haunting mind of Mark Hofmann, one of the most daring literary forgers and remorseless murderers of the late twentieth century.
He was a young Mormon boy who loathed what he believed to be the hypocrisy of his faith, and who devised secret ways to infiltrate and undermine the church. Mark Hofmann began his career by forging and selling rare Mormon coins, and quickly moved on to creating false, highly controversial religious documents that threw the Church of Latter-Day Saints into turmoil. But it was his infamous Emily Dickinson poem that would prove his greatest deception, stunning the art and literary worlds and earning him thousands from the most distinguished Dickinson scholars. It would also prove his ultimate undoing, when his desperation to keep his greatest forgery a secret drove him to commit ever more heinous crimes-including acts of shocking violence.
Filled with the page-turning suspense and tantalizing sleuthing techniques of a literary thriller, The Poet and the Murderer gives us an unforgettable portrait of a deeply irreligious man and a brilliant con artist whose greatest talent-and greatest tragedy--was his ability to conceal his mad genius behind the unique gifts and enduring celebrity of others.
Customer Reviews:
Good read but I wanted more.......2007-04-01
Simon Worral is clearly an accomplished writer and his book, The Poet and the Murderer, demonstrates that skill. It's a fascinating story about a forger who earns a good living faking historical documents, mainly those that could be important to the Mormon Church. The reader learns a great deal about how document forgery is accomplished, about how little concern the nation's major auction houses demonstrate for the validity of what they put on the block, and about the roots of Mormonism.
The only problem with the book is that the story wanders around in interesting but not necessarily riveting detail --- detail that sometimes loses sight of the story line. What was auctioned off as a poem of Emily Dickinson frames the story in an opening that zeros in on the purchaser, Daniel Lombardo, then the curator of special collections for the Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts, the center of Dickinson lore.
The character who turns out to be a forger and murderer, Mark Hoffman, fails to come alive in the sense one can identify with him, or pity him or even be truly appalled by him. Raised a Mormon and obsessed by the church, he is portrayed as mechanical man. If his crime had been foreshadowed in greater detail, with a more sympathetic portrayal of the victims, I think the story would have held more of my attention.
But it is wrong to be too critical of Worral's work, which is an easy read. I just wanted more. That is not a bad way to leave a reader, but it does seem that more might have been available to Worral, more of what I wanted to know about Lombardo as well as Hoffman's victims. Finally I'd like to have footnotes on Worral's detailed analysis of the early years of Mormonism, or at least some citations of his secondary sources, so I could easily follow up where my interest was stimulated by this book.
Bad Midwife of a Story with GREAT Potential.......2006-10-09
The only reason I think this book warrants two stars instead of one is because at least Worrall had the sense to recognize a story rich with possibilities. His "Wikipedia" version, though, is disappointing. Worrall spends way too much time practicing cheap psychology, repeating cheesy pet phrases (ex. "Hofmann was beginning to sense the thin line separating reality from illusion"), and way too little time on the key elements of the tale. There are significant connections to be made from this intersection of poetry, Mormonism, and murder!! But he DOES NOT make them. It's still a fun read, but ultimately disappointing. I really wish someone with more scholarly dedication had written this book - it should have been about 500 pages long and intensively researched, and NOT dumbed down for the reader. See "Death of Innocents" for a good example of what true-crime nonfiction can be.
Terrific book - couldn't put it down.......2005-07-15
I read this in a couple of hours.
Fantastic book. Well written, well researched. Now I want to read a bio of Emily Dickinson.
It made a lot of people angry? Too bad!
Sad to see that, although Dorie Olds, Mark Hofmann's ex wife, has moved on with her life in many ways, she still clings to both the delusion that Hofmann did not commit the murders and a religion that keeps women submissive and in the dark about the real world.
The cover of the book says "bizarre beliefs" - absolutely.
I would highly recommend this book.
Emily's just a teaser for the Hofmann forgery/bombing tale.......2005-01-11
I liked this book more than most of the 42 earlier reviewers, although most of them did like it. I'm kind of the perfect reader for Simon Worrall, for two reasons: first, I've spent the past 25 years, part-time, researching all things Dickinson because in the 80's I wrote a play about the surviving kin who brought her poetry to the world amid adultery and feuds and greed and envy. Second, I've read three books about the astonishing and evil career of forger/murderer Mark Hofmann. So not everything in the book was new to me, although the information which was new was fascinating. It is not a perfectly written book, nor a perfectly organized one, nor a perfectly edited one. It would have benefitted from lots more photos of Hofmann's forged documents and of the victims of his bombs and deceit. Prior reviewers all make those points. However, it still is a worthwhile read, and the more so if you do not know as much as I do about Emily or about Hofmann's criminal activities. I won't rehash here the history of the Mormon Church, which is an essential ingredient in the tale and has nothing to do with Emily but everything to do with Mark Hofmann and why he became a killer. Some of the other reviewers chose to comment on that aspect in detail. Likewise, Mr. Worrall takes a few liberties with Emily which do not really belong in this story, such as relating a dream of taking a walk with her, and later trying to solve the mystery of the famous "master" letters---items which Hofmann did not forge, and which might relate to one of three men Emily probably had crushes on during her life (some think a woman might have been the object of these sad love letters.) Worrall tells us his pick, but there is no better evidence for it than for any of the other candidates, although I would also pick the same guy. Those few pages are unneeded in this tale, and should have been saved for some future magazine piece about Emily's life. Those criticisms aside, this remains a good read. One of the "heroes" is former special collections curator Dan Lombardo, then of the Jones Library in Amherst, Mass., Emily's hometown. I never met him, but during the creation of my play, which took a couple years of research and a couple more to put in final form, he and I corresponded. He was quite helpful to me, a total nobody, and I have always been grateful. It was nice to find out that during a huge crisis in his professional career, he behaved with honor and courage. (Yes, even librarians can have situations which can mean life or death to their reputations, jobs or institutions!) Mark Hofmann tried to pass off one of his own poems as an Emily Dickinson manuscript in order to make money and to make fools of the experts, and he almost succeeded. That's part of what the book is about. The rest of it details his anti-Mormon forgeries and a few other of the hundreds of fake items he sold in the late '70's and early '80's, before he killed two people to try to stave off financial ruin and exposure for himself. It is, then, at heart, a true crime story. Hofmann has been the subject of a bunch of other books, but none in which the Dickinson forgery is the starting point. If you like Emily, or true crime tales, this one is worth reading. I also recommend "The Mormon Murders." And for more on Emily, there is nothing as good as Richard Sewell's "The Life of Emily Dickinson" which will take months to read, but is wonderful.
Opportunity missed .........2004-09-01
The premise linking a forged Dickinson poem, forged Mormon documents, and the forger enticed me to read this book.
Parts of the book describing how forgeries are done and detected were very interesting. Alas however, there are no pictures of the forged documents that the author talks about. Thus you are left to your imagination when things such as "the second loop in the S" come up. Finally, I printed off samples of "The Oathe(sic) Of a Freeman", "Salamander Letter", and "Anthon Transcripts" from the web. Do this if you want to follow the descriptions in the book.
Often the author states "in pictures of Hoffman from the...". But NONE of these pictures are in the book. This took a lot away from the quality of the work. Behind the book there are two pictures of Dickenson poems, one forged and one real. That's it.
The writing is good in parts but somewhat disjointed as a flowing narrative.
There is nothing new in regards to the forger, Mark Hoffman, and his Mormon forgaries.
Average customer rating:
- GRIPPING
- Uneven thriller with promise
- Disturbing Old-Time Religion
- Great entertainment
- A KISS TO BUILD A SERIES ON
|
The Serpent's Kiss : A Novel
Mark T. Sullivan
Manufacturer: Atria
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0743439821 |
Book Description
A divorced, second generation homicide detective out of San Diego, Seamus Moynihan figures he¹s witnessed the worst kind of violence humans can visit upon one another. Then he¹s summoned to a crime scene where the victim, a naked man, has been bitten to death by a snake in a bizarre ritual orchestrated by a cunning and vicious murderer.
To catch the killer, Moynihan must embark on a mesmerizing journey into a world of twisted eroticism, black-market herpetology, fanatical spiritual cults, and ultimately one of history¹s enduring mysteries: Who was the second woman?
With the help of a Biblical scholar whose theories about the enigmatic wife of Cain may provide a startling link to the current investigation, Moynihan follows a twisting trail that leads to herpetologists on the cutting edge of television celebrity, Internet swingers exploring the dark depths of human sexuality...and a chilling fundamentalist cult in the backwoods of Alabama. As the mystery deepens, weaving together events of the distant and recent past, the veteran detective is forced to confront his own life¹s choices in a climax that threatens to destroy his sanity.
Download Description
A divorced, second generation homicide detective out of San Diego, Seamus Moynihan figures he?s witnessed the worst kind of violence humans can visit upon one another. Then he?s summoned to a crime scene where the victim, a naked man, has been bitten to death by a snake in a bizarre ritual orchestrated by a cunning and vicious murderer. To catch the killer, Moynihan must embark on a mesmerizing journey into a world of twisted eroticism, black-market herpetology, fanatical spiritual cults, and ultimately one of history?s enduring mysteries: Who was the second woman? With the help of a Biblical scholar whose theories about the enigmatic wife of Cain may provide a startling link to the current investigation, Moynihan follows a twisting trail that leads to herpetologists on the cutting edge of television celebrity, Internet swingers exploring the dark depths of human sexuality...and a chilling fundamentalist cult in the backwoods of Alabama. As the mystery deepens, weaving together events of the distant and recent past, the veteran detective is forced to confront his own life?s choices in a climax that threatens to destroy his sanity.
Customer Reviews:
GRIPPING.......2007-02-07
Well, to make this very simple, I started the book one evening, and by the next morning....4A.M. I had finished it. Couldn't put it down. PERIOD!
Uneven thriller with promise.......2005-06-09
Mark T. Sullivan has created a winner of a character in San Diego homicide detective Seamus Moynihan. He's complex and conflicted as all get-out--his family life is in a shambles, his career is on the line, and he's got a past that would haunt anybody. His father, also a police officer, was killed in the line of duty and Seamus broke a promise to his mother by also becoming a cop after a traumatic injury cut short his life with the Boston Red Sox. His ex-wife is moving on with another man, he is alienating his son, and he has difficulty with all his relationships. He doesn't always follow his own advice--the book would be shorter if he did--but then what real person does? In addition, he is an effective narrator and he lives on a boat like Travis McGee. All in all, Moynihan is one engaging character--although not always entirely believable (I mean, I like my heroes as flawed as the next guy, but Moynihan has enough for two characters). Sullivan plans to write a series of books starring "Shay" and, at the very least, this is a man we will not tire of visiting anytime soon.
The Serpent's Kiss, however, is another story. It's a riveting read--plenty of suspense, action, twist, and turns, as well as lots of different characters to keep us guessing to the identity of the murderer. Unfortunately, Sullivan attempts to lead his readers down a path that makes sense, then jettisons it at the last moment for a more sensationalist ending. The last quarter of the book--while gripping, informative, and quickly-paced--dampens the effect of the rest of the novel. Nevertheless, I was engrossed to the very end.
A string of sexually-related serial murders is the focus of the investigation. Peppered with the bites of various illegally obtained snakes (or "hot herps"), the victims are found with poisoned apples in their mouths (where's the Snow White angle?) and obscure literary/biblical references left at the scene. The search leads Moynihan and his partner/brother-in-law to the local reptile adventurer, Nick Foster, star of Cold Blooded (an obvious Crocodile Hunter parody) and his reluctant partner, zoologist Jan Hood. Also involved in the investigation is professor Susan Dahoney, author of a controversial book about the Lilith myth called The Second Woman. Both these women will provide keys to the eventual solution, but not before Moynihan gets involved with them romantically. And before long, Shay will get too close for comfort with several poisonous snakes, but at least his knowledge of them--courtesy of the investigation--will help him survive.
From the beginning, Sullivan leads his characters down the wrong path intentionally, all the while winking at his readers and letting us know he's in on it. This made it all too easy to guess the perpetrator's identity. Sullivan's prose is mostly invisible--perfect for this type of thriller--but there end up being too many subplots. He leads us running from location to location, trying too hard to make sure we're having a good time. After a while--just like on a rollercoaster--I'd had enough and was ready for it to be over.
In the end, I enjoyed The Serpent's Kiss very much, and will certainly be on the lookout for future Sullivan/Moynihan novels. I think that readers who are looking for a suspenseful ride will be very pleased with the novel and those who prefer their characters to be attractively flawed will enjoy keeping company with Moynihan. I recommend it with only these few reservations.
Disturbing Old-Time Religion.......2005-03-16
What a fascinating read! The first half of the book seemed like the typical American police procedural--this time set in San Diego. The murders are ghastly, and the subset of individuals who seems to be the chosen victims adds another disturbing twist to the story. Our hero, Seamus Moynihan, is a narcissist and is somewhat hard to like. He's a jock, good with the ladies, drives a muscle car, and spews testosterone in every interaction with another living thing, etc.
Once Moynihan travels to rural Alabama--that's when things get interesting. The deeper he seems to go into those dense, humid forests looking for the house where a tragedy took place 27 years ago (and may be the key to solving the string of San Diego murders), the eerier the story.
The ending is somewhat predictable, but the psychology of the criminal's behavior is plausible enough to warrant our suspension of reality to enjoy a spooky, disturbing police procedural.
Great entertainment.......2003-12-11
See storyline above.
Mark T. Sullivan never disappoints and this time I think he has exceeded his previous best.
'The Serpent's Kiss' is a highly addictive and gruesome tale, with plotting that will excite any reader of thrillers and mysteries. Interesting locales and some graphic scenes round out this intense story.
Highly recommended.
A KISS TO BUILD A SERIES ON.......2003-08-23
Having read Sullivan's previous works including PURIFICATION CEREMONY, I was pleasantly surprised at this genre-changing work. Sullivan should definitely consider more Seamus Moynihan novels.
This one is a firecracker from start to finish. The terrible deaths of these men are graphically depicted, and make the flesh crawl. Sullivan throws several suspects at you, and then saves the best for last.
Seamus is a great character, as is Nick, the television "Crocodile Dundee". The women in Seamus' life give him a little more trouble than most femme fatales.
An explosive book, with a great feel for place as well. Shifting from California to Alabama, Sullivan gives us several spooky and suspenseful scenes.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Average customer rating:
- Unintelligble garbage
- A correction...
- Fascinating Account of one of the Most Bizarre Crimes in Utah History
- Learning about Forgeries.
- A normal essential to all mormologists great and small.
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Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders
Linda Sillitoe ,
Allen D. Roberst , and
Allen D. Roberts
Manufacturer: Signature Books
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ASIN: 0941214656 |
Customer Reviews:
Unintelligble garbage.......2007-02-09
When I found myself in Salt Lake City on business in the early '90s with an unexpected free day on my hands, I thought to use it for pleasure reading and was directed to the Deseret Book Store. It looked like a Barnes & Noble. I did not know it was in thrall to the Mormon Church.
There, I asked a female clerk if there happened to have been any books written about a series of bombings I recalled reading about in the New York Times some years earlier. I was interested in knowing if the culprit had ever been captured and, if so, what had happened to him.
She replied there were two books. "One is historical fact and the other is fiction," she said. "The fiction is pretty bad." At this, she actually wrinkled her nose as if the fiction had left a bad smell she could still detect.
So I bought the 'historical' book she recommended. It was "Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders." Despite the turgid prose, jumpy time lines, and bucketfuls of shibboleths and cliches, I managed to wade through the whole thing in half a day. I found it crushingly dull, very poorly written, and at times completely impenetrable to a reader like me with little or no recollection of the actual case.
"Salamander" suffers from many defects of writing, style, organization, sloppy editing, and negligent proof-reading -- but none so severe or nettlesome as the fact that it makes no narrative sense whatsoever. The largest mystery in reading this book became, for me, wondering over the seemingly indeterminable motives of quite a few of the key characters. Most of them abruptly drop in or fade out of the story like indifferent actors at a crowded theater audition where only bit parts are on offer.
The next day, I happened to mention my frustration with the book to two friends who live in SLC. When they heard how I had come to read "Salamander" they howled with laughter.
"That bookstore clerk steered you to the official Mormon Church version," one explained. "You'll never be able to understand what really happened until you read the other book -- the one she called fiction."
They reminded me of the title of the book I should have read. It was "The Mormon Murders," written by Naifeh and Smith. I read it that night. It is superb.
Naifeh and Smith lay out a clear, well-written, and compelling narrative of the murders. Not only do they explain and document all available evidence about the motives of the perpetrator and intentions of his victims, the total environment in which the killings were conducted, and the dramatic preliminary hearing, they also show the reader in detail how and why powerful political and religious forces were at play behind the scenes.
In short, The Mormon Murders by Naifeh and Smith cleared up two mysteries I had encountered on my visit to Salt Lake City: the murder case itself and why the "Salamander" book I had just read was so atrocious.
If you happen to collect books that are so notoriously bad they have become collector's items for that reason (some folk do, you know), go ahead and buy "Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders." But it's a waste of your time if you try to read it.
A correction..........2005-08-29
Not remembering the alcohol plant mentioned in the quote in the following paragraph, I asked Allen Roberts, my friend and one of the authors of this book, as to what the reviewer was refering. Allen had no clue as there IS no alcohol plant mentioned anywhere in the book. Allen Roberts and Linda Sillitoe are people of high integrity and spent many, many, many hours doing meticulous research for this book so that an objective account of the events COULD be told. Either the following quote does not refer to this book, or the reviewer needs to read the book again.
Don't believe everything you read!, January 8, 2001 Reviewer: A reader: "My family was involved with the alcohol plant in New Mexico that the authors of the book claimed never existed. I know it actually did exist, I was there. If the authors had done a minimum amount of research, they would have known it too. So this makes me wonder what else they got wrong. I tend to think there was a lot that really didn't fit together, so I'll keep searching for the truth. I hope everyone else does too."
Fascinating Account of one of the Most Bizarre Crimes in Utah History.......2005-08-27
"Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders" is a very fine analysis of one of the most bizarre stories in Mormon history. It tells the story of the Salt Lake City bombings on 15 and 16 October 1985 that killed Steven F. Christensen and Kathleen B. Sheets and seriously injured Mark W. Hofmann.
One of the scenarios developed during the period immediately following the deaths of Christensen and Sheets on 15 October, associated the bombings with high finance and the crumbling business empire of J. Gary Sheets, husband of Kathleen and former associate of Christensen. Sheets' business, CFS Financial Corporation, was in a well-publicized nose-dive. His investors and creditors were clamoring for repayment and Sheets was considering bankruptcy. Christensen had left CFS a few months earlier unhappy with the direction Sheets had charted for the company. Could Sheets have planted the bombs to collect insurance money on the victims or to keep them from talking about illicit business dealings? Could disgruntled investors have placed the bombs? No one knew.
If this were true, it bore no relationship to the Mormon church. The monkey-wrench in this scenario was what appeared to be the attempted murder of Hofmann on the morning of 16 October. He was not associated with CFS in any way, but he had a business relationship with Christensen revolving around the discovery and sale of Mormon historical documents. Christensen had purchased from Hofmann the so-called "Salamander Letter" of Martin Harris to W.W. Phelps, which had been unveiled in a circus-like meeting of the Mormon History Association in May 1985. After Hofmann's bombing most of the speculation suggested that the murders were linked to that document and the study of Mormon origins.
Dated 23 October 1830, this letter narrated a strikingly different story of Book of Mormon origins than most were familiar with from the standard faith story. It suggested that Joseph Smith was intimately involved in folk magic (one aspect of which involved a white salamander who guarded the gold plates) and money-digging, and that the Book of Mormon was simply one more instance of these practices. Moreover, the messenger who delivered the plates to Joseph bore little resemblance to the benevolent being traditionally associated with the story. Instead, he was a crusty and malicious spirit who jealously guarded the treasure. The document seemed to hold the potential to destroy the underpinnings of faith for many naive believers.
The "Salamander Letter" appeared to be a connecting link between the victims in this scenario for the bombings. Christensen had acquired this document from Hofmann; Kathleen Sheets' husband, who seemed to have been the real target of the bomb in this scenario, had been a business associate of Christensen.
Most Mormon historians dismissed as absurd charges made by police investigators within a few days after the bombings that Hofmann was the primary suspect in the murders and that he had cold-bloodedly murdered Christensen to cover up illegal business dealings and Sheets to make it look like the killings were CFS-related. His own injuries, they thought, coming a day after the first murders were the result of the accidental detonation of a third bomb intended for yet another victim. Mark Hofmann was the closest thing the Mormon historical community had to a genuine celebrity. As the discoverer of several overwhelmingly important Mormon documents, he was both nationally known and invariably well-liked. It seemed impossible that Hofmann was a forger and con-man par excellence who committed two grisly murders to stave off financial ruin and a public unmasking of his illegal business dealings.
As it turned out, the police were right. Authors Sillitoe and Roberts describe how Hofmann had brutally murdered Christensen and Sheets and had injured himself while handling a third bomb in his car. He had committed murder to mask a complex array of white-collar crimes that extended back to his student days in the late 1970s at Utah State University. These crimes demonstrated a pattern of deceit and manipulation that was impressive in its size, scope, and length of time.
The immediate causes of the murders, according to the authors, revolved around a complicated collection of documents worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the McLellin Collection. William McLellin had been one of the original Twelve Apostles of 1835 but had left the church in 1838. Evidence suggests that he collected considerable material on the development of Mormonism. The McLellin Collection was fabled as a treasure trove of important historical materials, many of them damaging to the church's traditional view of history.
In 1985 Hofmann claimed to have found the collection and borrowed huge sums--a $185,000 signature loan that Hugh Pinnock, a high-Mormon leader, had arranged in one instance--from several different people, each unknown to the other, for the purpose of acquiring it. In effect he sold the same collection to several different people. Hofmann did not produce the collection for any of his investors and during the fall of 1985 increasing pressure was bore on him to repay his creditors or to produce the collection. He staved them off for a time with some very slick tap-dancing and even secured backing for his bank loan by having Pinnock arrange for a wealthy Mormon to buy the collection from Hofmann and donate it to the church. The money obtained from this sale would not only pay back the $185,000 bank note but also provide Hofmann with a tidy profit.
Christensen, who had dealt with Hofmann before, volunteered to serve as a middle man for the movement of the collection from Hofmann to the church. As such he became a key player when Hofmann defaulted on the $185,000 loan and Pinnock asked him to press Hofmann for settlement. Christiansen was persistent and Hofmann was increasingly unable to avoid his probes. The bombing of Christensen would buy him time since his main protagonist would be out the way, Hofmann thought; maybe the church would drop the matter entirely. The bombing of Sheets was a diversion that would make Christensen's murder appear CFS-related.
The authors suggest that the 15 October murders did not dissuade the church from completing the transaction for the McLellin collection. In one of the most satisfying sections in the entire book they describe how Hofmann was informed after the Christensen and Sheets murders, which most people at first thought were CFS-related, that the deal was still on track and Christensen would be replaced by Donald Schmidt, the retired LDS Church Archivist. Desperate action was required, so Hofmann built a third bomb. The victim would be another decoy, this time one associated with Mormon document dealings.
Brent Ashworth, a successful lawyer and businessman who also bought collectible documents, was the ideal target. He and Hofmann had been meeting most Wednesdays in Salt Lake City for years, 16 October was a Wednesday, and he could easily get him to accept a bomb wrapped in a package similar to the first two. Afterward, Hofmann believed, there would be no pressure to proceed with the McLellin deal. This time, theoretically, all of Hofmann's objectives would have been achieved. But Ashworth did not meet him in Salt Lake City on 16 October and the bomb accidentally detonated. Hofmann was seriously injured and the police investigators at the scene quickly found tell-tale clues implicating him in the bombings.
The police pursued the leads discovered at the site of the third bomb to a logical conclusion and built a tremendously convincing circumstantial case against Hofmann. Although it took months, Hofmann was finally charged with the murders and several lesser crimes in February 1986. The evidence presented in the preliminary hearings thoroughly convinced Judge Paul Grant. According to the authors, "At the beginning of the preliminary hearing, Grant had thought perhaps Hofmann was innocent. But by the end, he thought him clearly guilty, a pathological liar with no conscience and no remorse" (p. 454). A plea bargain resulted, with Hofmann pleading guilty to certain of the charges and promising to answer questions about his operations in return for a commitment not to seek the death penalty.
The authors of "Salamander" perform an admirable service by sketching in most of the details of the bombings, the document dealings, and the character of Mark Hofmann. They describe a man who was outwardedly a believing Latter-day Saint but who was motivated in his crimes by a lust for money and an opportunity to embarrass his church. Always gracefully and with a touch of pathos, the authors narrate the complex events leading up to the murders, the peculiar circumstances of the murder investigations, the discovery of the evidence incriminating Hofmann, and the legal fireworks surrounding the case.
A forensic analysis by George J. Throckmorton, the technician who discovered the secret of the Hofmann forgeries, rounds out the volume and conclusively proves the illegitimate origins of 106 documents coming from the dealer, including all of his major finds.
Learning about Forgeries........2002-12-15
I bought this book for my wife, who is a Romantic Suspense writer. I did a keyword search looking for books on forgeries. This is the best book I have found if you want to learn about an example of this particular type of crime.
A normal essential to all mormologists great and small........2002-10-09
This is better that Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie married and had a child. Pure power to the mind. All crimes must be paid for as this book revealsed. I hate being lied to since this book reveals the truth of all truth.
Book Description
At first, Mark Prothero, Defense Attorney for Gary Ridgway, thought: "This can't be the Green River Killer! He's too ordinary! He's too small. He's too calm. He's too polite! He can't possibly have murdered forty-nine women. They can't be serious! They must have screwed up! I didn't realize then, but I was right. Gary Ridgway hadn't killed forty-nine women. He'd killed even more than that."
Soon, Mark Prothero faced the question: "How could you possibly defend the most prolific serial killer in United States history, the infamous Green River Killer? If anyone deserved to be executed for his crimes, didn't he?"
Mark Prothero, co-lead defense attorney who helped save Gary Ridgway from the death sentence, has heard that question many times. Now he’s written a book that reveals the true, inside story of exactly how an idealistic public defender, high school swim coach, husband, and dad could bring himself to spend many months of close confinement with a man who brutally murdered at least 75 young women, often in the act of sex. Defending Gary shows how Prothero could reconcile these monstrous acts knowing the reality of this unassuming fellow Gary Ridgway, a mild-mannered, church-going, devoted husband, father, and former Navy man, with an IQ of around 82 and a longtime job as a truck painter from Auburn, Washington, near Seattle.
Customer Reviews:
The insight is fantastic.......2007-06-08
This book brought me to a greater understanding of the complete Green River case. I have a special interest in this case from living and working within blocks of the areas many of the women were found and remembering the anxiety and fear during that time. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Read it and then refer it to a friend .......2006-10-17
This book provided great insight into a case that shook not only the nation, but crept into our daily lives as reside
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