New Releases by Ann Rule

From the #1 bestselling true-crime writer in America comes a chilling collection of tales about a variety of deceptive killers--young and old, rich and poor--who commit murder by sleight-of-hand. Includes Rules insider commentary of the case of Mary Winkler, the Tennessee woman who killed her minister husband, Matthew, in 2006. Original.

Discover unforgettable cases of a spouse, lover, family member or helpful stranger who is totally trusted - until it's too late.

The story of an Oregon woman convicted of shooting her three children, killing one, in 1983.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author and true crime master Ann Rule presents her fifteenth volume of the acclaimed Crime Files series focusing on disturbing stories of people in danger, sometimes from strangers and sometimes from the people they know and love. Walking home on a dark night, you hear footsteps coming up behind you. As they get closer, your heart pounds harder. Is it a dangerous stranger or someone you know and trust? The answer is as simple as turning around, but don’t look behind you…run. With her signature in-depth research and compelling writing, Ann Rule chronicles fateful encounters with the secret predators hiding in plain sight. First in line is a stunning case that spanned thirty years and took one determined detective to four states—ending, finally, in Alaska—where he unraveled not one but two murders. A second case appears to begin and end with the hunt for the Green River Killer, focusing on a Washington State man who was once cleared as a suspect in that deadly chain of homicides. In another true story, a petite woman went to a tavern, looking only for conversation and fun. Instead, she met violent death in the form of a seven-foot tall man who had seemed shy and harmless. You’ll feel a chill as you uncover these and numerous other cases of unfortunate victims who made one tragic mistake: trusting the wrong person—even someone they thought they knew.

Ann Rule presents a collection of fascinating and disturbing true-crime stories—drawn from her real-life personal files—in this seventeenth volume in the #1 New York Times bestselling Crime Files series. In this gripping collection of investigative accounts from her private archives, “America’s best true-crime writer” (Kirkus Reviews) exposes the most frightening aspect of the murderous mind: the waiting game. Trusted family members or strangers, these cold-blooded killers select their unsuspecting prey, wait for the perfect moment to strike, then turn normality into homicidal mayhem in a matter of moments. Ann Rule will have you seeing the people and places around you with heightened caution as you read these shattering cases, including: - New mothers murdered, their infants kidnapped, in an atrocious baby-selling scheme - The man who kept his criminal past hidden from his wife—and his wife from his mistress—until he coldly disposed of one of them - The beautiful daughter of a State Department official ran away from the privileged world she knew and hitched a ride with a man she didn’t...with fatal consequences - For months, a vicious, rage-filled serial rapist eluded police and terrorized Seattle’s women—when would he strike next, and how far would his violence escalate? - A criminal known for his Houdini-like escapes is serving time for murder in a botched robbery—now the convict is being served dinner in a civilian’s home, where he has one more trick up his sleeve - A long-lost relative who came home to visit, leaving a bloody trail through Washington and Oregon; no one realized how dangerous he and his ladylove were—until it was far too late... With her ability to translate the most complex cases into storytelling “as dramatic and chilling as a bedroom window shattering at night” (The New York Times), Rule expertly analyzes the thoughts and deeds of the sociopath, in this seventeenth essential Crime Files volume.

It's a chilling reality that homicide investigators know all too well: the last face most murder victims see is not that of a stranger, but of someone familiar. These doomed relationships are the focus of Ann Rule's sixteenth all-new Crime Files collection.

The thirteenth entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series from the “prolific and talented” (Publishers Weekly) Ann Rule focuses on crime victims who had no idea they were in life-threatening danger, often from the very people they trusted the most. In this collection’s featured case, a family man dedicated to naturopathic healing embarks on a passionate affair with a flight attendant, but his jealous rages frighten her. When she finally leaves after a brutal attack, she has no idea that her tormentor would reappear in her life—with deadly consequences. Other cases include: a woman who masterminds her husband’s murder just to gain his inheritance; the sadistic criminal whose prison release damages a presidential campaign and ends in a bitter double tragedy; the shocking DNA link between a horrifying crime and a cold case; and finally, the man who crisscrosses the world in deadly pursuit of a beautiful woman. Once again, the country’s best true crime writer brings her “absolutely riveting…psychologically perspective” (Booklist) insight to a chilling look how sometimes those we love the most can be the most dangerous.

A compilation of real-life crime stories focuses on cases about family members, spouses, lovers, friends, and others whose trustworthy faðcades hid murderous and violent secrets.

A charming and briliant dentist, tied to two murders nearly two decades apart.... A twisting case in which past and present colide.... Go inside one of the most compelling double homicide investigations of our time with Ann Rule, who was given exclusive access inside the case of Bart Corbin, the "handsome twin" responsible for murder times two. Bart Corbin appeared to share an idyllic life with his pretty wife, Jennifer: a home in an upscale Atlanta suburb, two adorable young sons. But there were secrets below the surface -- including an affair of Bart's that drove Jenn to look for love on the Internet -- that would prove deadly on the December morning Jenn was found with a single gunshot wound to her head. Police suspected suicide, but her disbelieving family knew Jenn had been excited to move on from Bart with someone she had met online. As disturbing clues emerged, a relentless county investigator dredged up a shattering revelation: fourteen years earlier, Bart Corbin's former girlfriend, lovely dental student Dolly Hearn, also died -- a gunshot wound to her head that was ruled a suicide. It was a chilling link in the chain that would ensnare the remorseless killer behind both tragic deaths: Bart Corbin. And if you think you know everything about this outright shocking case, discover the truth behind the headlines -- and one incredible irony on which the entire case turned -- in Too Late to Say Goodbye

An absorbing portrayal of true-crime lovers who kill and the men and women who are their victims.

Dr Anthony Pignataro was a cosmetic surgeon and a famed medical researcher whose flashy red Lamborghini and flamboyant lifestyle in western New York state suggested a highly successful career. But appearances, as this shocking insider account of Pignataro's tailspin from physician to prisoner proves, can be deceiving - and, for the doctor's wife, very nearly deadly. No one was safe if they got in his way. With scalpel, drugs and arsenic, he betrayed every oath a physician makes - until his own schemes backfired. Now the motivations of the classic sociopath are plumbed with chilling accuracy by Ann Rule, along with other shocking true cases, where even slow, deliberate murder is not seen for what it truly is: pure evil.

A collection of true-crime tales, selected from the author's "Crime Files" series, is accompanied by three new cases that chronicle the crimes of seemingly ordinary men possessing a twisted obsession with violence and death.

From #1 New York Times bestselling true-crime author Ann Rule comes “a convincing portrait of a meticulous criminal mind” (The Washington Post) in this chilling tale about a beautiful and charming widow with a dark side. An idyllic Hawaiian wedding held the promise of a wonderful future for handsome, athletic Chris Northon, an airline pilot, a confirmed bachelor-turned-devoted family man; and Liysa, an acclaimed surf photographer, loving mother, and aspiring Hollywood screenwriter. But few, including Chris, had seen Liysa's other side—her controlling behavior and dark moods, her insatiable hunger for money and property. And no one anticipated the fatal outcome of a family camping trip in an Oregon forest. Liysa soon revealed herself as a victim of domestic abuse that culminated at the campsite, where she shot Chris in self-defense. But crime scene evidence led detectives to wonder if Liysa was a killer, not a victim. Her controversial trial stunned all who thought they knew her. A lifetime of sociopathic manipulations and lies had been expertly hidden behind her façade of perfection—as was her rage to destroy any obstacle to her ultimate happiness, even if it was the man she vowed to love forever.

New York Times bestselling author Ann Rule brings several riveting accounts of seemingly normal men and women who are compelled by a murderous rage to suddenly lash out in this installment of her Crime Files. Ann Rule dives into one of Seattle’s most infamous crimes: a city bus ride that turned into mayhem and murder at the hands of a gunman. With her signature “devastatingly accurate insight” (The New York Times Book Review), she unmasks the forces that drove quiet, clean-cut Silas Cool to shoot the driver, causing the bus to plunge off the Aurora Bridge into an apartment building. Included here are nine other cases that illuminate Rule’s unique and authoritative view of the human psyche gone temporarily berserk. In A Rage to Kill, Ann Rule frighteningly shows that none of us are truly protected from the flashes of irrational violence that can erupt from the killers among us.

From America's most celebrated true-crime writer comes the heartbreaking real-life drama of a doomed young woman hopelessly trapped in a web of sexual intrigue, political manipulation, and emotional deception by her charming and successful—but ultimately deadly—lover. The author of fifteen New York Times national bestsellers, Ann Rule, a former Seattle policewoman, has researched thousands of homicides and understands every facet of murder investigation. Now, in the most complex and shocking book of her long career, she delves into the motivation that drove a seemingly successful man to kill, and she explores heretofore unknown aspects of a fatal affair between a beautiful young woman who moved confidently in the heady world of the upper echelons of government and a widely admired millionaire attorney who was an immensely popular political figure. On June 27, 1996, thirty-year-old Anne Marie Fahey, who was the scheduling secretary for the governor of Delaware, had dinner with a man she had been having a secret affair with for more than two years. "Tommy" Capano, forty-seven, was perhaps the most politically powerful man in Wilmington. Son of a wealthy contractor, former state prosecutor, partner in a prestigious law firm, advisor to governors and mayors, Tom Capano had a soft-spoken and considerate manner that endeared him to many. Although recently estranged from his wife, he was a devoted father to his four beautiful young daughters, the trusted son of his widowed mother, and the backbone of his extended family. But sometime after 9:15 that night when Anne Marie and Tom left a Philadelphia restaurant, something terrible happened to Anne Marie. It would be forty-eight hours before her brothers and sisters realized that she had disappeared entirely. Ann Rule brilliantly traces the lives of both Fahey and Capano as she discloses the intimate details of their ill-fated bonding. A vulnerable, trusting woman becomes spellbound by a charming, duplicitous married man, and what begins as a seemingly unremarkable affair is slowly transformed into an obsessive, convoluted, and deadly relationship. Through her impeccable research, Rule peels away layer after layer of deception to reveal a man who lived a secret life for decades, a man so greedy that he would sacrifice anyone to gain what he desired. One of his many mistresses—all of whom were unknown to one another—was Deborah MacIntyre, an attractive and wealthy member of one of Wilmington's oldest families and an administrator of an elite private school. She, too, would become part of the mystery surrounding Anne Marie's disappearance. As three prominent families are destroyed to satisfy one man's jealous obsessions, this unfathomable tragedy becomes a tale that few would believe if it were presented as fiction. Shockingly, it is all true. Destined to become a classic, And Never Let Her Go is a riveting account of forbidden love and murder among the rich and powerful, and a chilling insight into the evil that sometimes hides behind even the most charming façade.

Ann Rule brilliantly dissects the convoluted love affairs that all too often end in violence in this unnerving collection drawn from her personal crime files. From traditional courtships to Internet relationships, the passions that rule the heart can also fuel the destructive fires of rage, jealousy and murder. There are stalkers driven by obsession, gay lovers who learn too late that things are not as they appear, and conjugal visits in the shadow of prison walls. Ann Rule goes far beyond the headlines made by these unusual stories to chronicle the downward spiral that begins when promises are broken - a descent that may wrenchingly unfold to a bloody conclusion, or occur so rapidly that the reader wants to cry 'watch out'. The title story deals with an adulterous affair that slashed the trust in a seemingly ideal marriage, the violence that ensued, and a missing-persons search that was ultimately solved with forensic science, computers, and the dedicated kindness of the victim's friends. Powerful because they strike so close to home, the cases in EMPTY PROMISES will leave readers shaken with the realities of love gone terribly wrong.

Rule has culled from her private files the most asked-about homicide cases--riveting accounts of seemingly normal men and women who are compelled by a murderous rage to suddenly lash out at innocent victims.

The author mesmerizing readers with her command of key details about the circumstances surrounding each crime, as well as her consistently masterful examination of the criminals involved.

This multiply-reprinted account of crime writer Ann Rule's detective work on serial killer Ted Bundy's case also honestly portrays her long-term, and often confusing, role as friend and confidante to an incomprehensibly magnetic serial killer. Includes a new, but not particularly enriching, update by the author. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

The terrifying true crime story of the I-5 serial killer from Ann Rule, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me. Randall Woodfield had it all. He was an award-winning student and star athlete. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers to play in the NFL, and chosen by Playgirl as a centerfold candidate. Working in the swinging West Coast bar scene, he had his pick of willing sexual prospects. But Randall Woodfield wanted more than just sex. An appetite for unspeakable violent acts led him to cruise the I-5 highway through California, Oregon, and Washington, leaving a trail of victims along the way. As the list of his victims grew to a total of at least 44, the police faced the awesome challenge of catching and convicting a suspect who seemed too handsome and appealing to have committed such ugly crimes—crimes that filled every woman within his striking range with feat and horror....

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me comes a true crime story of a serial killer who was sentenced to die—yet lived to murder again....and again.... After committing his first grisly crime, Harvey Louis Carignan beat a death sentence and continued to manipulate, rape, and bludgeon women to death, using want ads to lure his young female victims. And time after time, justice was thwarted by a killer whose twisted legal genius was matched only by his sick savagery. Complete with the testimony of the officers who put him behind bars and the women who barely escaped with their lives, The Want-Ad Killer is one of the most shattering and thought-provoking true-crime stories of our time.

To his neighbors, Jerry Brudo was a gentle man whose mild manner contrasted with his awesome physical strength. To his employers, Jerry was a fine worker. To his wife, he was a good husband. And to the Oregon police, Jerry Brudo was the most hideously twisted killer they had ever unmasked. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.