Most Popular Books by Ann Rule

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

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....

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

In this riveting, unnerving collection drawn from her personal case files, the bestselling true crime author exposes the shattering violence and lethal obsession behind the most passionate love affairs, revealing the shocking details of crimes committed by both sexes. Original.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

America’s #1 true-crime writer unveils the chilling true story of the Sheila Bellush murder, unveiling domestic violence, an obsessive ex-husband, and a desperate plea for justice in this gripping account written at the victim’s request. “If anything ever happens to me…find Ann Rule and ask her to write my story.” In perhaps the first true-crime book written at the victim’s request, Ann Rule untangles a web of lies and brutality that culminated in the murder of Sheila Blackthorne Bellush—a woman Rule never met, but whose shocking story she chronicled with compassion, exacting detail, and unvarnished candor. Although happily ensconced in a loving second marriage, and a new family of quadruplets, Sheila never truly escaped the vicious enslavement of her ex-husband, multi-millionaire Allen Blackthrone, a handsome charmer—and a violent, controlling sociopath who subjected Sheila to unthinkable abuse in their marriage, and terrorized her for a decade after their divorce. When Sheila was murdered in her home, in the presence of her four toddlers, authorities raced to link the crime to Blackthorne, the man who vowed to monitor Sheila’s every move in his obsessive quest for power and revenge. With her careful research and signature reporting, Ann Rule captures Sheila’s harrowing story while honoring a victim’s last request.

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.

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

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.