The latest book by Diane Fanning is another spousal murder story set in Texas. Like an earlier book she wrote in that theme that impressed me (Gone Forever), I could not put down this book for one second except to prop it up as I folded laundry. I gulped it down in a day and hope she writes more.
A Poisoned Passion: A Young Mother, her War Hero Husband, and the Marriage that Ended in Murder
This case was particularly strange. The victim, Michael Severance, was a staff sergeant in the Air Force, a war veteran, and by all accounts a kind and respectable man. When he had a one-night stand with Wendi and got her pregnant, he did the honorable thing and married her. Five months later, he was dead, and his wife was making statements to her family on a recorded jailhouse phone line such as, "I don't feel like I did anything wrong. I mean, that's how I feel, deep down, but I know that it must be, you know... I know that society would think that it was bad."
Yes, society did think it was bad to kill a man you'd vowed (only weeks before) to eternally love, to orphan the son you just bore him -- and for no discernible reason. The author recounts the murderess's correspondence and recorded conversations with her family, and they are quite stunning. What I appreciated the most about this book is its tone. I've noticed that some of the women featured on Snapped are treated with sympathy and their pathetic excuses treated seriously. I was disappointed by one recent book that to me was unnecessarily understated in its analysis of a black-hearted self-made widow. Fanning, thank goodness, calls a spade a spade.
A Poisoned Passion is the author's ninth book, and a tenth comes out next month. At this rate, she'll best Ann Rule's impressive list by the middle of the next decade. More details about the book, including a video trailer and the first chapter, are on the author's website.
(Legal disclaimer: To avoid the $11,000 fine that the Federal Trade Commission has set for book-reviewing bloggers, I must state here that I received the book for free from the publisher. That said, I've gotten other books from St. Martin's that I will not be reviewing here because they're not up to snuff. I only write reviews of books worth recommending.)
I agree with all that you said about this book and its author, Diane Fanning.
Ms. Fanning is a gifted writer.
Posted by: Piper | October 06, 2009 at 05:42 AM
Yes she is a talented writer, she began her first book while living in Texas and eventually quit her non-profit day job to write full time, lucky for us she starts full time with the writing.
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I agree with all that you said about this book and its author, Diane Fanning.
Ms. Fanning is a gifted writer.
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