More good books

(Disclosure: I receive books free from publishers and authors. I only mention the ones worth reading.)

The Bike Path Killer

The Bike Path Killer [Amazon; B&N] by Maki Becker and Michael Beebe is one of the best "police procedurals" I've read in quite a while.

With care and skill, the authors, both professional journalists, distilled the long story of the capture of a serial rapist and killer. Altemio Sanchez committed his crimes for decades in and around  Buffalo, New York. Police stumbles and tragic misjudgments are followed by heroic efforts to nail the true killer.

The authors are also to be commended. They out-Ruled Ann Rule in the depth of their reporting on an extremely complicated case, which turns out to be yet another terrible lesson in the fallibility of eyewitnesses and the jurors who rely on them. In the end, though, it's a triumph for law enforcement.

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Fear Came to Town

Fear Came to Town: The Santa Claus, Georgia, Murders (Berkley True Crime) [Amazon; B&N] by Doug Crandell is instructive and nicely written, though the subject matter is tough. In 1997 , a foster family in Santa Claus, Georgia was cruelly slaughtered just before Christmas in a truly motiveless, senseless manner by someone they'd tried to befriend.

The author does a nice job of explaining this case and of evoking the place, though the motive for the crime ultimately proves elusive.

The confessed murderer, Jerry Scott Heidler, was obviously severely mentally ill. Tragically, he also had a mother who was downright hateful to him, and she probably had her own full-blown case of Oppositional Defiant Disorder to boot. Best to file this one under Some People Are Beyond Help.

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Let us know if you've read something worth recommending. All the more so if it's old.

Comments

[Видеонаблюдение]

Do you have some interesting Russian books. Here there are many good writers

[laura]

Please tell me about the best Russian true crime writers! I would love to hear more.

(Is there a book about Countess Maria Tarnowska in Russian?)

[Julie]

I just finished reading a book by Julie Salamon about Robert Rowe called "Facing the Wind." I think you'd really like it. Not only does she have a very engaging narrative style but her research and interviews with the principles are excellent.