True Crime Books

I tend to be the type to think everyone accused is guilty and while I do think Darlie probably is, this book really pointed out the scary inconsistencies of the States case against her. It was troubling that the author began by seemingly supporting that she was guilty but by the last 1/3, he really was leaning towards her innocence. He does to a good job pointing out the holes in the prosecutions theories but spends a little too much time doing just that. Overall a very good read and I look forward to ordering the other books on her case.

THIS BOOK WAS HARD TO GET THROUGH. AT THE END, I WAS STILL WONDERING IF SHE KILLED HER CHILDREN OR NOT. THE LAST 10 OR SO PAGES WERE THE BEST OF THE WHOLE BOOK. I CAN'T IMAGINE THAT HER HUSBAND DID NOT HERE THE CHILDREN SCREAM-SEEMS FAR-FETCHED TO ME.

I liked this book because it presents the basic facts of the case, as well as the positions of the State and the defendant, Darlie Routier. I do not know if I would agree with reviews that say Don Davis seemed to conclude in the end that Darlie was innocent. Rather, I think Davis was trying to get across the point that he was disappointed with the trial because the State played to the emotions of a conservative jury instead of staying close to the facts.

This case is probably too difficult to crack because even the two experts for the State, James Cron and Alan Brantley, figured out that there was no intruder, but neither expert could specifically state why Darlie would have killed her two sons. My opinion, which is basically Crime Scene Analysis 101, is that the correct person is behind bars, but that this is a jealous (because the attack is neither a sustained attack nor a quick kill) rage (I think that putting a knife is someone's back six times is a pretty good indication) killing. If you look hard enough and think long enough, you will be able to find both jealousy and rage in this case. Although most people believe that the killings were for money, this type of killing is not consistent with a killing for money, which tends to be matter of fact and have much less violence than what we see here.

Story written about the infamous Darlie Routier who was tried and convicted for the murder of her young son. Although both boys were murdered the state of Texas only tried her for one murder. She was found to be guilty and sentenced to death. There have been several books written about the case, some good, some not so good. This read was mediocre, it didn't bring about anything that hadn't already been wrote, but the story was told accurately as reported by the media.

On the night of June 5, 1996, Darlie Lynn Routier stabbed her two sons, six-year-old Devon and five-year-old Damon, to death and then slashed her own throat, all while her husband and baby son slept upstairs. New York Times bestselling author Donald A. Davis, former news correspondent, editor, and now writer of some of the biggest crimes of the decade, writes the biography and the case of Darlie. Although Davis succeeds in accuracy and is extremely knowledgeable about crime in general, the book is almost completely one-sided and leaves many questions unanswered.

Darlie seemed to be the perfect mother to most of her Dallas community, until police found that her story was filled with far too many inconsistencies. Davis successfully paints a clear background of Darlie and her husband, Darin Routier's, past through chapters 10 to 12 and is very knowledgeable when it comes to crime and criminal cases. He also pays very close attention to the details of the case. Unfortunately, while the cover and summary clearly state that Darlie is a cold, calculative killer, Davis almost completely takes Darlie's side and the story continues in that manner, paying close attention to the defense's testimonies in the case and not enough to the prosecution's.

Hush Little Babies is overall an easy read. It builds up suspense and then leaves you wondering what will happen in the next chapter. When changing to an idea or another viewpoint Davis separates them with asterisks, making it easy to tell when the story will change. The chapters are extremely short, however, with 32 in the whole book. This sometimes makes the story feel choppy and confuses the reader into thinking the subject of the chapter will change, when the exact same information will be separated into three different chapters.

When I first started to read Hush Little Babies I was prepared to read a biography with a few interesting details into why this mother would kill her children. Instead I felt I was reading dramatic work of fiction that outlined Darlie as a "poor, defenseless" mother who sat "horrified" as she "watched her sons die in a pool of their own blood". While there were details of the case poking out through all that drama, I found that in some instances there were far too many. On page 175, Davis goes so far as to mention the temperature and average rainfall of the tiny little town in which the case goes to court! While the style of the story did hurt the overall book, Davis succeeded in his comparisons of past cases, including the case of Susan Smith, who strapped her sons into her car and drove it into a lake. His knowledge of past cases and of how the court system works also makes the story more interesting. I only wish he could have answered the question of whether Darlie was actually the murderer, or what happened to her family after she was finally sentenced to death.

Overall, Hush Little Babies was an interesting read with very good details and a simple format. The only thing that really hurt the story was its style, and the fact that it tried far too hard in showing that Darlie Routier may have been innocent.

I'll Do My Own Damn Killin'GREAT BOOK! MOST FUN I HAVE EVER HAD READING A BOOK.

THIS STORY IS SO WELL WRITTEN AND SO INTERESTING THAT NICK CASSAVETES, MOVIE PRODUCER AND POKER PLAYER, HAS PURCHASED THE RIGHTS TO MAKE IT INTO A MOVIE. WHILE KICKING THIS AROUND A POKER GAME THE OTHER DAY THE PLAYERS AND I AGREED JOSH BROLIN SHOULD PLAY THE YOUNG BENNY BINION.

I expected to be somewhat entertained and learn a small bit about the history of Dallas gambling. I didn't expect to be so thoroughly consumed with the stories, the history and the characters. Excellent!

This is a great book. I knew Benny Binion. My new novel, Texas Poker Wisdom, has several stories about Benny, including the day I met him in 1960. When Binion moved to Vegas, he took a giant step down being a casino owner considering the many things he controlled in Dallas and Ft. Worth and elsewhere. The gambling wars in Dallas and Ft. Worth are hard to believe. Mr. Sleeper has written a book any Texan, gambler, or curious reader will love. I loved this book.
Johnny HughesTexas Poker Wisdom

If you have found yourself in Soprano-withdrawal, this book is for you. "I'll Do My Own Damn Killin'" is a raucous gangland tale of a long and bitter feud between two former partners for control of the Dallas gambling scene of the 1930s and 40s.

Most people know Lester Ben Binion as the Las Vegas icon who
owned some of the early casinos there, with the downtown Horseshoe Club being the most famous and longest-lived. But before his Las Vegas days he was known as the Dallas "boss gambler." He had most of Dallas law enforcement "fixed" so he could run his numbers, his policy wheels, and his poker games at the Southland Hotel without fear of arrest. He was temperamental, braggadocios, but also jovial in a sinister sort of way. The title of the book comes from a reply he gave when asked if he had ever hired a hit man.

Herbert Noble ran crap games in downtown Dallas and soon came to resent the 25-percent protection money he had to pay to Binion. He had dreams of being the Dallas gambling kingpin himself, and formed a partnership with a like-minded underworld financier. Soon the gambling wars had begun, with one Noble partner after another turning up dead, and back and forth contracts put out on various hardcases from both sides. Noble himself had no less than thirteen assassination attempts made on him. As the author says, "By the early Fall of 1950, planning to kill Herbert Noble had practically become a cottage industry in Dallas and Fort Worth."

Tragedy finally struck when Noble's 36-year-old wife made the fatal mistake of borrowing her husband's booby-trapped car. The explosion was heard eight miles away and the blast shattered windows for blocks. Her mangled body was laid to rest in a solid copper casket said to be the most expensive one ever sold in Dallas.

After this incident, the hatred that consumed Noble escalated the war and led to a hellish confusion of such grisly murders and maiming that it's hard to believe that this actually happened in Texas and not in some 12-hour Francis Ford Coppola trilogy. Notorious people move in and out of the pages, people like Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, Bugsy Siegal, Meyer Lansky, Estes Kefauver, and even one Jacob Rubenstein, aka Jack Ruby.

Finally by the end of the book, the good guys have arrived on the scene, the Texas Rangers, who put a stop to the violence. Thus ended the bloodiest two decades in Dallas history. The appendix contains testimonies, transcripts of recorded conversations, and progress reports on some of the still-unsolved murders from this shocking, full-scale gangland war that happened in Texas.

"Frank Nitti" (The True Story of Chicago's Notorious "Enforcer") by Ronald D. Humble is a superb and clinically crafted literary trail in persuit of historical footsteps from the notorious and infamous "Frank Nitti." Nitti was the successor of Al Capone's Chicago apparatus, a position he subsequently held from about 1931 until his death in 1942.

The author's research points to the fact that Nitti's illegal interests and cladestine ventures went far deeper into the dark abyss of the underworld than Capone ever dreamed of! No one was exempt from his vendeta...including the mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak. Nitti's influence even cast it's dark shadow into the 60's some 20 (+) years after his death in the name of one, Jack Ruby (et al).

Despite the fact that the author is a Specialist on International Security and Intelligence, one begins to feel that he may even start to sympathize with this master criminal about whom he writes.

Frank Nitti's complex personality is somewhere between Machiavelli, Joseph Stalin, and Heinirich Himmler...all rolled into one.

Sometimes however, the reader feels that he/she may be reading exerts from some Government Agent's legal manual on Organized Crime yet...tactfully combined with extensive historical layering of the Cosa Nostra and "Gangsterism".

A well formatted and informative biographical piece with more than enough resource material for anyone interested in contemporary American Social History. Well worth the price!

Anyone with even just a passing interest in true crime in general or organized crime in particular will find this a worthy investment. It's the detailed and well-sourced account of Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti, who was Al Capone's consigliere and underboss and who took control of the Chicago "Outfit" in 1931, when Capone was convicted and imprisoned for ten years for income-tax evasion.

Just a couple of years before that, Nitti masterminded the St. Valentine's Day Massacre when members of the "Outfit" disguised as Chicago police and detectives mowed down seven members of George Moran's North Side Gang. When the killers emerged from the scene, two of them had their hands in the air and the other two followed with machine guns at their backs; they escaped in what looked like a police squad car. You might say it was a pretty well planned operation.

Author Ronald Humble provides an alternative interpretation of the events underpinning the murder of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in Miami, Florida, which is usually viewed as a failed attempt on the life of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. Humble lays out persuasive evidence that the mayor, not the future president, was the intended target, as payback for an unsuccessful attempt on Nitti's life--instigated by Cermak--just two months prior.

Particularly interesting to this reviewer are the parallels drawn between Giuseppe Zangara, who was executed for the Cermak assassination, and Lee Oswald the accused assassin of President John Kennedy.

Nitti eventually killed himself (or so it seems) in 1943, because he couldn't face returning to prison, along with other senior members of the Outfit, on racketeering and mail-fraud charges related to extortion in Hollywood. Whether suicide or homicide, Nitti met his maker as a direct or indirect result of over-reaching himself, despite his cunning and high intelligence, an interesting reflection of the human condition.

Although "Frank Nitti" is a name well known in popular culture, chiefly as a result of inclusion of the character in "The Untouchables" television series and Hollywood movies, Humble provides the real scoop: little of what we've seen on the small or big screen accurately reflects the man, his motives or his deeds. If you think you already know Frank Nitti, probably you still need to read this book.

Appendices provide a useful chronology of the main events in Nitti's life and a detailed organizational structure of the Outfit during the years it was controlled by the Enforcer. There's also a comprehensive index.

Highly recommended.

Far too little research has previously been available about Frank Nitti, Capone's "Enforcer" and the public face of the Chicago Outfit after Capone was sent to prison, but anyone with an interest needs look no further than this book. Ron Humble, in what can only be described as an amazing researched book, has brought Frank Nitti back to life within these pages and has revealed the complex and contradictory gangster in a way that no other writer has ever been able to do. This is a highly readable (although filled with great detail) book that no one with a serious interest in the Chicago gangland era should be without. Don't miss this one!

It's too bad that I had to give this book one star because my choice would have been none. While author Ronald Humble appears to be a thorough researcher he clearly is not a writer. This book just rambles with no direction whatsoever. As an example the author spends an entire chapter on the JFK assassination even though Frank Nitti had nothing to do with it. Nitti had committed suicide or was murdered (Humble never makes the reason for Nitti's death clear although he does like to make guesses) a scant twenty years before the JFK Killing. Humble also likes to name names as he repeats names incessantly throughout the book. At one point Humble chooses to name every single person that he believes Nitti may have murdered (Or had murdered) rather than just telling the reader the number of possible victims. The reader is bludgeoned with an information overload that is not put into any sort of workable order. The book does have one good point: It is certainly a cure for insomnia.

Author Ronald Humble mentions a number of things I wasn't aware of prior to reading this book on Frank Nitti. Humble mentions that Nitti was likely responsible for the hit on Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in retaliation for Cermak's sending two men to eliminate Nitti. Giuseppe Zangara was chosen by the mob to assassinate Cermak because Zangara was in debt to the mob, and if he didn't carry out the hit he and his family would suffer torture and death. If Zangara did as the mob ordered, the mob would see that Zangara's family was taken care of in a positive way. Author Humble draws comparisons between the assassinations of Mayor Cermak and President John Kennedy. Zangara and Lee Oswald were both expendable. Zangara was quickly eliminated through execution, and didn't dare express what he knew due to concern for his family. Oswald was quickly eliminated by Jack Ruby. Author Humble also states Nitti was likely in on the rub out of despised enemy Machine Gun Jack McGurn, and north sider Hymie Weiss. The author wonders whether Nitti's death was a suicide or was he a victim of foul play. I would stick with a suicide due to his reluctance to return to prison. Finally the author spends quite a bit of time on Nitti as he was portrayed on television and in the movies showing how much coverage he was given in this area. When the author isn't sure about events in Nitti's life he makes sure to point that out. I found the book very worth while and one that should interest those who enjoy mob-related books.

I read this a year ago and am still reeling. I'm in the mental health/child welfare field and this story hammers home the need for professionals of all stripes to maintain skepticism and personally evaluate the quality of new research before relying on findings in practice. Shameful. We should all know better.

Two very interesting suspects are portrayed in this book, the first, Vandersluys, was an already convicted statutory rapist who fooled around extramaritally (a great deal) with a flirtatious hussy teenager next door, then apparently cashed in his life insurance policies on one SIDs child after the next. Crime happens, but by then there were some 10,000 + cases of SIDS per year in the United States (Where exactly are the statistics, or has the CDC removed those government records as well as Autism's?); you know, making an opportunity of drinking water poisoning going on where you live to collect AD&D policies is still the fault of the water utility--it has no indemnity. The man's words sound more like the brainwashing of the already guilt ridden into accepting coaching he was negligent whether he was or not. Wiping your baby's face with a wash cloth could be used to prove you tried to smother them right before their cyanic apnea nap, then SIDS diagnosis. I don't see the wave of insurance fraud claim these fools are trying to confabulate, and I definitely take issue with the unconstitutional framing of Wanneta Hoyt. There's a woman with profound, unexplained illness, nearly complete balding, osteoporosis, who made every effort to seek medical attention for her infants. Not a killer, a victim who never had an affirmative defense, much else a civic government with the backbone to forensically investigate, prosecute and hang premeditated water poisoners. Why don't we just insist on the Death of the Guilty? Or are they all `Arab males of military age' in Iraq? Is it al Qaida or is it AL COA?

Not only the flagrant police misconduct to which authors Firstman and Talan remained completely, passively complacent, I mean actually coercing a confession without the accused having an attorney, and under emotional duress like a gulag plus her ill health disorienting, confusing and exhausting her (clear indication of severe environmental toxic poisoning in her home), but also the forging of written confession, not once, but redrafted again on her behalf with no counsel. That's not supposed to happen in America, but it does. And worse, books like this that attempt a crude cover for clandestine fluoropoisoning, going around manufacturing alibis and framing victim suspects are not supposed to be well received either, nor escape exposure and stiff public censure. No wonder they had to stick a silly award on it just to make it seem even more unquestionably respectable. I think this book is condemnable, it's authors thenceforth essentially unpublishable, crony hack writers of ill repute assisting a criminal evasion and the bowling over of the justice system--imminently denunciated. They have helped to mainstream and manufacture an alibi for a big killer and mutilator by anoxic brain injury.

Court appointed defense for Vandersluys, when loosely throwing together a few cross examination questions to screen for toxic hazards in the home, inquired about risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in some indirect questions regarding a heater and a metal treatment, (not wanting to mention chemicals in the context of air or water other than any solvent the victims might've used in the home), inquired about painting in the home, but made no inquiry as to what was coming out of the household water tap--none. In other words a bogus, court appointed defense counsel and understudy of the prosecution--marsupial justice complete with a pouch for the defense counsel and state's employee.

For the other case there was no toxicology screening of Wanetta Hoyt's household nor what was drawn from the tap and fed to her infants--conviction based solely on staged, coerced, and forged confession. Judicial malpractice like that only points to official corruption and cover-up of the government and utility's premeditated mass murder, murder one, `in the first degree', and the automatic finger pointing framing of the guardian in closest proximity to the deaths: aggravated offenses of perjury, misprison, obstruction of justice, and manufacturing false charges and statements to frame another for the purpose of criminal evasion, i.e. racketeering conspiracy, violating transportation and commerce, undue influence, and all of them in office.

That is what the un-clever, idiotic in fact, ruse of fluoridating drinking water achieves for its perpetrators, it appears to be a crime they can blithely pipe into their victims' homes from miles away with *legerdemain*. Therefore, (in their hare brained, euphoric March naiveté) they haven't done anything wrong. They have every duty, right and responsibility to make every effort to protect your teeth for you--whether you brush them or not. And besides, nobody's going to put their picture up on a most wanted list, nobody knows who they are or what those magoos really do. That's real immunity. See how long it lasts, or who cares if `history will have to judge'; the public has judged fluoridation, so has Toxicology, the Institute of Medicine has judged the proxy misdiagnosis of vaccine injury, and epidemiologists and geneticists have judged the autism epidemic as a pandemic actually, and not genetic. Something's disguises aren't holding together are they--and trying to rope in wheat gluten, food allergies, streptococcus-meningitis or dyslexia for a broad spectrum of anoxic brain injury ain't gonna work for an alibi either. BUSTED!! A sheer equivocation catastrophe is in progress, make popcorn.

---review coninues with the book "While Innocents Slept"

Munchausen syndrome by proxy is always difficult to read about, especially if you have your own children and do not abuse them. This is a intriguing account of one episode of munchausen's syndrome by proxy that was mistaken for sleep apnea/sids for years, until it was uncovered. It was a great book, I could not put it down, but I was very sad and thought about it for a while after I read it. Prepare to be unhappy.

This book was an eye-opener. As a mother of four, I take any threat to my children's safety very seriously (including SIDS). After reading this book, I was forced to rethink much of what I thought I knew about the phenomena.

The Death of Innocents takes an analytical look at how the apnea theory of SIDS was forced upon this country. Firstman provides an intriguing look into the lives of two families and one doctor. The two families had multiple SIDS victims, the doctor had an agenda: the rest is pediatric history.

I can't say enough how much I enjoyed this book. I came across a mention of the Hoyt family and this book while reading Michael Kelleher's "Murder Most Rare" (another really good read), and decided to order it. From page one, I was hooked.
It starts with a case of familial infanticide, then explores the earlier Hoyt case that was so important. The best part about the book is when the authors leave the Hoyt case and take us on a detailed tour of the history of SIDS and apnea. The very scientific and potentially dry discussion of research projects is told in a way that leaves you with the feeling that you really understand what is going on in the SIDS research arena, and you also feel like you know each player in this community. When the story turns back to the Hoyt case and its conclusion, the reader fully undertands the what, why, and how of the events. Without the exploration of the history of SIDS, the ending of the story would have much less impact. I didn't realize until I was finished just how personal the book had become for me. I went immediately online to Amazon and typed "Munchausen by Proxy" in the search bar.

Well, I read this book at the age of 15, when it was first published in 1969. I loved it. Tho frankly I'd have to read it again to do any kind of real review.

So I'm going to copy an outside blurp.

"As a result of his second tour in Vietnam Robin Moore became concerned about the wide spread use among soldiers of narcotics, particularly opium and its derivative, heroin. He contacted friends in the New York Police Department and discovered what he would later call 'The French Connection Case', a French syndicate smuggling heroin into New York. In 1969 his nonfiction account of the case, The French Connection, was published and in 1973 the movie won 5 Academy Awards."

Hope that helps

Mr. Schmelter does an admirable job at bringing out the essence of McGurn in this fine book. He works with the history given and what newspapers spewed out at the time. There was no proof as to whom or how many men McGurn exactly killed. Finding that out is next to impossible. Also for any other gangster at that time. Their notches in their guns tended to be padded or somewhat overblown. McGurn was accused of almost every murder in gangland Chicago. Some other McGurn myths in history include McGurn being shot in a telephone booth or McGurn placing a buffalo nickel in his victim's hand.
This book is a excellent primer for those who do not know who McGurn was. Mr. Schmelter is on the right track and the effort was A 1.

This brief biography of "Machine Gun Jack McGurn" is an enjoyable addition to the recent bumper crop of books on Prohibition era crime figures in Chicago. I particularly liked the material on McGurn's tragic youth (both his father and stepfather were murder victims and, as an adult, McGurn would personally avenge both men's killings) and his efforts to become a professional boxer. His adopted Irish surname was created to promote him as a pugilist.

Some true crime readers will take exception to some of the gang war hits that the author credits to McGurn. While McGurn was definitely a suspect in several of the murders, many other true crime writers would dispute whether or not McGurn actually pulled the trigger as often as Shmelter suggests.

What is indisputable, however, is the fact that McGurn was one of Al Capone's favorites and frequently served as his personal bodyguard and accompanied him to numerous sporting events and night spots. When Capone was sent to prison, McGurn's stock dropped precipitously.

Capone's successor, Frank Nitti, was no friend to McGurn and effectively shut him out of the organization. By the time of his own murder, in a Milwaukee Avenue bowling alley, McGurn was living in reduced circumstances and seemed to be nearly penniless. He even tried to earn a living as a professional golfer, but his notorious reputation derailed that ambition as newspapermen hounded him during a qualifying round of a major tournament and interfered with his play so much that he missed making the cut.

Richard J. Shmelter writes well and his summaries of familiar events and facts are easy to read. Although fully annotated, the bibliography list reads like a book catalogue for the author's own publisher (Cumberland House) to the exclusion of any other sources. Many of these formulaic titles rehash old material while adding an occasional dollop of new information and "The Chicago Assassin" does not vary too much from this pattern. Sometimes, it feels as if the repeated accounts were added simply to pad the length of Shmelter's book, but that is a minor complaint.

The best portions of the book are those pages that relate to McGurn and his second wife, Louise Rolfe, who became celebrated as "the Blonde Alibi." Rolfe provided her future husband with an alibi that frustrated the efforts of the police and prosecutors to try McGurn as a possible participant in the aftermath of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

This book is an interesting one. It has tons of great info, and other things... The only thing I did not like about the book was that half way reading it I got to page 95 then the next page goes back to 65 then after that it goes back to chapter 10 then after that it skips three chapters and goes to chapter 14... I'm not knocking the author on how to write a book he obviously knows how to write and tell a good story... The book was great until the pages got messed up and three chapters were missing... The funny thing about all this is that my girlfriend bought the book for me off this site as a birthday present along with the Complete Public Enemy Almanac which is one of the greatest books on prohibition crime I ever read...

Chicago Assassin: The Life and Legend of "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn and the Chicago Beer Wars of the Roaring Twenties is the story of young immigrant Vincenzo Gibaldi who, through a series of tragic events, rose to become "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn, the top hitman in the Capone organization.

Mr. Shmelter delivers a fascinating, and well researched tale, of murder, betrayal, and a quest for revenge that leads McGurn down a path of death and destruction during one of the most violent periods in American history. As the story unfolds, you find yourself starting to care about McGurn and his wife, Louise Rolfe, (McGurn's "Blonde Alibi"). I even found myself feeling sorry for them as their world began to unravel all around them.

The Whatever Became of...? chapter was a nice touch. It's interesting to see what became of these colorful characters who lead such glamorous and often violent lives. This is an excellent read and well done biography. One hopes that Mr. Shmelter will treat us to more in the years to come.

After being sorely disappointed by a previous biography of Machine Gun Jack McGurn that came out in 2007 I was pleasantly surprised by author Richard Shmelter's offering entitled Chicago Assassin. When information is questionable Shmelter will use caveats such as, "It was said...", "By some accounts...",or "It was reportedly said..." to explain an incident in the book. McGurn suffered twin tragedies as a youngster by the deaths of both his father and step-father which affected his personality in an unfavorable manner. Al Capone initially used McGurn as a "scout" in search of new talent for his organization. I found it interesting (factual)? that this book is the only one I have found to mention that Frank Nitti and Jack McGurn were the ones in the apartment across from Holy Name Cathedral that gunned down Hymie Weiss and his bodyguard in 1926. Author Shmelter states it may never be known how deeply McGurn was involved in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929. McGurn's girlfriend, Louise Rolfe, claimed years later that McGurn may have had a hand in the planning. The 1930s were not kind to Capone's outfit. After Al was sent to prison for income tax evasion McGurn's status in the mob became sorely diminished with Frank Nitti at the helm. McGurn and Nitti didn't get along and McGurn foolishly threatened to expose what he knew about those in the mob. This likely led to McGurn's execution in a Chicago bowling alley on February 15, 1936. His brother was shot a few weeks later possibly to prevent revenge. The book concludes with a "Whatever Became Of..." of key individuals in the book. I was surprised to learn that McGurn's wife and "Blond Alibi", Louise Rolfe, spent time chatting with tourists visiting Capone's Chicago which is now a Rain Forest Cafe. Fred "Killer" Burke, one of those involved in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre was sentenced to life, the author states, in the "Michigan State Penitentiary" which, I may add, is located in the city of Marquette, just a pop fly down the road from me. Here he died and is reportedly buried in the prison cemetery. A legitimate biography of Jack McGurn has been overdue, and in Richard Shmelter's effort I feel we have one.

"This is the Zodiac speaking" is an investigation into the Zodiac killings.
What makes this book interesting is the psychological analysis by Mr. Van Nuys,chair of the Psychology Dept. at Sonoma state University.

A quote from page 6 lays out the objective of the book- "We will begin this fascinating journey with facts-solid irrefutable facts and nothing more."
With that in mind,the authors avoid speculating on the personal identity of the Zodiac killer.

The authors explain the differences in the Riverside and Zodiac letters. They make a compelling argument for different writers based on the style of the letters with a different emphasis. By that reasoning,the man who murdered Cheri Jo Bates was not the Zodiac.

The Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders were examined for possible links to the Zodiac. They seem to be un-related on various levels.

It's obvious from the aftermath of the Stine murder that luck played no small part in the Zodiac avoiding discovery and arrest. You get the sense that he never recovered from his close call with the SFPD immediately following the cab driver's murder.

"Overall,it appears that Zodiac was deteriorating psychologically and had now relegated himself to engaging in a strange fantasy dance with the media."-page 140.

The British language connection was intriguing. Although witnesses state that he had no accent,one has to wonder where that connection came from. Were one of his parents of British origin?

The change in tone in some of the letters,notably three from 1974,was examined. This "denoted a change in Zodiac's psyche that probably related to his ongoing and significant psychological disorder." He may very well have had two personalities. Another interesting theory has the change in tone as a positive result of therapy or medication.

This book doesn't solve the Zodiac killings,but it does shed light on the psychology and evolution of the killer.
After reading this book I have to wonder if Zodiac didn't succomb to suicide or by some means become more psychologically stable?
We may never know the answer. I recommend this book as a clear,sensible investigation of the Zodiac murders.

A strange book. Starting with an engaging premise - the author worked with the Chair of the Psychology Dept. at Sonoma State University to create a profile based on Zodiac's letters to various newspapers - Michael Kelleher proceeds to swamp his book with potboiler-level prose. The psychologist, David Van Nuys' analyses maintain a degree of detachment that I appreciate with this sort of book, but his conclusions don't aid in understanding of the case or its perpetrator. Most of Van Nuys' conclusions seem facile, on the order of "He must have had a terrible childhood. Perhaps he was abused. He had great rage toward women and fear of male authority figures". In the end, though interesting, the book doesn't add anything to the literature about the case.

Flowing prose and a penchant for sticking to the established facts make this book a must for anyone interested in the Zodiac. DEFINATELY read it if you think that the recent film ("Zodiac") is some type of definitive presentation of the what really happened in this truly remarkable case.

This is a fine book for those who know nothing about the Zodiac case. It presents only the most "accepted," "dispute-proof" evidence. In that regard, it is the polar opposite of the Graysmith books, which often contain "facts" from a large array of sources, not all of them reliable.

But does that make it a good Zodiac book, one that gives us possible insight into the true identity of this most notorious killer? Ah, no. In fact, it does just the opposite. It obscures the truth, rather than attempting to shed any light on it.

It's approach is classic criminal-profiler textbook murder-by-numbers. Data is compiled and analyzed, but drawing conclusions seems to be much too much of a stretch. Perhaps the authors fear reprisals. Perhaps they don't want to be wrong. For as much criticism as Graysmith has, at times, earned, he at least takes a stand and states an opinion based on what he has compiled. These guys don't take a stand on anything. If it doesn't follow their profiler recipe, they're lost.

And such is the Zodiac case.... disjointed, fracutured, plagued by rumors, apparent coincidences, and theories. And never solved.

Profiling may be a very effective tool for the top percentile of seriel killers, but Zodiac broke patterns in a very consistent way, even within his string of "claimable murders" in '68 and '69. When another murder or event comes close to fitting these patterns in many such cases, it's immediately dismissed by Kelleher and Van Nuys as "not fitting the pattern," yet they argue tirelessly that an incident such as the Kathleen Johns case (which many dispute the validity of) is somehow worthy of inclusion. That David Fincher took Kelleher's word for it and included it in the film version takes the story into bad made-for-TV movie hubris for the scant minutes we suffer through it.

The Bates killing, where the handwriting was positively ID'd as Zodiac's, and contained numerous other similarities to the Ferrin case; The Domingo-Edwards slaying back in 1963; and even the Santa Rosa hitch-hiker murders in the early '70s contain more similarities to Z than the Johns case. Yet this is intelligent detective work? To ignore all possible clues except that which fit your own preordained rigid template based on the psychoanalysis of the Z letters' text by an author who admits that, prior to doing the analysis, that he knew NOTHING OF THE CASE WHATSOEVER!???!!!!

Oh, and let's not forget that one sentence on the man many believe to be the prime suspect, the man who had reams of circumstantial evidence littered around him, who can be placed near the scenes of nearly every Zodiac crime (confirmed and speculated about) --- Leigh Allen. Yes, much of the evidence is circumstantial, but how much evidence do you ignore until you begin to cast some serious, reasonable doubts?

A truly intelligent sociopath, while rare, can sometimes outsmart the police, at times merely by playing to their own weaknesses. And the profilers, like Kelleher and Van Nuys, fit the description of Zodiac's dupes very well. They seem to fall back on cliches such as "let the evidence fit the suspect" so often that they end up drowning in their own paralysis. One approach does not a well-rounded investigation make, whether you are dealing in psychiatry or criminology. Would you go to a doctor who only diagnosed you based on physical symptoms?

If nothing else, these near-sighted investigators have an iron clad alibi on why the case was never solved. Their approach provides them with the ultimate excuse for their own inepititude. After all, it's easy to do a job you never have to finish.

Michael Kellehers book on the Zodiac killer is well worth the time and effort and money to obtain and read!
Having researched the Zodiac case since 1987(zodiacmurders.com) I would say his book is a crisp tight narrative that fully lays out the case with exactness as he makes the story interesting while giving the reader a multi-faceted view into all aspects of the killers mind and criminal activities.
Many have related they just 'couldn't put it down' until they read the entire book!
One correction I would like to make- while STILL focusing on this fine work-is that it says Bill Nelson wrote a book on the possible connection of the Zodiac to Charles Manson and some of his associate/s.Only a small portion of the book presents this link.The majority of the content in Nelsons (now out of print) book, is about the Manson Family.It is my book ,The Zodiac Manson Connection, that has, as its MAIN theme,a possible link to the Manson Family.
Get Kellehers book is all I can say-a must for the true crime buff and members of law enforcement!