Kristin Rossum had everything going for her: Beauty, brains, youth, and the start of a brilliant career in toxicology. But the 24-year-old daughter of accomplished academics from Claremont, Calif., was torn between three relationships: one with her husband, who was found not breathing with red rose petals sprinkled over his body; one with her married boss; and one with crystal methamphetamine, an old friend with whom she had become reacquainted. In the true crime thriller Poisoned Love, Pulitzer-nominated investigative journalist Caitlin Rother tells the story behind the “American Beauty murder” case, a cautionary tale that illustrates how an obsession for passion, a fatal attraction to crystal meth and easy access to dangerous narcotics can devastate not just one life, but many others in the process. This updated edition explores the psychological aspects of this complex case, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the investigation and major players that the public never got from the mainstream media. The 496-page book reveals e-mails, diary entries, letters and other court evidence that lend insights into Rossum’s character, as well as 16 pages of new developments about her appeals, which raise forensic questions about her conviction.
About the Author:
New York Times bestselling author Caitlin Rother has written or co-authored eight books, including her first novel, Naked Addiction, which comes out in January 2012. The others areDead Reckoning (Kensington, February 2011), Twisted Triangle (Wiley, 2009),Body Parts (Kensington, 2008), Deadly Devotion (Simon&Schuster/Pocket, July 2011), and NYT bestseller My Life, Deleted (HarperOne, October 2011). Her latest true crime project, Lost Girls(Kensington, July 2012), chronicles the rape and murder of two innocents, teenagers Chelsea King and Amber Dubois, by sexual predator John Gardner. Rother, a Pulitzer-nominated investigative journalist with 270,000 copies of her books in print, has also been published in Cosmopolitan, the Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, and The Daily Beast. She has done dozens of TV and radio appearances as a crime expert on E!, the Oxygen Network; Greta Van Susteren’sOn the Record, Investigation Discovery, America at Night, American Radio Network, XM and numerous NPR/PBS affiliates. Rother also works as a book doctor/editorial consultant and teaches journalism and creative writing at University of California San Diego Extension.
So, my mom and I are totally addicted to the true crime shows like Snapped and Disappeared and all those shows like that. On top of watching the shows, we totally love reading the true crime books. Caitlin Rother is one of the most talented in writing a true crime book that is absolutely addictive. My mom and I had this one read in less than two days and we LOVED it. Rother penned the events, the trial, the murder, the people all perfectly and really held us captive til the end.
Seeing this story elsewhere, I was really interested in seeing how Rother created the telling. She went above and beyond what others did, and she really made it so that the reader was constantly left in suspense as to the guilt of Kristin Rossum, the beautiful wife of Greg de Villers. A woman whom you would think had it all. But, in the end, really ended up with absolutely nothing but her cold heart. The events around the murder of her husband, and who was involved slowly unravel through out the book and the reader is constantly left in a state of awe.
The fact that anyone, male or female, results to murdering their spouse is always beyond me. But, the way an author such as Caitlin Rother can so uniquely pull the reader into the heart of the book, and can literally make the reader feel as if they are the one sitting through the investigations, through the trials and feeling the pain of the loss, is absolutely AWESOMENESS.
If you are a fan of murder mysteries, or crime novels, then I suggest you pick up a copy of Rother’s true crime book. You’ll be amazed at how well she paints the picture for this terribly horrific event, and you’ll find yourself sending your heart out to de Villers family, even now. This is most definitely BEYOND 5 Book worthy, HIGHLY recommended and will be sitting nice and neat on the shelf next to her other awesometastic true crime book, Dead Reckoning.
