I have been an Ann Rule fan since I read "The Stranger Beside Me" and started side-eyeing every random person I saw. I got this one for $0.99 on the Kindle, so I figured it was worth a read. This is only the second collection of case files I have read of Rule's - I have largely stuck with her books that are dedicated to a single case.

I did like this book overall. The main case in the book (the story of the murder of Lorraine Hendricks in Florida) was interesting, and, as always in the case of Ann Rule books, a good reminder to be wary of people who are too charming and who exhibit controlling behavior. This first section was a fast read. As is normal for Rule, she gives, to the extent possible, an overview of the lives of the major players - the criminal, his long-suffering wife, the victim, and the detectives who handled the case. The author does a good job of making these sections readable, using foreshadowing where applicable, and giving us a real sense of how everyone's lives were affected. The last part (showing empathy and compassion for the victims and their families) is where I think Ann Rule rises above the pack of authors in this sometimes crappy true crime genre. She is respectful of the victims and less likely to go into extremely gruesome detail.

The only reason I am giving this four stars is because the other cases were a little bit lacking. ***Spoiler alert*** One case ended up not being a criminal case at all. However, the author still did a good job, in all the cases in this book, of letting the readers get to know the people who were affected by the cases.

One note: Since the first criminal we encounter in this book (Tim Harris, the criminal in the main case in the book) was a state trooper, several other reviewers have said that Ann Rule bent over backwards (to the book's detriment) to paint Tim Harris as a complete aberration in the criminal justice field. Rule herself was a policewoman at one point and does make an effort to explain the hardships faced by police officers and government prosecutors. But I did not feel as though she "bent over backward" to show that Tim Harris was an outlier. Rather, she explained how he used his power to trap his victim. I did not get the impression that she was trying too hard to convince the readers that, aside from this isolated case, the police can never be involved in criminal activity. She did comment that Harris made the profession look bad, but I don't think that's an unreasonable assertion. ( )