At Any Cost : A Father's Betrayal, a Wife's Murder, and a Ten-Year War for Justice

Title: At Any Cost
Author: Rebecca Rosenberg and Selim Algar
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: April 6, 2021
Page Count: 304
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

Please note that "At Any Cost" does not provide much in the way of an in-depth discussion of Rod Covlin and Shele Danishefsky or their respective backgrounds or personalities but rather focuses primarily on the long years it took to bring this case to trial and the subsequent courtroom drama. 

I mention this only because my initial perception of the book was that it was more of a "true crime" work and I had hoped to learn more about the respective personalities in this case. But, what the authors give us is an absolutely heartbreaking story of a woman murdered by her faithless ex-husband, who killed her to get her estate (valued at almost $6M) and the subsequent alienation (and essentially brainwashing) of their two young children. 

Because Rod Covlin is simply such a horrible person, I would have liked to learn more about his upbringing, his school friends, his relationship with his incredibly supportive parents, etc. Rod was incredibly lucky in that a seriously incompetent investigation by New York's "finest" compromised evidence, as well as no initial autopsy due to Shele's strong Jewish faith. And finally, the NYC DA wasn't terribly interested at first in bringing the case to trial. 

But despite this perfect storm of incompetence, the case was finally brought to trial, almost 10 years after Shele's murder, and where this work really shines is in detailing how the case was presented to the court, how the attorneys presented their case, and how all the circumstantial evidence was woven into a strong net to finally catch Rod Covlin. 

The heartbreaking remainder of this case is what has happened to Shele's beloved children, Anna and Myles, who were manipulated and gaslighted by Rod, and continue to believe in his innocence. The crime has been solved, but what lingers is still so sad and unsettled. 3.5 stars for "At Any Cost." 

I received an ARC of this book from the Publisher, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Two Face : The Man Underneath Christopher Watts (K9, Book #1)

Title: Two Face : The Man Underneath Christopher Watts 

Author: Nick van der Leek 

Publisher: A Shakedown Title 

Release Date: September 10, 2018 

Genre(s): Spousal Murder, Filicide 

Page Count: 117 

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

Written in the fall of 2018, only a month after the horrendous Watts family murders, the author had a LOT of incorrect information here (the footnotes at the end of the book make some corrections and additions for this edition), yet I found some very worthwhile commentary here about the nature of the Watts' marriage and relationship. 

The author provides some interesting food for thought about the nature of Chris Watts' rage - at a financial crisis looming over the family (a second bankruptcy in 5 years?), a third child coming in a few months, the relationship with Chris' parents torn apart by Shan'ann, the constant camera recording their "perfect life" with Thrive MLM products, etc. 

In contrast to My Daddy is a Hero, where the author spends a great deal of time stressing how no one say this coming, and that Watts was a very nice man that murdered his family out of the blue, van der Leek fairly clearly lays out the contributing factors that drove Watts to murder and they read pretty convincingly. 

There are some off-the-wall conclusions, but there was enough here that I found Two Face a good companion piece to other books I've read about Chris Watts. 3.5 stars.

Absence of Evidence : An Examination of the Michelle Young Murder Case

Title: Absence of Evidence
Author: Lynne Blanchard
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: September 1, 2016
Page Count: 213
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

Having recently finished Steven B. Epstein's excellent Murder on Birchfield Drive, I came upon this book and felt compelled to get a counterview of the case.

Blanchard was approached by members of Jason Young's family and therefore her book provides information that was not revealed in the court proceedings.  On the other hand, it also clearly has a bias toward Jason Young.

Blanchard reveals that initially the police suspected that Michelle's sister, Meredith, was not truthful about her actions the night of Michelle's death and may have been involved. She also relates that the family hired a private investigator to go through the house and found several things the police had missed. Blanchard also brought to light several oddities about Casssidy and the family dog that were never addressed.

Where Blanchard falters, in my humble opinion, is her slant that everything is a possible conspiracy or a result of a police blunder.  Although upon finishing the book, I was left with the feeling there is a slight chance that maybe, just maybe, the police were too myopic in their quest and too focused on making all the oddities of this case fit into proving that Jason Young killed his wife.

If you read both books, please leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts about this case.  Thanks!

Murder on Birchleaf Drive: The True Story of the Michelle Young Murder Case

Title: Murder on Birchleaf Drive
Author: Steven B. Epstein
Publisher: Black Lyon Publishing
Release Date: June 1, 2019
Page Count: 272
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

Steven B. Epstein is a welcome addition to the world of true crime literature.  Epstein brings 30 years of experience as an attorney as well as a crisp writing style that clearly presents the case, the personalities and the legal strategies.

Jason and Michelle Young had just recently celebrated their third wedding anniversary and appeared to live a charmed life. With a 2-1/2 year old daughter, Cassidy, and a son on the way, the young couple had a solid core of friends, a lovely home and good jobs. Michelle's brutal murder on November 3, 2006 is shocking, but no less disturbing is that Cassidy was in the house during the murder and there are tiny bloody prints throughout the crime scene.

But as gruesome as the scene is, there is no bloody fingerprints (other than Cassidy's in the bathroom and her bedroom) and no sign of a break-in. Jason, immediately a suspect, was 3 hours away in a Best Western and if he did kill Michelle, it was a very tight timeframe for him to kill her and get back to the hotel by morning.  But what about Cassidy, who despite the footprints, was free of blood from head to toe.  Who took the time to clean her up?

This is a fascinating case because, IMHO, it hinges on a series of assumptions based on circumstantial evidence with little in the way of direct evidence.  The prosecution does an exceptional job of weaving all the circumstantial evidence into a strong argument that ultimately convicts Jason.

Unfortunately, Epstein had no access to the families or attorneys and as thorough as his research of the court documents and trial recordings was, getting insight from detectives, attorneys, and the families may have given some other theories of the crime as well as perspectives and insight.  But overall, this is an excellent book about the Jason and Michelle Young case. 4.5 stars.

Poisoned Love

Title: Poisoned Love
Author: Caitlin Rother
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Release Date: July 1, 2005
Page Count: 480
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

A true crime story of a toxicologist with the San Diego ME's office who murdered her husband with fentanyl.

Because Kristin was blonde, brainy and beautiful, she thought no one would doubt her claim that her husband Greg had committed suicide, but she was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Turns out Kristin was also a long-time meth addict and having an affair with her boss. Some think that the boss-boyfriend helped Kristin in killing Greg, but he was never brought to trial.

The author does a good job of showing the evidence, but we never really get a sense of the personalities of any of the major players. And the truly forgotten person is all of this is Greg. We never really get a sense of him as a person, other than all agreed he was a nice guy who loved his wife, and was basically "put down" like a dog.

3 stars.

After reading John Glatt's book about the same case - Deadly American Beauty - I am finding that Rother's book either left out some details, or didn't provide a full account. What seemed needlessly convoluted in Rother's book is crystal clear in Deadly American Beauty.

Deadly American Beauty

Title: Deadly American Beauty
Author: John Glatt
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Release Date: March 13, 2004
Page Count: 304
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

A true crime story of Kristin Rossum, a toxicologist with the San Diego ME's office, who murdered her husband Greg DeVillers with fentanyl, and then placed red rose petals on his bed,

Rossum had a lovely childhood and wanted to be a ballerina, but ended up addicted to meth, had an affair with her immediate boss in the toxicology department, lied to almost everyone she met, stole drugs from the ME's office and murdered her husband by drugging him with a massive dose of fentanyl and vainly attempted to cover up her crime.

 In comparing and contrasting John Glatt's Deadly American Beauty and Caitlin Rother's Poisoned Love, I would say Glatt's book is the clear winner. He gives a much clearer overview of the criminal case and the trial and provides more details about Greg's personality and family life. I found his writing interesting and engaging and liked how he had a good balance between providing the overview of the case, and well as providing smaller telling details. 4 stars.

Until the Twelfth of Never : The Deadly Divorce of Dan and Betty Broderick

Title: Until the Twelfth of Never: The Deadly Divorce of Dan and Betty Broderick
Author: Bella Stumbo
Publisher: Taylor Street Publishing
Release Date: February 4, 2013 (originally published in 1993)
Page Count: 661
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

If you watched Dirty John : The Betty Broderick Story on USA Network, I recommend you drive into this HUGE, very well-researched book about the case.  I've seen Bella Stumbo's book referenced in many places as the best book on the subject.

An amazing, gut-wrenching book about Betty Broderick, the La Jolla woman who killed her ex-husband Dan and his new wife Linda in 1989 after a 6-year divorce and property settlement battle. There's plenty of blame for everyone in this tawdry case - attorney Dan Broderick who used the courts to punish Betty, Linda who carried on an affair with Dan for years, and Betty who had no identity other than "wife of Dan, mother of their 4 children."

Written In Blood

Title: Written in Blood
Author: Diane Fanning
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: February 1, 2005
Page Count: 416
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

Having just re-watched "The Staircase" on Netflix and done a bit of reading here and there on various forums about the Michael Peterson case, I was pleasantly surprised by all the additional information I learned from Diane Fanning's book about the Kathleen Peterson murder case.

Although Ms. Fanning is definitely very much on the side of the prosecution and very sympathetic to Kathleen's family, she presents a lot of details I have never read elsewhere. "The Staircase" focuses so much on the blood evidence and the blow poke to the exclusion of anything else. But Fanning gives us details about Michael Peterson's temper (it says somethng about character or lack thereof based on the horrible way he treats his dogs), his stealing and lying about his military service, how he forged documents to give himself the Ratliff estate, and the way he treated the Ratliff girls as cash cows.

I do believe Michael Peterson killed Kathleen, and left her to suffer a painful death. Fanning makes an interesting point that Peterson probably has Narcissistic personality disorder, which Wikipedia describes as a "personality disorder with a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, excessive need for admiration, and a lack of empathy."

In rewatching "The Staircase," you can't help but see Peterson's disregard for anyone but himself. 4 stars.

Evil at Lake Seminole : The Story Surrounding the Disappearance of Mike Williams

Title: Evil at Lake Seminole : The Shocking True Story Surrounding the Disappearance of Mike Williams

Author: Steven B. Epstein

Publisher: Black Lyon Publishing, LLC 

Release Date: June 15, 2020 

Genre(s): True Crime 

Page Count: 350 

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here 

I'd heard about this case often on shows like Dateline and 20/20 so I welcomed the opportunity for a deeper dive into the death of Mike Williams at Lake Seminole on that December morning in 2000. 

Epstein, in his second true crime book, carefully sets out the case over the 18 years from Mike's murder until the case comes to trial and Denise Williams is finally convinced. It's a long road for Mike's mother who never believed Mike died on Lake Seminole that day.  She wrote 2,600 letters to Florida Governor Rick Scott asking him to investigate the case without any success. She picketed on the streets, placed newspaper ads, bought billboards, and finally got justice for her son. Epstein does an excellent job of honoring her love for her son, and her commitment to the case.

It was an arduous process as well for law enforcement as they tried to put together the very slim trail of clues, with no body, and no cooperation from Denise Williams or Brian Winchester.  As the years went by, they waited and hoped for a break in the case, and when it finally came, they were ready to file charges against Denise.