I've read a lot of true crime recently with male killers, so when I saw that the focus of this one was a woman, I picked it up.

According to the cover info, Liysa Northon shot her husband, Chris, on a camping trip and claimed to have been a victim of domestic abuse and to have shot him in self-defense. However, investigators soon began to wonder whether she was a victim or a cold-blooded killer.

I always enjoy Ann Rule - I'm looking forward to this one!

Edited to add - I just hate it when there's no blank space to put a BC sticker until several pages into the book!

I initially picked this up months and months ago and put it down almost immediately. For some reason I got it through my head that it would be a slow read and I was reluctant to get back to it. I'm glad I did! It read very quickly this time around and held my attention all the way through.

One thing I found very interesting and not a little disturbing (perhaps it's also because of the paralegal Family Law class I'm taking this semester) was that the crux of Liysa Northon's defense was her accusations of her husband's domestic violence against her. Yet though she picked fights, screamed at her husband, Chris, and jumped on his back, held on, and scratched him - no one applied the label 'domestic violence' to her actions toward him.

Overall, though, this was a good read, a chilling chronicle of manipulation, lies, and selfishness. I feel so bad for the kids.

RELEASE NOTES:

I left this in the Wayne West building, in the student lounge on the first floor. I hope it will be found and enjoyed.

I was going to release a second book at the library, but it seems they decided to release a stack of their own - the 'free book' table was piled high. Say, if you're interested in anthropology, aquatic sports, or earth science, it might be worth stopping by...