Very detailed true crime and it was a very good read - will be trying to find more on this author. ( )

I do like well written true crime stories. This story is ok. It is the story of David Temple and Belinda Lucas who marry, have a child and seem to be perfectly happy. Of course not all is well on the home front. Belinda is a highly regarded high school teacher and David is a high school football coach who is a bully and and demeans his wife. While she is in the 8 th month of her second pregnancy, she is brutally murdered in her home by a shotgun blast in the back of her head. The idea that this was a botched burglary gone wrong is easily dismissed by the police. It takes almost seven years before David is brought to trial because the gun is never found and much of the evidence is circumstantial. The fact that he was having an affair with another teacher and was caught in a web of lies lead to his conviction.
Writing is not the best and is quite repetitive a t times. Otherwise, it!s ok. ( )

Finished this book yesterday. read it in 2 days. I did get annoyed again because Kathryn does something Ann Rule also does and that is telling us constantly that the victim acted as (and was) an angel, not a human being with faults. Okay I know we should say nothing bad about the dead but this is true crime.

Belinda did abandon her parents, her family only to please her husband. She even told her twin sister not to come on their birthday because his majesty did not want it. The twins did not celebrate their birthday at their parents but at the house of Belinda's parents in law. So Belinda was indeed a normal human being and there was no need to keep on writing how sweet and innocent she was.
Then back to the story and the book. I liked it a lot. One of the better books by Mrs Casey. I liked the second part most. Wanted to find out how they would get him, how the trial would go. Nomally that is not the case. so I will give this book 4 stars cause at the end I could not put it down.. ( )

After a brief review of the crime, including mentioning how, despite the suspicions of many involved, the case was not “solved” for 8 years, she then gives us a history of David Temple and his family, Brenda and her family and David and Brenda’s life together. She details the investigation including some things the police did that some considered mistakes.

During the time the case grew cold, she reports on something that happened to change peoples perception about whether or not a man would kill his pregnant wife. How the numbers of pregnant women to die by their partners hand is quite high. Those of us familiar with domestic violence know that the violence often escalates when the woman is pregnant. But I digress.

When the case finally goes to the trial, Kathryn takes us through it step by step. Helping us understand the personality of the lawyers and their strategy. And lastly she reports on the aftermath of everything.

Another quality book by Ms. Casey, I give this book 4 stars and recommend it. ( )

Heartbreaking

I love Ann Rule and I love true crime and I have become a huge fan of Kathryn Casey. Her books cannot be put down, and Shattered is no exception. You will be engrossed and informed through the final paragraph. May work like this help all of us appreciate those who work so hard to apprehend and bring to justice those criminals who walk so brazenly among us. Also features one of my favorite crime fighters, prosecuted Kelly Ziegler. I will read all of Me Casey's books. ( )