Kathryn Casey

The things wrong with this book:

1. The title. I mean, A Descent into Hell? Really? It sounds like a title that the Lifetime TV movie people rejected as too trite. At least Baby Monitor: The Sound of Fear and Ski Lift to Death (hey, look them up if you don't believe me) had some character.

2. The subtitle. "An Altar Boy" and "a Cheerleader"? Need I say more?

3. The pacing. This is a story about a murder, people. Let's at least bring the pacing up to the level of an episode of He-Man and the show more Masters of the Universe. If the narrative had been any slower, I would have had to don my gorilla suit and read the book while marching back and forth across the room to Sousa marches just to keep myself mildly entertained.

4. The editing. I actually started marking the diction and grammatical errors just because it was a lot more interesting than trying to keep my mind on the book. Examples: "disinterested" instead of "uninterested"; getting one's car "out of hock" to mean getting it out of an impound lot ("hock" means you sold it to a pawnbroker, duh). And I've rarely encountered a tin ear for dialog like the one on display here. A representative sample:

"Finally, she grabbed the arm of a young man in a uniform, shouting, 'Is my sister all right?' [At least it doesn't say "alright" -- I'll give the author that.:]
'Your sister's dead,' he said, pulling away.
When the man walked by again, Vanessa, sobbing, yelled, 'You don't know how this feels.'
'I do,' he said, more kindly. 'My sister jumped off a mountain in Greece last summer. All I can tell you is it will get better.'"

Uh. HUH. And:

"Vanessa's entire body ached. She'd never felt so alone."

Whoa, ace narrative technique there, Hoss! Maybe soon you can graduate to having one of the subjects of the book drop a family portrait so that the glass in the frame shatters.

5. The blurb by Ann Rule saying, "Kathryn Casey is one of the best true crime writers today." This statement is wrong on so many levels that I won't even bother to deconstruct it, but I will say that either the state of true crime writing is worse than I thought or there's some serious logrolling going on here.

Oh, I know, I know. This is what I get for reading true crime. You're probably right. Now excuse my while I go flip though In Cold Blood to get the taste of this thing out of my mouth. show less

The Blessed Bones by Kathryn Casey
Detective Clara Jeffries #3

Clara Jeffries is settling into her job as Chief of Police in Alber, Utah when this book begins. She has been working her way through police files that were shuffled under the rug and filed away in hopes of finding a few cases that are still within the statute of limitations that might allow prosecution so that justice can be found for some who may not have found it under a different administration. She is reading the file of a show more young boy beaten by his father when she is notified that bones have been found on a construction site and heads out to begin investigating.

What I liked:
* The complexity of the story:
- The bones investigation
- The young pregnant girl we meet early on and how her story progresses
- Clara’s life
- The case of the battered boy
- The romance and how it is progressing between Clara & Max
- The US Marshall that stuck his oar into the investigation
* Clara: strong, independent, aware, capable, loved her family, apostate-outcast, loving, has an intriguing but difficult backstory, someone I admire and want to know more about.
* Max: Chief Deputy, father, widow, “lost boy”, loves Clara, capable, tenacious, interesting and a good match for Clara.
* Hannah: runs a shelter for women, a good friend, provides a service that is needed in the community.
* The setting that includes the polygamous patriarchal prophet oriented background that seems so foreign and fraught with issues that will provide fodder for future books.
* That Clara is still on her quest to find Christina Bradshaw
* Wondering about the ominous messages/notes Clara is receiving
* That progress has been made in the romance between Clara and Max
* The interest I have in finding out what will happen between Clara and her family
* That there was a happy ending for a few – though not all
* It seemed realistic and I felt part of the story.
* Knowing that this type of community does exist today.
* Looking forward to the next book in the series.

What I didn’t like:
* The people and situations I was meant not to like
* What was happening to the young pregnant women in this book
* Knowing that Alber leaders were able to get away with all that they did.
* Having to wait for the next book in the series.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Definitely

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars show less

The cover blurb -- "a true story of sex, murder, and a Texas millionaire" -- pretty well says it all.

The main character, Celeste Johnson, already had a long history of marriage, divorce, infidelity, and child neglect when she bagged her biggest prize yet -- the much older Steven Beard, a recent widower with lots of money and a yen for the sexy blond waitress at his country club. The new Mrs. Beard, not content with making a substantial dent in her husband's multi-million-dollar fortune, show more decided she would be better off as a grieving widow, and enlisted the help of her latest lover, a woman she had met in a psychiatric hospital, to achieve that goal.

Author Casey cuts Celeste no slack as she chronicles the woman's history, which is replete with narcissistic and irresponsible actions and various convenient allegations of medical issues, usually arising when she was trying to wriggle out of a tight spot or to convince someone to give in to her demands. The only real suspense here is generated during the investigation and trial, as prosecuting and defense attorneys fight it out in the courtroom.

True-crime fans will relish this one. show less

Possessed: The Infamous Texas Stiletto Murder by Kathryn Casey is a 2016 William Morrow publication.

This lady was nuts!

While I like to think I know a little about True Crime, more and more often these days, I realize there are just too many cases to keep up with them all. Although I live in Texas, I only vaguely recall this story- mainly because of the murder weapon- that Stiletto shoe.

For some of the crime might remind you of a scene in ‘Single White Female’ when Jennifer Jason Leigh show more stabs Steven Webber in the eye with the heel of her stiletto shoe. Naturally, this true crime case drew lots of media attention beyond the Houston or even the state of Texas.

Ana Trujillo stabbed Stephan Andersson to death in his Houston condo- claiming self- defense. Yet it was Ana who had a history of violence and was rumored to have dabbled in the black arts.

This book details the relationship between Stephan and Ana, how it became increasingly volatile, with Stephan unable to free himself from her, despite desperately wishing to do so.

The author did a thorough job- starting with personal biographies for both Stephan and Ana and builds the tension as the horrifying saga deepens. It was hard to imagine two more different personalities- Ana was so aggressive, where Stephan was mild- mannered and gentle. Ana controlled him, manipulated him and despite his misery he seemed to lack the courage to purge her from his life for good.

Casey follows the usual True Crime format, but her writing style gives readers a vivid depiction of the events that transpired, an up close and personal view of the people involved, and a front row seat for Ana’s trial.

This is one crazy case! I think Ana is exactly where she should be!
Recommend to readers of true crime!

4.5 stars show less