A Fever In The Heart and Other True Cases by Ann Rule

A FEVER IN THE HEART dissects an explosive triangle that led to obsession and murder in a small town in the north-west of America. Ann Rule reveals the story of an alluring wife and the two men desperate for her love; a story with a bizarre and deadly twist that no one could have suspected. In this and several other riveting true-crime cases from her personal files, Ann Rule masterfully probes the delusions of the criminal mind, the fateful circumstances and the unrelenting investigative forces at work in the aftermath of murder.

This is one of the books that Ann Rule publishes as crime files which has multiple true crime stories,one longer than the others.The title of the book is usually the title of the main,long story.This one is Volume 3 of Ann Rule's crime files.

This is how the book begins
"The day after a holiday is always something of a letdown-even if the celebrations were successful and families and friends have managed to get together without allowing half-forgotten slights and old wounds to bubble to the surface.In New York City and in Yakima,Washington,and in every city and hamlet in between,families who co exist all year tend to become dysfunctional with the pressure of holiday emotions.Perhaps humans expect more out of life during the festive season.Those over the age of ten are usually disappointed"

Here is a brief breakdown of each story included in this book of crime files Volume 3

A Fever In The Heart
A love triangle where a wife,Jerilee,had left her current husband(Gabby Moore) to return to her ex husband(Morris Blankenbaker),the father of her two children.The two husbands had been best friends.The victim,Morris,had remained good friends with Gabby Moore even after he had stolen his wife,Jerilee,but somehow things didn't work the same way for Moore when this same wife realised he was a manipulator and decided that she truly did love Morris Blankenbaker.There are infinite twists and turns in this story and hardly as simplistic as I have described above.(284 pages)

The Highway Accident
An intricate story conjured up by a husband who had killed his wife.What this story highlights is how alert neighbors who care can help a lot in police investigations combined with the excellent skills of that same police force.This story although short was really an eye opener (20 pages)

Murder Without A Body
The nature of this story is that many murderers get away with murder because so few prosecutors are willing to indict a case with no body.This is more so because of the "Double Jeopardy" rule which states that one person cannot be tried more than once for the same murder.Because of that prosecutors are relucant to take a murder case to court in case the suspect is acquitted from lack of proof and later on,if more valid proof is brought to light,will never be accountable for this murder.This story is about a prosecutor who was brave enough to take his chances on trying a case where the body of the victim was still missing.(25 pages)

I'll Love You Forever
A widowed wife who then goes on to meet the perfect man who turn out to be the perfect psychopath.Ann Rule actually changed her name when she initially wrote about this story for fear that this psycho(Anthony Fernandez) would find her and possibly do her harm.(23 pages)

Black Leather
How one sexual psychopath got caught because of one victim who got away and what unravels as this brave man took the authorities back to the scene of the crime(23 pages)

Mirror Images
This story truly highlights the never ending sage of some states to have a death penalty,then no penalty and then to further down the line re instate that same penalty.What happens is that when a crime is committed,even if the perpetrator is caught in the era which now has a death penalty,the date of the crime is taken into account and this murderer is then not sentenced to death.What happened here is a murderer who had not received the death sentence,who upon being paroled,returned to do harm to witnesses in a prior case against him.This story highlights two such psychopaths hence the title "Mirror Images".Again a simplistic version of a great short story with multiple twists and turns.(25 pages)

I do not have to tell you again how much I love Ann Rule so of course,if you haven't read this book I suggest you do as soon as you can.



Here are some more book details:
A Fever in the Heart (True Crime Files)
Country: United Kingdom
Format: Softcover
Publisher: TIME WARNER PAPERBACKS
ISBN: 9780751515732
Publication date: December 1996
Pages: 444
Illustrations: 16pp b&w photographs

This is a book which was published many years ago but I guarantee that all the scenarios are still bery much applicable today and therefore not dated at all.This is one of my old true crime books which I have now posted my thoughts in a bid to catch up with my old true crime books and have them all featured on this blog one day....finally....