But I Trusted You: and Other True Cases

Publisher Marketing: The most fatal mistake? Trust. It's the foundation of any enduring relationship between friends, lovers, spouses, and families. But when trust is placed in those who are not what they seem, the results can be deadly. Ann Rule, who famously chronicled her own shocking experience of unknowingly befriending a sociopath in "The Stranger Beside Me," offers a riveting, all-new collection from her true-crime files, with the lethally shattered bonds of trust at the core of each bloodsoaked account. Whether driven to extreme violence by greed or jealousy, passion or rage, these calculating sociopaths targeted those closest to them unwitting victims whose last disbelieving words could well have been "but I trusted you. " Headlining this anthology is the case of middle-school counselor Chuck Leonard, found shot to death outside his Washington State home on an icy February morning. A complicated mix of family man and wild man, Chuck played hard and loved many but who crossed the line by murdering him in cold blood? And why? The revelation is as stunning as the shattering crime itself, powerfully illuminating how those we think we know can ingeniously hide their destructive and homicidal designs. Along with other shattering cases, immaculately detailed and sharply analyzed by America's #1 true-crime writer, this fourteenth Crime Files volume is essential listening for getting inside the mind of the hidden killers among us." Contributor Bio:  Rule, Ann Ann Rule is the author of thirty-four previous New York Times bestsellers, all of them still in print. A former Seattle police officer, she knows the crime scene firsthand. She is a certified instructor for police training seminars and lectures to law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and forensic organizations, including the FBI and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. For more than three decades, she has been a powerful advocate for victims of violent crime. She has testified before US Senate Judiciary subcommittees on serial murder and victims rights, and was a civilian adviser to ViCAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program). A graduate of the University of Washington, she holds a PhD in Humane Letters from Willamette University. She lives near Seattle and can be contacted through her Web page at www.authorannrule.com, on Facebook, and by email at AnnieR37@aol.com. Contributor Bio:  Merlington, Laural Laural Merlington has recorded well over one hundred audiobooks and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards, including one for Never Say Die by Susan Jacoby.