Von Stein Bonnie - Cruel Doubt

Acclaim for the

Stunning New York Times Bestseller

CRUEL DOUBT

AS USUAL, McGINNISS HAS PRODUCED A GRIPPING, SUSPENSEFUL, HORRIFIC ACCOUNT.... The plot unfolds in McGinnisss trademark style of chronological, blow-by-blow exposition.... CRUEL DOUBT WILL KEEP YOU UP AT NIGHT, TURNING PAGE AFTER PAGE DESPITE THE HORROR OF IT ALL.The San Diego Union

Hugely detailed... [AN] ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING ACCOUNT OF A FAMILY MURDER.Entertainment Weekly

A SEARING LOOK AT MURDER IN A FAMILY... [AT] THE TOP OF THE TRUE CRIME GENRE.... McGinniss has a true feel for the distinctive rhythms that make a place, and an eye to the inner workings of the human psyche. His stories are always compelling because he renders settings and characters in such a way that the reader feels an emotional commitment to how things turn out. And he has a deft touch... so the reader keeps moving through the pages. IN THE END, THIS STORY, LIKE MOST TRAGIC CIRCUMSTANCES IN LITERATURE SINCE HOMER, REVOLVES AROUND LOYALTY AND BETRAYAL.... CRUEL DOUBT IS AN UNCOMMONLY REVEALING EXPLORATION OF THAT COMMON THEME.The Washington Times

A LITERARY GUILD ALTERNATE SELECTION

Masterfully weaves together the tangled threads of the most shocking and grisly murder case in recent memory... SPELLBINDING.Sacramento Union

McGinniss [is] the Alfred Hitchcock of the true crime genre, a genre he often transcends.The Boston Globe

What McGinniss... does so superbly is to bring us just a little closer to the heart of darkness and make us understand that there is, in the end, no accounting for human behavior.The Detroit News

McGinniss again shows why he heads the ranks of true crime authorsdelivering a page burner of shifting suspicions, macabre ironies, and reversals of field too extreme for fiction.Kirkus Reviews

A lurid psychological thriller and a detective story with all the intriguing detail of a classic whodunit.... We begin to perceive a purposeful spiraling as we draw closer and closer to the truth.... What is most impressive about CRUEL DOUBT is the authors ability to infuse a well-reported crime story with genuine suspense... plenty of shocks and surprises. McGinniss is also adept at evoking the colorful personalities and hothouse environment of the rural South... a startlingly intimate profile of the Von Steins and the various miseries that seemed to build toward the Walpurgisnacht of Lieths murder.Los Angeles Times

I have always found McGinnisss eye and ear to be finely tuned and ever alert.... Thats what makes McGinniss so good: He manages to see and hear the things that the rest of the world misses.Chicago Tribune

With CRUEL DOUBT, McGinniss puts more distance between himself and the rest of the pack.... He is a touchstone for the traumatized, the troubled, and the treacherous.... McGinniss skillfully creates tension and explores ticklish legal questions with remarkable finesse.The Hartford Courant

Fascinating... CRUEL DOUBT is not only about a crime and a trial and remarkable conflicts of interest. It is also, beneath its surface and within its heart, about Joe McGinniss as quester for truth, literary detective, salver, and healer.The New York Times Book Review

As CRUEL DOUBT makes poignantly apparent, a writers thirst for his subjects secrets may be matchedand even exceededby the subjects need to confide and confess.... Mr. McGinnisss intimacy with these players... does enable him to do what he does best: to evoke the peculiar world in which this crime took place with all the richness of fiction.Wall Street Journal

Books by Joe McGinniss

Cruel Doubt

Blind Faith

Fatal Vision

Going to Extremes

Heroes

The Dream Team

The Selling of the President

CRUEL DOUBT

Joe McGinniss

A SIGNET BOOK

SIGNET

Published by New American Library, a division of

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

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Published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Previously published in a Pocket Star edition.

Copyright Joe McGinniss, 1991

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

REGISTERED TRADEMARKMARCA REGISTRADA

PUBLISHERS NOTE

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

For my family with love and gratitude

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

Early in 1990, when she wrote to Dr. Jean Spaulding and others, asking them to cooperate fully with me in the preparation of this book, Bonnie Von Stein said she wanted one person to share everything I know with, good or bad, I was that person.

Neither Bonnie nor any member of her family nor anyone else who spoke with me or with my research assistant, Robyn Smith, received any form of financial compensation. Nor did anyone seek or receive the right to not ot review, approve, or in any way exercise control over my use of the information they so generously and candidly shared with me.

These days, that is a rare circumstance. It arose in large part, I believe, out of their respect for Bonnies wishes, and from their admiration and affection for her. If she wanted the truth told, the truthas they knew itwas what they would tell, even if aspects of it might not be consistent with Bonnies point of view.

Thus, it seems appropriate to thank, first and foremost, Bonnie Von Stein. Because she is the central figure in this book, Ill not offer any capsule description of her here, but trust that the reader will come to know her in the pages that follow. I shall say only that never onceeven when made uncomfortable by some of what came to interest medid Bonnie pull back from her absolute and unflinching pain. Some are portrayed in this book, some are not, but I am grateful to them all.