I had a very good friend who was shot to death during a domestic disbute. I know what my own range of emotions were then and so I have great empathy for the friends and family of Deborah McCormick as they have tried to deal with her violent and tragic death.
However, I also have known Michael Griffith. Michael was a deputy at the Bay County Sheriff's office when I worked for another law enforcement agency in Panama City . We continued to be friends after I moved to Tallahassee. I knew the woman he was married to when he lived in Panama City. I was present the day her next husband was arrested for having a 3 year long sexual relationship with Michael's 13 year old daughter.Mom was called in for an interview and admitted that she knew about the relationship and had given her consent.
So forgive me if I don't see her cast as the much abused and mistreated ex-wife. We are not talking June Cleaver here.
I was working the night Michael was named Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. His watch commander called and said one of the local business groups was going to give out the award at their banquet that night and for Michael to go pick it up because no one else wanted to go. That certainly doesn't sell books, does it?
I can assure you that, when a hurricane came through Bay County, we had our hands full just taking care of our county; and that was using every city, county and state law enforcement officer available in our area. There is no way anyone would take a 2 man patrol car and send it 100 miles away to Pensacola to check on a citizen when there are four counties full of law enforcement officers between our county and the misplaced citizen. The inaccuracies go on and on.
I doubt very seriously that any part of this manuscript came from interviews the author held with anyone in Bay County whoever knew Michael. Alot of those people have read the book, and alot of them refuse to believe that he has always been the malicious person this book portrays him to be.
To me, the book reads like a cut and paste job from newspaper stories and trial transcripts.
To portray Michael Griffith as a bad seed from birth may sell a few books. But it NOT an accurate representation of who he was.
Although I don't know who he became after he left Panama City, I know that during the 8 years I knew him he was a good deputy, a good friend and a nice guy. I've known a lot of people who have developed much more agressive personalities after years in law enforcement. I know that in every agency I have been affiliated with we have had our share of loose cannons, addicts, wife beaters and child molesters: we knew who most of them were, but nobody wanted to deal with it at the departmental level.
Those officers usually stay employed until they decided to leave; or they get fired because they go so far off the deep end they can't be concealed from the public any more. At which time their department takes away their gun and their badge and turns them loose on an unsuspecting public...with no safety net for the officer or the public.
If we can't qualify "Little Shop of Horrors" as complete fiction.....please lets not try to qualify it as investigative journalism, either.

I have read hundreds of true crime books. I have until now, never actually considered demanding the author give me my money back! I would send him his book back if it wouldn't cost more than the book did. More than focusing on the story line I found myself "catching" all the mistakes in his grammer. The idea and the story seemed interesting but I just couldn't keep track. When I did finally finish the book I was more mad that I paid money for it. This is one to borrow but not pay for. If you'd like to practice your english skills, this ones for you. Maybe Bill's editor was too busy to edit this one. The pics didn't match the story either. Hope he has better luck with his next book.

I disagree with the other reviewer, who I don't think was fair to this book or its author. While it's not the best I've ever read, it was good and certainly worth the price. I felt I got to know the main characters fairly well, and the trial was covered in some detail without bogging the reader down in dry legal prose. As for the other reviewer's comments about the pictures not matching the text, I have no idea what he's referring to... the pictures were of the crime scene, the victims, and the prosecutors.

I felt this book was more in the main Romance field - I was looking for another of her books like East of the Sun - Back of Beyond and the Moon Below. I like her historical research with some romance wound through it, but not as heavy as this book was.

I have been a fan of Barbara Bickmore historical novels, so I wasn't sure how I would like a contemporary story by her. As I read further into the book, I enjoyed the story more and more. The story begins in 1961. Teenager Carly Anderson is popular and happy in Los Angeles, when her mother decides to move away from that fast-paced life. They stop in a hick town in Texas -- Verity, TX. and there they decide to begin a new life. Carly is beautiful and bright and graduates from high school as class valadictorian. After high school, she works at Verity's only bank and learns the business quickly. Having had her heart broken by her high-school love, Boomer Bannerman, she heads for Houston and the big city life. Once there she enters the real estate profession and becomes successful in a profession dominated primarily by men. This story shows us a woman with ambition and goals. It is also a love story; of Carly's love for 3 very different men and the choices and decisions she must make to find true happiness. I am surprised this book has a 1 star rating. Barbara Bickmore writes a story that will keep you intersted without a lot of foul language or sexually explicit writing. This was a good story that kept me coming back each day to read more. I recommend the book and author, though Barbara Bickmore is hard to find in bookstores!

This book lacks both. I was more interested in the whaling industry & life in the artic, and could have done without much of a story line (see Safe Return Doubtful). This book failed on both counts. There's not much of a story, and Houston tries to weave in the few historical facts through character dialog-- ends up sounding like a telecommunications commercial. And the history, the life that whalers had to live, what it was like enduring an artic winter, how whales were taken and processed, the Inuit culture-- sadly neglected. I hate being this harsh, but....

Anyway, if you still want to try it, you'll find my copy on the shelf at buck-a-book.

James Houston knows his subject matter very well, as is obvious from his attention to detail and the illistrations. However, I found it very difficult to stay focused on the story.

In this work, Clark is a defender of, and cheerleader for, Timothy Leary, working from the "establishment" side. This is a rather insubstantial, repetitive book. It compares and equates mystical experiences induced by psychedelics to other types of mystical states. Hardly earth-shattering. Not much here beyond what Leary has said. A very slim volume. clark was part of the famous Good Friday Experiment with Pahnke and Leary.

This book disappointed me, because I was hoping for something more vividly and eloquently written. I gather Mr. Carroll is not a professional writer, and for me it showed.

Still, it's commendable that this period of the AFL's history has been captured for posterity.

Poor Litlejim was how my fourth graders always referred to the main character in this book. Poor Littlejim tried and tried to please his father, but always ended up being hurt and disappointed. By the time we were two-thirds through the book, many of my students were beginning to doubt the validity of the characters. Bigjim, the father, was so one-dimensional, that we could predict his reaction to every situation. We did, however, enjoy this authentic look into mountain life, written by a person who knows the region firsthand. For an excellent book by this author, please read The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree.

First off, I had no previous knowledge of this crime, I decided to read this book because the back cover promised a "shocking diary" kept by Bob Coulsons adoptive mother amongst other things.
Well guess what? The diary is mentioned in maybe 2 paragraphs in the whole book. You don't get any insight into the relationships of these people. You only get a quick rundown of the parents. There was a few minor "scandalous" behaviors, like the two sisters getting pregnant before marriage, but other than that, nothing.
There was no in depth bio about who Bob Coulson was, nothing about his past, except that he was adopted at a young age. The only reason he killed his family was for the inheritance. I have no doubt that he did this awful crime but i think there was a lot more behind it. Why couldn't the author have dug a little deeper?
The book was written horribly, at an extremely fast pace, and there were no "shocking photos".

I agree with all the other bad reviews of this book. It is well known that the author of this book is good friends with this "so called" favorite niece of Mary Coulson. This neice, Linda, never spent much time with the Coulson family & acting as if she was Mary Coulson's favorite niece is a farce. "Auntie Mary " indeed!!! The fact that this favorite niece would allow slander of the other children is outrageous. No child is perfect. They all disappoint their parents on occasion but to act as if they were all bad or awful for just being normal children is ridiculous! A third of the book discusses the courtship of Otis & Mary Coulson, their long extended background, etc. Nothing to do with the murder case itself. There are some photo's of the coulsons, the crime scene ect, but what's the purpose of the photo of Linda & her husband Tim? Why not picture's of the Mary's Parents or other relatives she speaks of? Seems Linda enjoys the attention in this case & is milking it for everything she can. She didn't know Bob, she barely new him & never spent much time with him. All of this information came either from the niece or straight from court transcripts. This author did no ivestigating of her own. Only what ever Linda told her. This so called favorite niece loves all the attention & will never get enough. What a joke this book is! It took me all of a day & a half to read this trash. I had to pick at least one star. If they had negatives, I'd pick -100.

I cannot express how bad this book is. If I could rate it less than a star I would. I knew the people and was close to the case. This is a work of fiction with no regard as to how the deceased peole are being slandered or what effect it might have on those left behind.

I bought this book because I'm getting married in Houston and I hoped for some Houston-specific helpful hints -- on vendors, reception locations, etc. -- but I was sorely disappointed. This is basically just your typical wedding planning book (yawn!) with a list of vendors in the back... without even any reviews or qualitative information about them. Don't buy this if you're looking for Houston-specific information, because you'll be as disappointed as I.

This is an out dated book {1998}and was not helpful at all. I live in Northwest Houston and this book did not even list what is a well established private school with over 500 students that is in my area. I would definitely not recommend this book to anyone looking for a private school if they want current and acurate information. It is a rip-off.