KISS ME, KILL ME

In this riveting, unnerving collection drawn from her personal case files, the bestselling true crime author exposes the shattering violence and lethal obsession behind the most passionate love affairs, revealing the shocking details of crimes committed by both sexes. Original. The dark side of love is no fairy tale.... And while we may like to believe that crimes of the heart only victimize those who aren''t careful, this page-turning collection of must-read accounts will convince you otherwise. America''s #1 true-crime writer, Ann Rule reveals how lovers become predators, how sex and lust can push ordinary people to desperate acts, and how investigators and forensics experts work to unravel the most entangled crimes of passion. Extracting behind-the-scenes details, Rule makes these volatile relationships utterly real, and masterfully re-creates the ill-fated chains of events in such cases as the ex-Marine and martial arts master who seduced vulnerable women and then destroyed their lives...the killer whose calling card was a single bloodred rose...the faithless wife who manipulated and murdered without conscience...the blind date that set the stage for a killer''s brutality...and more. In every case, the victim -- young and innocent or older and experienced -- unknowingly trusted a stranger with the sociopathic skill to hide their dark motives, until it was too late to escape a web of deadly lies, fatal promises, and homicidal possession. Ann Rule has contributed to Kiss Me, Kill Me: Ann Rule''s Crime Files Vol. 9 as an author. Ann Rule is the author of more than two dozen "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 frequently to law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and forensic science organizations, including the FBI. For more than two decades, she has been a powerful advocate for victims of violent crime. She has testified before U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittees on serial murder and victims'' rights, and was a civilian adviser to the VI-CAP (Violent Crimina