Another Casey Masterpiece

books:


	• Die, My Love: A True Story of Revenge, Murder, and Two Texas Sisters Kathryn Casey Harper, 2007 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Riveting

I just finished this book and found it hard to put down. Piper Rountree is right up there with the worst of the worst - an incredibly narcissistic, coldblooded, self-absorbed individual. Kathryn Casey pulled it all together seamlessly, from the beginning of Piper's and Fred's relationship to the tragic end. It's the first book of hers I've read, and I'm here now to order another.

Another Casey Masterpiece

DIE, MY LOVE is Kathryn Casey's account of the murder of Fred Jablin, a respected college professor, by his self-centered and narcissistic wife, Piper Rountree. Rountree's motivation was to assure that she was granted custody of their three children, and, not incidentally, that she would not
have to pay child support. She is presented as a woman who professed repeatedly to care more about her children than anything else in the world, but who in fact simply used them when it suited her needs, one of the main ones being to show the world that she was, above all else, a MOTHER!
Fred meanwhile became the one who actually cared for the children on a day to day basis, performing the routine, mundane tasks that a truly loving parent repeats daily to raise and protect a child, because Piper found this necessity boring and beneath the artistic, new-age, and ultimately just "special" person she considered herself to be. Both before and after the murder, Rountree and her equally self-centered sister clumsily constructed a series of events designed to provide Rountree with an alibi. But since the sisters were not as smart as they believed they were, the attempt ultimately failed.

This is the fourth Casey book I have read and reviewed (the others are A WARRANT TO KILL, THE RAPIST'S WIFE, and SHE WANTED IT ALL) and they are all outstanding. Casey, as is for her routine, avoids filler and drama. Her research is so deep that she has no need to copy police reports or trial transcripts, a common tactic of the lazy incompetents who litter the true crime landscape. Her writing, as always, is crisp, reportorial, and adult. It is also highly literate, and it is always a pleasure to read a writer who actually appears to have more than a passing familiarity with the English language.
The highest praise I can think to give a writer is to say that you realize that when you have finished a book you are truly glad you read it and then realize that, while it was beautifully written, you were not aware of the author's personality while you were reading it - that the author does not personally intrude on the story he or she is telling. And I can praise DIE, MY LOVE as well as Casey's other three books as meeting this standard.

DIE, MY LOVE is outstanding true crime, and I believe Kathryn Casey is among the very best true crime authors currently writing. I unreservedly recommend this one.

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A Minority Opinion!

Oh those minority opinions, sure to get the writer in trouble- especially when all the foregoing reviews have awarded DML 5 stars! Nonetheless, let's give this review a try: Piper and Fred are not the ideal, happily married couple. In fact, they are poles apart. He is a distinguished egghead of a college professor; she can kindly be described as a "free spirit". Early one morning, Fred meets his demise in the driveway of his Richmond, VA home. It is not divulging much to state that the slate of suspects is short. Wifey quickly emerges at the head of the list, as most spouses do in these situations. The challenge to the Law is to place her at the crime scene. What makes DML interesting is Piper's alibi-she claims to have been in Houston at the time of the murder. Plus, there is a Texas-based sister who could pass for her. That draws 2 investigative departments into the chase. The story ebbs and flows as scenes shift from Texas to Virginia and back. This reviewer found it difficult to track all the detectives, district attorneys, lawyers, witnesses, family members and hangers on in two cities. Sometimes interest would heighten, other times it would wane. The end result was an often frustrating read. One has to hand authoress Casey credit. Imagine how challenging it must have been to document the myriad of facts and personalities herein. Ms. Casey certainly set a high bar for herself but this reader found DML a bit much. This reviewer is actually a Casey fan, but one has to call them as he sees them: Ms. Casey has simply done better work elsewhere, most especially with her first tale, "The Rapist's Wife". This review could not conclude without mentioning the infamous Ann Rule rule: Tundra will be happy to read that it is not in effect here. Those centerfold photos do not even hint at the resolution; they do the proper job of putting faces on the main characters. Also, the front and back covers reveal nothing. Casey fans take heart: Most reviews are favorable. Scroll up or down to receive more balanced opinions of "Die My Love".

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New True Crime Royalty

For so many years Ann Rule has been the reigning ruler of the true crime genre. Well she better watch her back because KC is poised to steal that crown. All of her books have been excellent and this one does not disappoint. In the days of so many poorly written, lazily researched and badly edited true crime books ruining the genre thank goodness for Kathryn Casey. Rather than start the book at the point of the murder, she is like the proverbial fly on the wall and takes us back through the lives of Fred Jablin and Piper Rountree. From what shaped them as adults to their meeting and subsequent marriage, all the way to the contentious divorce and custody battle and then the tragic murder of Fred Jablin. All this back story may sound boring but it is far from that. It gives insight that makes the story of the police investigation and subsequent trial all the more interesting. She also delves into the dysfunctional and troubling bond between Piper Rountree and her sister Tina which added a creepy element as well as in my opinion a bond that helped make the murder happen. If you are thinking of giving up on true crime because of all the bad books out there give this one a read. It is an excellent book and will restore your faith in the genre.

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Sisters In Crime

Fans of psychology and true crime will thoroughly enjoy this book. Die My Love tells the story of how one woman's obsession would lead to murder and the destruction of an entire family.

There's no time to catch your breath in this latest true-crime page turner from Kathryn Casey. With her unique voice style, the author paints a vivid portrait of Piper Rountree...petite, beautiful, attorney and murderer? Although those closest to the family were painfully aware of Piper's irrational, eradicate behavior, only her sister Tina truly understood the darkness that had enveloped her every thought.

Using her sister's identification for plane tickets and hotel reservations, Piper flew from Texas to Virginia, where she gunned down her estranged husband in the driveway of his home, as their three children slept in their beds mere yards away. Despite the sister's best efforts to concoct an air tight alibi and dispose of evidence, it was just a matter of time before justice came calling.

Extensive research takes the reader behind the well manicured facade that had been painstakingly constructed to protect the all important image Piper cultivated. With lyrical prose, Casey skillfully traces the Jablin-Rountree story - from their early days to Piper's strange, irrational behavior, to the series of events that would lead to the destruction of an already flawed marriage. Weaving a complex narrative of a family who, lived in a beautiful home, surrounded by friends and family but lingered in the shadow of dysfunction, Casey reassembles their shattered lives in the years and months before Fred's death, intimately describing what led this petite, educated, Texas lawyer to murder her ex-husband and the father of her children.

Filled with the most complete case facts available, Die My Love offers an unparalleled look at one of the most captivating murder cases in recent years told by one of the most prolific crime writers of our time! I recommend this book to all who enjoy true crime novels, as well as, thriller and mystery lovers! I anxiously await Kathryn Casey's next novel!

Happy Reading!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

The day before Halloween 2004 was the last day on Earth for respected, well-liked college professor Fred Jablin. That morning, a neighbor discovered his body lying in a pool of blood in the driveway of Jablin's Virginia home. Police immediately turned their attentions to the victim's ex-wife, Piper, a petite, pretty Texas lawyer who had lost a bitter custody battle and would do anything to get her kids back. But Piper was in Houston, one thousand miles away, at the time of the slaying and couldn't possibly have been the killer . . . could she?

So began an investigation into one of the most bizarre cases Virginia and Texas law enforcement agencies had ever encountered: a twisted conspiracy of lies, rage, paranoia, manipulation, and savage murder that would ensnare an entire family?including two lethally close look-alike sisters?and reveal the shocking depravities possible when a dangerously disordered mind slips into madness.

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