Empty Promises

Ann Rule dissects the convoluted love affairs that all too often end in violence in this unnerving collection drawn from her personal crime files. From traditional courtships to Internet relationships, the passions that rule the heart can also fuel the destructive fires of rage, jealousy and murder. There are stalkers driven by obsession, gay lovers who learn too late that things are not as they appear, and conjugal visits in the shadow of prison walls. Ann Rule goes beyond the headlines made by these unusual stories to chronicle the downward spiral that begins when promises are broken. The title story deals with an adulterous affair that slashed the trust in a seemingly ideal marriage, the violence that ensued, and a missing-persons search that was ultimately solved with forensic science, computers, and the dedicated kindness of the victim's friends.

“The undisputed master crime writer of the Eighties and Nineties - John SaulDevastatingly accurate insight - NEW YORK TIMES”

'The undisputed master crime writer of the Eighties and Nineties' John Saul 'Devastatingly accurate insight' NEW YORK TIMES

Ann Rule, a former Seattle policewoman, has written seventeen books and more than a thousand articles on criminal investigations and the criminal antisocial personality. She can be contacted through her Web page at

Ann Rule brilliantly dissects the convoluted love affairs that all too often end in violence in this unnerving collection drawn from her personal crime files. From traditional courtships to Internet relationships, the passions that rule the heart can also fuel the destructive fires of rage, jealousy and murder. There are stalkers driven by obsession, gay lovers who learn too late that things are not as they appear, and conjugal visits in the shadow of prison walls. Ann Rule goes far beyond the headlines made by these unusual stories to chronicle the downward spiral that begins when promises are broken - a descent that may wrenchingly unfold to a bloody conclusion, or occur so rapidly that the reader wants to cry 'watch out'.The title story deals with an adulterous affair that slashed the trust in a seemingly ideal marriage, the violence that ensued, and a missing-persons search that was ultimately solved with forensic science, computers, and the dedicated kindness of the victim's friends. Powerful because they strike so close to home, the cases in EMPTY PROMISES will leave readers shaken with the realities of love gone terribly wrong.

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