MURDER USA: True Crime, Real Killers

by Ken Rossignol

WARNING! DEPRAVED HEARTS, BEASTLY EVIL These are their stories.
These stories of murders and of a few cases of attempted murder over sixty years include vivid descriptions of ghastly crimes with explicit photos not intended for the faint of heart or children. Parental Guidance is mandatory. Many of these murders went unsolved for long periods, some still have not been solved, and justice obtained for the victims. One case of a killer allowed out of a mental health facility after he killed two people on the East Coast allowed him to rape and murder 3,000 miles away on the West Coast. Another serial killer wiped out an entire family in one night of terror and is believed to have killed dozens more. A task force that included seventy-five FBI agents and a dozen county and state police from two states found the killer who set the gold standard for serial killers. The story of a rare case of an Amish Murder-Suicide is included along with that of a Navy Ensign who killed his estranged wife’s lover with a crossbow and then carved him into pieces with a saw.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

394 pages, Paperback

Published May 24, 2019

About the author

Writing in true crime, maritime history and cruise thrillers occupies most of Ken Rossignol's time.
As a maritime history speaker, Rossignol enjoys meeting audiences around the world and discussing the original news stories of the sinking of the RMS Titanic and other maritime history topics.
In recent years Rossignol has appeared on dozens of ships in the Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean and Caribbean discussing the stories of the heroes of the Titanic, the explorations of the new world voyagers, the Bermuda Triangle and the history of piracy.
Rossignol appears at the Titanic Museum Attractions in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and Branson, Missouri for book signings and to talk with visitors about the RMS Titanic.
He has appeared on Good Morning America, ABC 20/20; ABC World News Tonight and in a 2012 production of Discovery Channel Investigation Motives & Murders Series, A Body in the Bay.
News coverage of Rossignol’s landmark civil rights case, represented by Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz re: United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Rossignol v Voorhaar, 2003, included articles in most major news outlets, as well as a column by syndicated columnists James J. Kilpatrick.
The story of the St. Mary's Today newspaper is now available in ebook and paperback: The Story of THE RAG! The book includes nearly 200 editorial cartoons that appeared over the years.
A strong highway safety advocate, Rossignol also publishes the DWIHitParade.com which focuses on impaired driving and the monthly publication, The Chesapeake.
News coverage of Rossignol’s DWIHitParade won an Emmy in 2012 for WJLA reporter Jay Korff and coverage of the St. Mary’s Today newspaper by WUSA reporter Bruce Leshan was awarded an Emmy in 2000.

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad read at all

Not a bad read at all. Very informative with some interesting stories to say the least. It may not really be like reading a story, more like just information, but still pretty good. Stuff like that peaks my interest.

[Bettye McKee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gave it up at 65%

This book consists of what appears to be newspaper columns written by Mr. Rossignol over a period of time. The main thrust seems to be the corruption in government and law enforcement in the area of Maryland where he lives.

I read to 65% at which point I had already noted 126 errors.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (11/14/2019)! 🎁

[Lois Welsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about real crimes.

Some cases are solved and some are unsolved.

[Donna Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

Very hard to follow but I stayed with it. Some stories were easier to follow then others. Most of it was due to crooked cops.

[Robin Dix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of bland writing. I felt like falling asleep several times while reading. Some was interesting but some had to be skipped over.

[Tarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contrary to many other reviews on this book, I will state that the book seems well-edited. (And this comes from a grammar nerd, people!)

If you're a history buff who likes researching and comparing murder cases, this might be for you.

What a plethora of stories is included in this volume! My goodness, it's quite a bit of stories that range from horrid to bizarre -- and everything else that a murder case could be described as.

What is particularly interesting is that the writer, during his reporting career, has his own personal (indirect) connection to each of the stories, as he covered each one himself. I say, that's a lot of murder and crime for one man to know about in such detail! He lays all the facts bare.

Minimum age to read: 18 and up, for the sometimes graphic scenes. It also contains cursing.

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing about fictional murders is easier than writing about true murders. I wish these were fictional. But, …. I pretended they were fictional and enjoyed reading them. A Grand Jury would indict a ham sandwich as happened in the first story The Murder of Sara Sapp. From there we go to the idea that when police fail to protect citizens in their homes, then the lives of burglars are going to get quickly shortened. This goes on for another 30+ chapters which show good and bad police work. I enjoyed the stories and recommend the book.

[Rose Mute · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of true crimes.

I'm intrigued by true crime, and the procedures that follow in carrying out investigations, and eventuality of them. This was an good read. The ineptitude of law enforcement and legal system made me frustrated. It is a sad state of affairs when a guilty person goes free. This I felt occurred in most of the cases, so it did begin to feel repetitive at the end. Overall, it satiated my need to read true crime stories for awhile.

[Linda Buzard-Moffitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

HORRIFYING Stories

Oh my! If you are wanting some nightmare inducing TRUE crime stories then here's a Gold Mine of them for you. I know this kind of stuff really happens but some of the excuses the criminals gave were ridiculously stupid. Quite a few of these cases would also qualify for a Stupid Criminal Book. Great Job Mr. Rossignol.

[Deb Florea · Rating 4 out of 5]

True Crime is often scarier than fiction.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book includes a lot of interesting information, but the presentation (organization, writing, editing, etc.) leaves a lot to be desired. Despite the title, all cases are from Maryland.

[Tony Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chapter stories that interested me the most are: Chapter 1: the murder of Sarah Sapp; Chapter 3 the frying pan murders; Chapter 24: Jackson family murders; Chapter 27: the bawdy house murders; Chapter 28: Amish/murder/suicide

Warning: This book contains graphic adult content, violence, or expletive language &/or uncensored sexually explicit material which is only suitable for mature readers. It may be offensive or have potential adverse psychological effects on the reader.

I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review. Only an honest one.

A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very well written true crime thriller book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great true crime thriller movie, PP presentation, or better yet a mini TV series or even a documentary (True Crime; American Crime Story). There are no references, works cited, or endnotes so I will only rate it at 3/5 stars.

Thank you for the free author; The Privateer Clause Publishing/The Chesapeake Today LLC.; Amazon Digital Services LLC.; book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)

[Martha Blodgett · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish there was an option for zero stars

The title was so misleading. I thought this would be a book of how elusive killers were caught and punished. This book was just an excuse to point out how inept and corrupt the police and other agencies were in the Authors county of Maryland and if it hadn’t been for him and his relentless ridicule of these officials in his newspaper, none of these crimes would have been solved. It really had nothing to do with any killers. We learned more about the law enforcers, prosecutors and corrupt judges than we ever learned about the killers. This book was more about embarrassing and exposing the corruption of the people whose job was to get these killers behind bars. If you enjoy reading police reports then you’ll love this book since it was just about as dull.

[Alayne · Rating 1 out of 5]

First of all I did not finish this book. It was so badly written that I would have given it half a star if I could. The stories I did read seemed to be more about the author than the crimes and he was terribly inarticulate and could not form a decent paragraph much less write a story. Not impressed.

[Paula Corregan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book!

While I enjoyed reading this book for the most part, I spotted several typographical errors as well as sentences that weren't constructed properly. However, I still recommend this book to others interested in true crime.

[Lisa Stamets · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unreadable

I could not finish this book. Writing / editing was terrible. Timelines were all over the place and the author's opinions of both perpetrators and victims were uncalled for in a fact based true crime story.

[Joseph Gallagher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting topic but I couldn't get fully into the swing of the author'approach or the way it was written.
Some interesting facts but very disparaging of the way things were handled by Law Enforcement

[Gabriel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full of typos. The author's own opinions about various things show through. Books like this should be written using neutral tone and only stating facts.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay. This book is a hot mess, and I think that's being generous. The only reason I did not DNF this book was because of the entertainment value.

No, murder is not entertaining. But this author's writing is. It's entertaining because it's so BAD!

Most of the chapters in this book are comprised of articles written for the author's tabloid "newspaper," called St. Mary's Today (which is almost impossible to find online). It looks very similar to things like The National Enquirer and World News, or whatever those other tabloids are called.

The worst thing about this book is the editing and grammatical mistakes. There are sentences that don't make sense, wrong verb tenses, and so on. In addition, there is scarcely a story in there that he doesn't editorialize with his extreme bigoted opinion. He hates the police, he hates the sheriff's department, he hates the criminals. Does he like anyone? I'm not sure.

Here's an example of the bad editing, a dangling participle, I believe. "A conversion van then drove up to the store, which had driven into the parking lot from the direction of Clements on Rt. 234." I'm pretty sure that the store did not drive into the parking lot.


Here's one sentence that makes no sense: "But the Maryland authorities who allowed him out of a mental hospital and pronounced him sane, raped and murder Devine the same year he was released."

And another: "The gun which was discovered nearby the store, if indeed it had been carried by Bowles as part of his break-in to the store, giving anyone in the store who saw an armed man breaking into the front door, sufficient cause to fire."

There was one place where he described "woods and grass surrounding the lake" as "moving parts."

Some of the stories are truly, in and of themselves, horrific tales of violence. It's the way they are presented that just doesn't satisfy. Some, however, are truly hilarious, because both the people committing the crime, as well as the victims, are both terrible (and perhaps mentally challenged) human beings.

There are enough really good true crime books out there to not have to waste your time on this. I had another of this author's books in my list, somewhere, and have subsequently deleted it.

[Steven M. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very cliche! Conservatives fine , liberals elite.

Dislike this book very much. If I need a lesson about my liberal views I would not be taking from a old white extremist right man talking about socialists and blah blah. Matter of matter socialism doesn’t take from the people instead They get from our own taxes , the things are better retribution of the taxes instead of give more taxes cuts to the wealthy 2% give more to social programs , it’s our taxes , people taxes we’re asking for hold outs as wealthy people lives on socialism not paying taxes as corporations too. Capitalism socialism!

[Susan Kasza · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t make it past the third chapter. It’s poorly organized, jumping all over the place and expecting the reader to know characters without introducing them. I knew it wasn’t going to be PC, but even so, I quickly tired of the judgmental and derogatory terms. Apparently everyone is a dirtbag or a slime ball. Finally, this book is in sore need of an editor to catch all the confusing, poorly-punctuated sentences.

[Jacque' Spellman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Should have been called crime Maryland

You would think a book called crime USA would include more than one state. I love true crime books, but I prefer authors who do not shove their prejudices in your face. Calling others white trash or diet bags is unprofessional. I know the author is a reporter, it was brought up frequently. Unfortunately the stories read like a newspaper story.

[RN · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Reader's Digest version of these murder stories

There's a lot of details left out of the motives and solving of these crimes. I suppose it would be perfect for someone who has a hard time of concentrating on these stories, but I find it frustrating wanting "the rest of the story. I pray for the victims and/or families. Innocent children should not be lured into any of these situations. They need and deserve protection

[Joanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected

This was more of a bashing of the investigative procedures of police agencies than a true crime collection. The stories are disjointed, and contain many grammatical errors which make them difficult to read. I couldn't finish the book, and am glad I got it for free and didn't waste money buying it.

[Jesse · Rating 1 out of 5]

Made it 33% of the way through before I had to quit it. Awful writing, jumbled together chapters, and the author keeps jumping back and forth between cases like we are supposed to remember all of them simultaneously? And don’t even get me started on the error rate. I wish I could give it zero stars.

[Lindy_lu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing read

Very disappointed with this book, really thought it would be a lot better than it was. Very surprised at how poor the writing was considering the author is a journalist, some parts didn’t flow and then seemed to be a lot of unnecessary information. Would not recommend as a book to read.

[James Bender · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads like a local police blotter from a town that you don't live in

Bad book, and writing, bad pictures. If you want to hear your uncle read a newspaper article to you, do that instead of spending money and reading this book that is half as interesting.

[Timothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the crimes are interesting but the poor organization of the stories and the terrible editing make it hard to read. Also, the frequent, obvious editorializing about the area's law enforcement is annoying.

[Lici · Rating 1 out of 5]

Desperately in need of editing! It's so poorly organized that it is difficult to follow along. There might be some interesting information in it, but I kept getting so lost in its muddled rambling that I can not recall what I even read.