Michael Benson's True Crime Bundle: Watch Mommy Die, A Killer's Touch & A Knife In The Heart

It’s a chilling reality that homicide investigators know all too well: the last face most murder victims see is not that of a stranger, but of someone familiar. Whether only an acquaintance or a trusted intimate, such killers share a common trait that triggers the downward spiral toward death for someone close to them: they are masters at hiding who they really are. Their clever masks let them appear safe, kind, and truthful. They are anything but—and almost no one can detect the murderous impulses buried deep in their psyches.

These doomed relationships are the focus of Ann Rule’s sixteenth all-new Crime Files collection. In these shattering inside views of both headlined and little-known homicides, Rule speaks for vulnerable victims who relied on the wrong people. She begins with two startling novella-length investigations.

Jeanne Dominico's fiancé found her body on her kitchen floor. More than forty stab wounds and blows to her head with a blunt instrument had cut her life short. What monster had struck in the heart of a peaceful New England town?

Jeanne was a hard-working single mother. Nicole, her fourteen-year-old daughter was on the honor-roll and head over heels in love--with an eighteen-year-old man she'd known only through the Internet. Once the lovers met in person, Jeanne's motherly instincts sensed trouble. If only she'd known that the life in danger was her own.

With a history of psychological trouble and family misfortune, Billy Sullivan's obsessive and controlling power over Nicole contributed to the brutal slaying of her mother. But it was Nicole's stunning confession and guilty plea that led to Billy's sensational trial, where a sordid tale of love, loss, betrayal and murder finally took a cold-blooded killer offline--and on line for justice.

"Phelps is a first-rate investigator." --Dr. Michael M. Baden

A loving father and his new wife set out to pick up his kids for a scheduled weekend visit--but never suspected they were walking into a death trap.

A handwritten note instructed Alan and Terra Bates to enter the back door of his ex-wife's Alabama home. A day later their charred bodies were found hundreds of miles away, wrapped in blankets, in a burned-out car's trunk on a desolate Georgia road.

At Jessica McCord's house, law enforcement found windows covered in blankets, a cache of weapons and ammunition, carpets torn up, new tile on the floors--a couch gone. Then they learned about the nasty divorce and bitter custody battle that had landed Jessica in jail. Upon release, Jessica swore, "Somebody is going to pay." With her new police-officer husband, Jessica became the prime suspect in this brutal double murder. . .

"M. William Phelps' true tales of murderers and mayhem are scary-as-hell thrill rides." --Douglas Clegg

"One of our most engaging crime journalists." --Katherine Ramsland

"One of America's finest true-crime writers." --Vincent Bugliosi

Mary Jean Pearle and John Battaglia's marriage seemed picture perfect from the outside. With their two young daughters, Faith and Liberty, they made their home in a wealthy Dallas suburb. John was handsome, charming, and successful--but behind his mask of normality lay a vicious, violent abuser who'd brutally beaten his first wife--and who made Mary Jean the new target of his irrational rages. After nine hellish years, she divorced Battaglia.

On Christmas Day, 1999, during a court-ordered family visit, he attacked her in front of their daughters. For the next two years, he threatened, harassed and stalked her. Mary Jean feared for her life, but not for the lives of the children, with whom Battaglia was never anything less than caring, loving, and gentle.

But in spring, 2001, when Faith and Liberty were visiting their father, Mary Jean received a message to call her daughters. Helpless, horrified, she heard her older daughter's pleading cries. Then came the sound of gunshots--followed by silence. What evil impulses had driven a seemingly devoted father the ultimate act of violence and betrayal. . .and how would justice be served?