True crime author Ann Rule dead at 83
Source: CBS News
True crime writer Ann Rule, who wrote more than 30 books, including a profile of her former co-worker, serial killer Ted Bundy, has died at 83.
Rule died at Highline Medical Center, south of Seattle, at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, said Scott Thompson, a spokesman for CHI Franciscan Health. Rule's daughter, Leslie Rule, said on Facebook that her mother had many health issues, including congestive heart failure.
"My mom died peacefully last night," Leslie Rule wrote. "She got to see all of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren."
Ann Rule's first book, "The Stranger Beside Me," profiled Bundy, whom she got to know while sharing the late shift at a Seattle suicide hotline. She has said she had a contract to write about an unknown serial killer before her co-worker was charged with the crimes.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/true-crime-author-ann-rule-dead-at-83/
Sorry to see her pass,she wrote true crime non fiction better than any I've ever read.RIP Ms.Rule.
Nay
(12,051 posts)msanthrope
(37,549 posts)TexasBushwhacker
(20,232 posts)I'm a big true crime fan and Ann's books are some if my favorites. What set her apart was that instead of focusing on the gory details of the crimes, she focused on how the police caught the killer. She would never publish a book on a case until it was fully adjudicated, so that she could include everything about the trial. She was a former cop, so her books had an authenticity that some other true crime books lack.
I know she's been in poor health for a while and a victim of elder abuse and theft by her sons. RIP Ann. You were the best.
KT2000
(20,601 posts)but it was nearly impossible to put her books down. It was also nearly impossible to fall asleep after reading one.
RIP Ms Rule.
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)I've read several of her books, including the one about Bundy.
RIP and Godspeed, Ms. Rule.
LoisB
(7,249 posts)Ms Rule.
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)she was apparently a friendy of Lying Lars Larson, a right wing hate radio jock in the Northwest, and appeared on his show periodically. That soured me on her and her works.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)be missed!
montana_hazeleyes
(3,424 posts)and she was a great writer.
I do believe she may have saved lives after her Bundy book came out because it showed not to trust someone just because he doesn't fit the stereotype of "the bad guy."
And to be more aware of your surroundings and other good advice came from her books.
matt819
(10,749 posts)She was the best true crime writer. And she was kind enough to respond to an mail I wrote after reading one of the more recent books.
shraby
(21,946 posts)most of her books too. She had a gift and put it to good use. Sad to see her go.
niyad
(113,771 posts)marym625
(17,997 posts)I had no idea she was that old. I always think of her as my age.
Absolutely one of my favorite authors
NJCher
(35,804 posts)It concerns the book The Stranger Beside Me.
Several decades ago, I went to an annual business meeting in L.A. I checked into the hotel a few days before the conference started.
Earlier I had arranged to meet a business associate with whom I had a phone relationship, but never met. I was very friendly with this person, and we had a terrific fun in our conversations. We were excited about meeting each other, but in truth, we were strangers. This was before the days of iPhones and sending pictures instantly.
I was to meet this person whose name was Bill by the pool. Since I was early, I settled in with my book on a pool lounger. The book was
A Stranger Beside Me. I waited and waited. I never saw anyone of his description arrive. I went to my hotel room to check messages. Nothing.
I called Bill and left a message that I was waiting for him and that he could recognize me because I was reading a book, black cover, beside the pool. I told him the name of the book.
Sometime later, a person who had been sunbathing next to me the entire time touched me on the shoulder. He showed me the cover of the book he was reading. It was "A Stranger Beside Me." I laughed.
Then he said, "But I'm Bill."
As it turns out, Bill had arrived earlier than I. When he wondered where I was, he went to his room and got the message that I was sitting at the pool reading A Stranger Beside Me.
So the "stranger" I was meeting was, in fact, sitting right next to me the whole time, reading the same book I was reading.
Cher
MarianJack
(10,237 posts)She told the story, didn't exploit or sensationalize, and made the people in her books very human. Farewell, Ann!
peace!