Diane Fanning

(35) Gawd. Embarrassed to have read this really. Blame it on the Netflix documentary 'The Staircase' and the fact that I've lived in Durham, NC for the past 20 years and have watched this all play out on local news. The true crime genre just emphasizes something faintly horrifying and voyeuristic about us as readers. But I can't deny that at times I am strangely fascinated. This is the story of a novelist and mayoral candidate in our city who found his wife at the bottom of the staircase in show more the wee hours of the morning bloodied and ultimately dead. First responders thought the scene suspicious and the blood dried which didn't jive with the husbands story. Unbelievably many years prior he had been the last one to see a close female friend alive before she too was found at the bottom of a staircase bloodied and dead - another accident. Or was it? The body is exhumed and the medical examiner rules this case too as a homicide. So a twisted story with high court theatrics and a slick high-priced defense attorney. A family divided with most standing behind the aggrieved and potentially wronged husband who is arrested.

The writing is decidedly pedestrian and I am not sure I would have been engaged if I hadn't seen the documentary or lived contemporaneously with this case in the news. While 'The Staircase' is quite biased for the defense; Michael Peterson - this book favors the prosecution. This book brings in things that were not emphasized in the documentary that shed a bad light on the defendant. In particular and most damning for me was the fact that there was a fracture of the hyoid bone - a classic finding in strangulation; as well as the fact that autopsy suggested she was alive for hours in shock from blood loss. And really, really - all this time he was out at the pool in shorts and T-shirt in 50 degree weather. That is not what he suggested when asked initially by first responders - he said - 'I just went out to throw out the trash.' And there is something off about his personality - even in the biased defense documentary; his actions/reactions all seem a bit choreographed.

Anyway, hopefully I have gotten this bit of true crime obsession out of my system. It just seems wrong to me to be fascinated by this. just wrong. Yet - here I sit writing my review. And how many hours now have I watched/read about this case. Basta! RIP Kathleen; I am so sorry for you and your daughters/family. show less

Not once, during either of two frantic calls to Durham 9-11 did Michael Peterson mention the blood...and there was a lot of blood. During the early morning hours of December 9th, as Kathleen lay dying on the stairs, police and rescue personnel rush to the home on Cedar Street.

Connecting the complex sequence of dots that convinced a jury of his peers that Michael Peterson was indeed guilty of murder would have been the easy part, because the evidence had been painstakingly detailed during show more the five month trial. But, Diane Fanning takes the reader behind the carefully orchestrated performance in the court room and delivers the journey through the raw, unfiltered eyes of those who lived it. Detailing the crime scene, police procedure, the autopsy and the trial I fully expected, however, this book is chock-full of extras. Intimate conversations between Kathleen and her beloved sister, details concerning the exhumation and autopsy of Elizabeth Ratliff, the suspicious death of George Ratliff and much more. There's also eight pages of photographs that give the reader a glimpse of the Peterson's before, during and the aftermath is punctuated with a single photo of Kathleen's headstone.

During the trial, the defense displayed an air of arrogance both in and outside the courtroom. And much to the chagrin of Peterson's few remaining supporters, the author pulls no punches describing the showboating behavior of David Rudolf and Thomas Maher, the mysterious discovery of the missing blowpoke and the effect these antics had on the grieving families.

Superb, unflinching, emotionally gritty at times, Written in Blood is a stinging, in your face novel that paints a haunting picture of the madness that often lurks behind the gates of the nicest communities or in the home right next door. And reminds us all that the monster hiding in the shadows is easily recognized in hindsight...but, that's too late!

Although the last chapter of this story will be written by the North Carolina Supreme Court, Written In Blood is as complete a history of the Peterson saga as could possibly be written. If you enjoy reading a true crime novel that goes behind the scenes and beyond the glare of the cameras, Written In Blood does not disappoint!

Happy Reading!
-RJ show less

3.5 stars.

After watching The Staircase miniseries 3 times (over time! With different people!), I wanted to do a deeper dive. The Staircase is one sided beyond belief, and there are blatant facts they have zero excuse for leaving out that look very, very bad for Peterson.

It was very fast paced and as enjoyable as a book like this really can be. I’m glad I read it. But, like other reviewers, I think that the author did too much editorializing that only weakened the prosecution’s side of show more the case.

I do appreciate that this author painted a more realistic and compassionate picture of Kathleen’s family members than the show. On the other hand, the book portrayed Margaret and Martha as victims rather than simply insulting them for standing by the man they see as their father.

As for Todd and Clayton, well, I’ll keep my unpleasant opinions about them to myself. show less

This book alternates between reams of unnecessary facts (the history of areas to which the family moved) and a biased, anti-Julie commentary. There were also times when I wondered how the author could "know" certain things, for example, if Julie and Beau Schenecker were alone in the car when she shot him, how could anyone know what Beau was thinking and feeling just before his mother killed him?

The impression I was left with - which started even from the sub title of the book - was that of show more a narrative based on a judgement already made: that Julie is a Bad Person. But, despite the pro-Parker (husband) slant to the book, one is left with certain questions, such as, knowing how damaged and unstable his wife was, how could Colonel Schenecker have left his children in her care?

Ultimately, this is a shallow and subjective account of a terrible tragedy. Instead of wasting space on recounting unnecessary detail and an overt judgement of Julie Schenecker as "a cold blooded killer of her children", a more interesting perspective would have been a deeper exploration of the clearly damaged psyche of a lost soul.

The ancient Greek tragedy Medea written by Euripides is a far more compassionate and deep portrayal of why a woman would be driven to kill her children. show less