Murder Times Three

by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 3/21/2005

The Scott Peterson case has been an excellent subject for true crime—in the last two months three new books have placed high on the nonfiction charts, all from ReganBooks (there are numerous others). Still in the #1 slot, for a second week, is Anne Bird's Blood Brother: 33 Reasons My Brother Scott Peterson Is Guilty. An inside account by a family member, the book has 325,000 copies in print after two trips to press. This week, A Deadly Game: The Untold Story of the Scott Peterson Investigation by Catherine Crier goes on at #3, with 200,000 copies in print after two trips to press. This one is by a legal journalist who's been tracking the case from the beginning for her Court TV program, Catherine Crier Live, and she claims to have testimony never admitted in trial. The first of the inside accounts, Witness: For the Prosecution of Scott Peterson by Amber Frey, landed in the #1 spot on January 17 and so far has had a five-week run on the charts; it has a total of 385,000 copies after four printings. After many highly publicized murder trials comes a book offering an inside view by a juror, so true-crime fans can only wait and hope.