Product Description

Clinging miniskirts, a wild mane of black hair, and cherry red lips.... For a forty-two-year old grandmother, Stella Maudine Nickell was hot stuff....Stella Nickell's small-time world was one of big-time dreams. In 1986, her biggest one came true when her husband died during a seizure, making her the beneficiary of a $175,000-plus insurance payoff -until authorities discovered Bruce Nickell's headache capsules had been laced with cyanide. In an attempt to cover her tracks, Stella did the unconscionable. She saw to it that a stranger would also become a "random casualty" of cyanide-tainted painkillers. But Stella's cunning plan came undone when her daughter Cynthia notified federal agents. And troubling questions lingered like the scent of bitter almonds....What would turn a gregarious barfly like Stella into a cold-hearted killer overnight? Why would Cynthia, a mirror image of her mother, turn on her own flesh and blood? Did Cynthia reveal everything she knew about the crimes? The stunning answers would unfold in a case that sparked a national uproar, dug deep into a troubled family history, and exposed an American mother for the pretty poison she was.AUTHORBIO: GREGG OLSEN has been a journalist and investigative author for more than twenty years. He is the recipient of numerous writing, editing, and photojournalism awards, including citations of excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists (Sigma Delta Chi), the International Association of Business Communicators, Washington Press Association, Society of Technical Communication, and the Public Relations Society of America.A resident of Washington state, Olsen has been a guest on dozens of national and local television shows, including educational programs for the History Channel, Learning Channel, and the Discovery Channel. Olsen also appeared several times on CBS's 48 Hours, MSNBC's Special Edition, Entertainment Tonight, Sally Jesse Raphael, Inside Edition, and Extra. He has been featured in USA Today, Salon Magazine, Seattle Times, and the New York Post.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1125974 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 576 pages

Review

Ingram
An account of the crimes of Stella Nickell and her look-alike daughter describes how Nickell--with the possible help of her daughter--killed her husband in order to collect on an insurance policy.

About the Author
GREGG OLSEN has been a journalist and investigative author for more than twenty years. He is the recipient of numerous writing, editing, and photojournalism awards, including citations of excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists (Sigma Delta Chi), the International Association of Business Communicators, Washington Press Association, Society of Technical Communication, and the Public Relations Society of America.

A resident of Washington state, Olsen has been a guest on dozens of national and local television shows, including educational programs for the History Channel, Learning Channel, and the Discovery Channel. Olsen also appeared several times on CBS's 48 Hours, MSNBC's Special Edition, Entertainment Tonight, Sally Jesse Raphael, Inside Edition, and Extra. He has been featured in USA Today, Salon Magazine, Seattle Times, and the New York Post.

Customer Reviews

What a great story, but poorly told.
I bought this book because everything I had ever heard about the case of the Seattle cyanide murders fascinated me, and I had seen the author interviewed regarding the case-- he seemed to know his stuff. He certainly does, delving deep into the case and the people involved and often dragging you along, page after page, with the suspense.

Unfortunately, I was distracted-- distracted enough not to finish the book-- by what seems to be a very sloppy writing style and perhaps poor editing. A few glaring errors, such as referring to someone by the wrong name, caused me to go flipping through the previous pages to see if I had made a mistake while reading. There are also smaller things like very poor and rambling sentence structures which confuse the reader and detract from the effect of the overall book. Who wants to get lost in the midst of jumbled names and commas when there is an interesting murder story going on? Most annoying to me is the melodramatic, "this-is-a-true-crime-book" method of referring to someone by what they do or what they look like instead of their name, CONSTANTLY, throughout the book. (I can't think of any actual quotes but for example, sentences like the following: "Max was called to the stand. The 50 year old truck driver stood and walked forward." After the tenth time of reading something like this it begins to sound tired and amateurish, and in the midst of a large cast of characters you often lose track of who is the 50 year old truck driver and who is the 60 year old road worker. Annoying.

Could have definitely benefited from some clean and professional proofreading!

Great Book Great Writer
Gregg Olsen was great as usual. This book was very interesting and well researched as well. I only read true crime books and Mr. Olsen is one of my favorites. This book captivated me from beginning to end. Mr Olsen brings you the personal view as well as the professoinal view as well.

one perfect research
Being a vivid true-crime reader I must say that this book really stands out from other true-crime books I have read over the years, the research is outstanding and it must have been a very difficult task for Gregg to get all that information from both families involved in this sad human tregedy. Stella Nickells thought that she could get away with murder for insurance money but the long hand of the law finally caught up with her, I have no doubth in my mind that she is guilty for both murders and she got what she deserved. It made me feel sorry for the third parties involved in this human trededy, thankfully few people who are living on the verge of poverty end up taking these crazy measures to make a quick buck, its no dishonour to be poor. A truly remakable book, a must read