TRUE CRIME
by William Swanson
" [Five] decades ago the Carol Thompson murder, a horrifying crime akin to the Marilyn Sheppard case in Cleveland, rocked the Midwest. In Dial M, the gripping replay of this American tragedy is only a bloody prelude to the remarkable lives that Thompson's children would live.... I have never read a book that dealt so expertly and dramatically with the private lives of those who survive incomprehensible tragedy. I highly recommend it!"
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Ann Rule, author of Green River, Running Red and The Stranger Beside Me
"Engrossing, emotionally compelling.... An unlikely tale of resilience and redemption, told in sensitive, straightforward fashion."
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Entertainment Weekly ("A")
​"The assassination-style murder of St. Paul police officer James Sackett in 1970, at a time when racial unrest had put much of America on edge, stunned the city and touched off an investigation that would last for thirty-five years before the killers were convicted in a court of law. Veteran Twin Cities writer William Swanson offers a nuanced, richly textured account of the case that moves like a taut thriller, but with a fascinating cast of real characters that includes cops, criminals, grieving family members, and more than a few conflicted souls. A wonderful read."
Larry Millett, author of Murder Has a Public Face: Crime and Punishment in the Speed Graphic Era
"In Stolen from the Garden, William Swanson artfully combines the wonderful writing of an authentic prose stylist with the shoe-leather grit of an investigative reporter. With his brilliant telling of the infamous Piper kidnapping, Swanson continues to reign as the maestro of mayhem in the supposedly peaceful Midwest."
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Neal Karlen, author of Augie's Secrets: The Minneapolis Mob and the King of the Hennepin Strip