Bitter Harvest by Ann Rule

Ann Rule is one of the best true crime writers of this generation. No one else does so much detailed research about murderers (serial or otherwise). I have read all of her books and eagerly anticipated the publication of Bitter Harvest since it dealt with a local crime. Bitter Harvest takes place in Prairie Village, Kansas and involves Dr. Debora Green, her husband Mike and their three children. Debora Green was truly one of those people who “had it all”, intelligence, money and three lovely children. Rule takes us step by step from Debora’s and Mike’s wedding to the night of October 23, 1995 when two of their children died at home in a house fire. The book examines Debora’s mental state through the years of her marriage and the birth of her children. It basically follows her descent into madness. I won’t even go into the poisoning of her husband with castor beans. The book closes with her trial for the murders of her two young children. I found this book fascinating because it was obviously researched down to the slightest detail and detailed a crime that was so horrific as to be unbelievable. If you want to read Ann Rule, or just a good true crime book, start with this one.