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Rating: 
Summary: Interesting.........
Review: 'A Rose For Her Grave' is the first and amongst the best of Ann Rule's "crime files" series. Each book contains a major true crime story, well-researched in the Ann Rule fashion, followed by summaries of lesser chronicled crime stories. I personally prefer Ann Rule's other books which cover only one story but in enormous detail. Some of these classics (eg, 'The Stranger Beside Me') make for truly chilling yet enjoyable reading.The main story in this book is also title 'A Rose For Her Grave'. It is about a man who murders his wifes to collect on insurance money. Most surprisingly, the man is not some dream hunk ... just some sub-standard car mechanic. And his personality is a bit bizarre, frightening. Yet women seem drawn to him. Fascinating reading. The other stories in the book are grisly affairs, sort of "quick hit" murders on unsuspecting victims; the victims did not know their killers. Compulsive yet uncomfortable reading. Bottom line: fine true crime reading enjoyment. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A Spell-Binding Story!
Review: Ann Rule as always captivates the mind and the soul with this haunting book. I think this one is one of her best written books. The story "A Rose for Her Grave" is a real page-turner and it is written and investigated with every detail retraced and no stone unturned so it seems. All the characters are very interesting people and it always seems as if in every page you are actually walking into the story, walking in the footsteps of the characters and wanting to reach out somehow. The other true cases are also well written stories.
Rating:
Summary: Another great read
Review: Ann Rule is the best. I have read several of her books and she is always right on. My husband and I both wanted to read this book so we read it together taking turns reading aloud. We were forever stopping to discuss it. We couldn't believe some of the things Randy Roth would do and say.
Rating:
Summary: "Innocence pitted against pure evil"
Review: Ann Rule's Crime Files are a good read while you're spending quality time with your relatives during the Holidays, because no matter how aggravated you get over your brother's fart jokes at the dinner table, this author's families will make your folks seem like Ozzie and Harriet Nelson.
The author, a former policewoman writes about the victims with a compassion that often ventures over the border into cliché. In her title, novel-length story, an American Bluebeard discards his innocent, loving, beautiful wives on hikes or raft trips. Only one of them is smart enough to divorce him after an outing on the Skykomish River, punctuated (or 'punctured' one might say) by her new husband's attempts to paddle their raft over sharp boulders.
Usually the women in Ann Rule's stories are murdered before or because they try to flee an abusive relationship, but in "A Rose for her Grave" at least wife #3 is smart enough and lucky enough to survive Randy Roth, who goes on to drown wife #4.
The other stories in 'Crime Files 1' are shorts, which I think is actually the author's forté as they are not as repetitious as her novel-length cases. True-crime aficionados will appreciate Ann Rule's meticulous attention to detail, and her extensive contacts with law enforcement officials which brought these stories into print.
"Campbell's Revenge"--An indictment of the Washington state prison bureaucracy that allowed a rapist to be entered into a work release program only a few miles from a victim who testified against him. Two women and a child suffer needless, horrible deaths.
"The Hit Person: Equal Opportunity Murder"--A rarity in the Ann Rule canon. A wife separates from her husband and another woman is hired to take her out. Usually the ex- does the dirty work, but not here.
"The Runaway"--Thirteen-year-old Janna Hanson disappears the day after Christmas and authorities insist that she has run away.
"The Rehabilitation of a Monster"--Ann Rule presents a case that supports her belief in the death penalty: "When a killer's first crimes are marked by such cruelty that the mass of men must turn away from the details, I don't believe he deserves a second chance." A man kills and dismembers a woman, goes to jail for his crime, is released and kills again. "It was clear to those who questioned Marquette that sadistic and murderous sex was much more exciting to him than consensual intercourse."
"Molly's Murder"--Molly McClure is murdered by someone the police believe she knew and trusted. Forensics plays a vital role in solving this crime. This rape/murder took place in the early eighties and it makes you want to fast-forward a decade to the acceptance and use of industrial-strength DNA testing
Rating:
Summary: A tour de force!
Review: I am an avid fan of Ann Rule who awaits her every new book release with baited breath. This book did not disappoint me. It tells the story of an avaricious misogynist whose complete lack of empathy for others left two innocent women dead, two children orphaned, and countless others emotionally scarred for life, all because they had the supreme misfortune of crossing the path of a man who wished to use, abuse, and discard them like worthless garbage. When Randy Roth wanted something, it mattered not one iota to him that others would be hurt in the process of him acquiring it. The rights of others never factored with his reasoning, and underneath his charming exterior lay the heart of a man so cruel, so malicious, and so selfish that he couldn't even bring himself to weep "crocodile tears" after the deaths of his wives. This story of a modern day, Seattle based "Bluebeard" is powerfully brought to life thanks to Ms Rule's talent at exposing the details of the deviant mind.
Rating:
Summary: enthralling
Review: I haven't even finished this book, but already I can say it is one of the best of the TRUE CRIME's I have read, and there have been many. The title story about Randy Roth and the poor women he victimized is sickening but completely engrossing reading. I highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Very Interesting Stories-Quite Intense
Review: In A Rose for her Grave, the main story of the book, tells us the story of Randy Roth and how he married and used women for profits. His many wives would die after he took out a life insurance policy on each one of them, and he would collect benefits on each one. The detectives began to suspect foul play and when they investigated, put Randy on trial for the murders of his many wives. He was also a very abusive father in the story, treating his own son, and stepsons very cruelly. It was unreal what this man did and got by with for too long until he was caught. The other stories are murder mysteries. They tell of young girls in their teens and early twenties who had been brutally murdered. I would recommend this book if you enjoy true-crime books. It was very well-written as most of Ann Rule's books are.
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Summary: Fantastic Read
Review: This book was totally addictive reading, I have read hundreds of true crime books and this is in the top ten of mine, I'm definitely an Ann Rule fan now, Ann describes the characters very well without droning on like some true crime writers, from the detectives involved to the victims relatives, you feel you kind of know them a bit, and really feel empathy for the victims and their rellies, aswell as wanting to say "well done!" when the detectives finally nab the weirdo.
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