Kiss of Death (True Cases of Fatal Attraction)

Obsession, jealousy, lust, revenge . . .

There is nothing more dangerous than a passion that curdles and spills into murder. Love, when it goes wrong and spirals into violence, leads to the most chilling and tragic consequences. Death at the hands of a partner or ex-partner is the most common form of murder for women, far outnumbering the risk of death from a stranger.

Obsessional sexual desire is the common thread through the stories in this book, tragic examples of how death can come at the hands of a once trusted and loved partner.

There is the story of talented US landscape artist Jill Cahill, whose husband was not content with battering his wife to a pulp but went back to finish the job while she lay in her hospital bed. There is the case of Martha Freeman from Tennessee, who hid her lover in her wardrobe, and then teamed up with him to murder her husband. There is the wife whose body was found in the trunk of her own car, and whose husband had framed his girlfriend for the crime, hoping to get rid of two women from his life.

UK student John Tanner served a 12-year sentence for the murder of his girlfriend, and is now back behind bars for another attack, on another partner. British soldier Emile Cilliers tried to murder his wife by cutting the cords of her parachute; however, while he may not have succeeded, Belgian teacher and amateur skydiver Els Clotterman did when she cut her love rival’s cords five years earlier.

These, and many others, are the stories of fatal attraction that dominate the pages of this book.