Crime

Not my typical genre, better than some true crimes I have read. I think I liked how much effort the author gave to each person background, but some of it was too much on information that didn't seem important to the current crime. In the end I was more invested i the Stackhouse family tragedies and their reactions to it. It just made it more difficult to follow the murder and how they were all connected. This is a sad series of events. ( )

Practice to Deceive by Ann Rule is a 2013 Gallery Books publication.

This is another book that has been on my TBR list for ages. I remember grabbing this one without researching it because it was a true crime story written by Ann Rule. Why question it?

Well, I’m going to be totally honest- after I saw so many anemic reviews for this one, it scared me off, and I decided to put it on a back burner for a while.

Sadly, after languishing on my Kindle for at least eight years, the reviews haven’t improved all that much. Still, this was a case I was unfamiliar with, so I decided to go ahead and give the book a chance before I scratched it off my list.

This is most certainly an odd story. Russel Douglas had made plans with his ex-wife, Brenna, on Christmas day, but never showed up. His body was found the next day in his SUV. Initially, the thought was that he might have committed suicide, but that turned out not to be the case.

It took investigators years to build a case against Brenna’s friend Peggy and her former lover, Jim Huden. The book begins with the discovery of Russel’s body, then proceeds to take us through the long years it took to make a case against the suspects.

The thing about this case, in my opinion, is that it doesn’t seem to translate into a very compelling drama on paper. It might have seemed more interesting on 'Dateline' or '48 hours', or something, but those shows typically only run for one or two hours, with ads.

A full book on the case, which was, for all intents and purposes, built around finding the murder weapon – which was an incredible stroke of luck.

It appears there just wasn’t enough here to create a full book, so we have lots of filler about Peggy’s half-siblings, and the tragic death of their mother, which didn’t really didn't have a direct bearing on this case.


The execution is not there either. I got lost or just plain bored a few times as the case felt too drawn out, with the introduction of too many people, who didn't have anything to do with the case, per se.

This book might have worked better if it had been shortened, released as a novella, or in a collection with other true crime stories.

Despite all the filler, I did think the case was interesting just because of how crazy it was that the murderers were ever brought to justice in the first place.

The investigators were tenacious and never gave up on the case, which is another plus. Naturally, there were some lingering questions, especially about Brenna, but overall, the case was wrapped up as best as could be expected.

Overall, this was not as bad as I had anticipated. It was not the most cohesive of Rule’s books and was certainly not one of the most interesting cases I’ve read about, but it wasn’t totally without merit, and I’m glad I gave it a chance, at all.

3 stars ( )

I found this book endless. I was bored from beginning to end probably because Rule tries to fit way too many things into this book. I think it's cause the case she focuses on (the murder of Russell Douglas) does not have a satisfactory ending through as a reader you can put two and two together.

I thought the book zigzagged way too much. We start off with the dead man and Rule works backwards but also alludes to some things here and there about the dead man's wife. And then we jump to a way too in depth look at the investigation team. We then run and focus on a woman who seems to be one of the people behind the murder and her family history. I don't know if Rule wanted readers to feel sorry for this woman or it was something interesting​ to add or what. Rule even adds a mini family tree at the front of the book, but I still had a hard time keeping people separate.

I think this may be one of the shorter Rule books I have read, but I still wish some things have been cut.

Rule adds lots of colored photos in this book, and they were okay, but I wish she had left some of them out since it just felt like padding after a while. ( )

A true crime story of the murder of Russel Douglas in Puget Sound, Washington, in 2003. Ann Rule is the "queen" of the true crime genre and as usual, this was an excellent book with a lot of interesting information, but not so much technical info as to turn one off. If you are a true crime fan (as I am) or are familiar with the area, this is a good read. ( )