Cold-Blooded

A True Story of Love, Lies, Greed, and Murder

By: Carlton Smith

Narrated by: Paul Heitsch

Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

From a New York Times - bestselling journalist: The story of the murder of a California attorney at the hands of the lethally cunning wife he never doubted.

A wealthy and well-connected legal ace and the proud owner of a champion show horse, Larry McNabney had every reason to love his life. But when he disappeared in September 2001, his wife, Elisa, claimed he joined a cult.

When Larry's body was found in a shallow grave three months later, Elisa was already gone. In a red convertible Jaguar, her brown hair dyed blond, Mrs. McNabney was speeding toward a new life in Florida - and a brand new identity.

Who was Elisa McNabney? Beautiful, seductive, and ruthless, she had thirty-eight aliases and a rap sheet a mile long. Carlton Smith, coauthor of the true crime classic The Search for the Green River Killer, reveals one shocking surprise after another in this harrowing tale of broken vows and deadly betrayal.

©2004 Carlton Smith (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

Was okay!

This was not written as a story but rather police report on all the events that took place around the life and death of Larry McNabney.
Although it was very interesting and I couldn't stop listening.
It was not a true story written in fiction format.
Did not enjoy the narration.

Slow start, but fascinating story

I struggled through the beginning of the book, which consists largely of the history of the city of Reno, Nevada. Once the story really got going, though, I found it fascinating.

a decent audiobook for middle of the road

A little long in the tooth I feel it could shorten to an extent very middle of the road in my opinion on some of the points made by the Author The story clearly outlines a tale of stupid people with too much money and too many chemical substances in their body to make sound judgments

Wow! Great listen!

Really was emotionally moved by the author’s ending. This was better than I expected. I don’t know enough about the case to make judgments, but I felt really sorry for Sarah. I was shocked at the ending. Excellent True Crime book.

Destruction of Innocence

How sad that in the end Sara was the one sent to prison. She had no previous trouble with the law but was preyed upon by beautiful, greedy, unstable woman who stopped at literally nothing to satisfy herself at the expense of dozens of people. As many cowards do, she took the easy way out! I think that Sara should have received 10 years probation not hard prison time. Lauren had been given numerous opportunities in her youth to correct herself and make things right but never did so. Ultimately she stole the innocence and life of a young woman who had no idea what she was getting into, then having no idea how to get out of the situation.

Exceptional Detail & Narrator

Although I've heard this psychotic and maniacal saga, this is the best. Narrator excellent.

Too much background

The book had far too much in the way of background. I do appreciate knowing some about the lives and how they got to that point, but the reason I wanted the book was to hear about the murder and the repercussions. I listened to hours about drinking, aspects of law, horses, and vague money shuffling which in my opinion could have been cut down in order to get to the confusing, circle racing murder, etc., The lead up to what happened went on for several hours and the murder, locating, ending was cut short.

Ok

This is an ok story. Seems a bit repetitive . It is interesting but I could not finish it

If you enjoy a monotonous, droning voice...

you may enjoy listening to this story. If you don’t, you may find it as dreary and unenjoyable as I did.

Of course, I couldn’t finish it. I couldn’t tolerate more than 10 minutes.

Overly detailed & repetitious in some ways, cursory research in others

I share the view that there was way more looping repetition & skipping around in this account of a bizarre situation. There was a lot of detail devoted to the frailties of some characters and a superficial, often erroneous, glossing over of others.

As someone who spent 25+ years raising & showing Quarter Horses, I was especially saddened by the obvious lack of accuracy in the description of the AQHA horse show culture. Certainly, there are those who bring deep pockets into the industry, but the vast majority of us are middle class members who are (admittedly besotted) by our beloved critters to the point of choosing mac & cheese over steak so our horses have alfalfa. We aspire to breed the best representatives and the show setting is a wonderfully diverse group of people who share a passion for our animals. While there are a lot of (usually mortgaged) fancy rigs, there are a lot of F250’s & stock trailers in the parking lot, too. You never know what is going to come out of that trailer. I funded my habit on a teaching salary and was able to hold my own against the fellow competitors.

One reason I was able to do this is by the encouragement and generosity of many of the “big names”. I showed on the west coast & often encountered Greg & Mary Whalen at shows. They were always gracious & had encouraging words & good advice for me & others who were not even their clients. They had stunning horses & did their best for their clients, but they treated all with respect. It was not unusual for this school teacher to be invited to join the dinner gathering after a day of showing. As time went on, I bought & sold horses from them, often having a horse priced in a range my budget could handle because they wanted to see their horses go to people who appreciated them. I knew Whalens to be honest, fair & great advocates for our shared passion.

I never knew Greg to cut corners, cheat or otherwise engage in anything but the most ethical business or personal behavior. I suspect that Mr. Smith didn’t do more than a cursory look at the AQHA show culture or to Greg Whalen long & well-respected career. Smith’s innuendo of Whalen’s complicity in the events are in complete conflict with the man I (and fellow breeders, clients & competitors) knew. The depiction of Greg Whalen may have made for an element of spice to the narrative, but it was grossly unfair. I understand that the horse show realm was background to the story, but it was an important element and deserves accuracy.

Incidentally, most of us who hauled to distant show venues worked with our vets to carry emergency medications & equipment so we could treat a critical problem in the middle of nowhere hours away from help. By the way, the equine tranquilizer the narrator repeatedly mispronounced and speculated about is ACEpromazine. I can’t even duplicate the mangled pronunciation and list other sloppy descriptions that call into question the account’s accuracy.