Guilty Creatures

Sex, God, and Murder in Tallahassee, Florida

De: Mikita Brottman

Narrado por: Leon Nixon

“Murder, a love triangle, and small-town secrets in Tallahassee, Florida...an unputdownable read.” —The New York Times

“A compelling psychological double portrait of what happens when two people are forever bound by a life-altering secret.” —Becky Cooper, bestselling author of We Keep the Dead Close

From the critically acclaimed author dubbed “one of today’s finest practitioners of nonfiction” (The New York Times Book Review), a breathless true crime tale of sex, religion, and murder in the deep South.

Mike and Denise Williams had a tight knit, seemingly unbreakable bond with childhood friends, Brian and Kathy Winchester. The two couples were devout, hardworking Baptists who lived perfect, quintessentially Southern lives. Their friendship seemed ironclad. That is, until December 16, 2000, when Denise’s husband Mike disappeared while duck hunting on Lake Seminole.

After no body was found, everyone assumed that Mike had drowned in a tragic accident, his body eaten by alligators. But things took an unexpected turn when, within five years of Mike’s disappearance, Brian Winchester divorced his wife and married Denise. Their surprising romance set tongues talking. People began wondering how long they had been a couple, and whether they had anything to do with Mike’s death. It took another twelve years for the truth to come out—and when it did, it was unimaginable.

Now, the full, shocking story is revealed by Mikita Brottman, acclaimed true crime writer of the “enthralling” (San Francisco Book Review) An Unexplained Death. Through tenacious research and clear-eyed prose, she probes the psychology of a couple who killed and explores how it feels to live for eighteen years with murder on the soul.

A fascinating thrilling study of modern noir, Guilty Creatures is destined to become an instant true crime classic.

©2024 Mikita Brottman (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

Excellent

Excellent pacing, excellent narration. Shades of a lurid R Rated version of crime and punishment. I finished listening to this very quickly. .

Excellent Recitation

The voice, inflection, and overall recitation was excellent. My only complaint, which is really being picky, was the pronunciation of some places that a southerner would definitely cringe over…hence, my dilemma. So you can just ignore me on that, if you wish.

More detailed

As a true crime content consumer, I was familiar with this story prior to reading this book. This book was well researched and the story is told in a concise manner. I did, however, crave more heart in the telling. It felt like a dissertation of facts than a torrid story of love, money, and betrayal.

Great!

So good, you won't want to turn it off. I felt like I could picture the sceens and characters.

Interesting Story

I had listened to a podcast about this murder and found it interesting, particularly the amount of time that passed between the murder and the time the killers were caught. I decided to listen to the audiobook written about the case and found it interesting as well. However I don’t think it was written in such a way that if I had read it in a paper version that it would have held my interest. The writing was a little dry and it revealed early on who the killers were. I also didn’t really care for the narrator. He has a nice voice and he articulated well, but his delivery was very “sing-song,” meaning he constantly went up and down, reminiscent of a voice actor in a commercial. It was too dramatic and sounded as if he was trying to sell you a high-end product instead of reading a book.

Well researched but too long

It’s clear that the author really researched the case. The thing is that she wanted to share every little fact that she learned, but a lot was repetitive and/or unnecessary. This should have been at least 1/3 shorter. For some reason listening to the book brought these issues to the forefront. I kept wanting to skim forward but couldn’t because it was not in paper. Great investigation and assembly of facts. But an editor should have scaled this down.

Didn’t flow

I expected the author to be more neutral in her reporting. I’m not sure true crime is a good genre for me. I also found the three part format awkward.

Captivating

Thoroughly enjoyed this read. Could easily and even horrifically identify with each character, hero and villain alike.

Psychology

Very interesting and short story of murder that really goes into the why, not just how.

Compelling

I loved it! I lived in Tallahassee not long before this case came to light!