Murder on Sunset Strip: The Story of Carol Bundy and Doug Clark

A True Crime Quickie, Book 2

By: Kim Cresswell

Narrated by: Jason Fella

Length: 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Murder on Sunset Strip is the second book in a compelling series of true crime short stories for listeners who don't have time for a full-length novel.

The story of Carol Bundy and Doug Clark examines the chilling account of the serial-killing duo whose deadly rampage began in 1980 on LA's sunset strip.

©2016 KC Publishing (P)2017 Kim Cresswell

wow

I always wondered about how the chic got out of going to jail. I guess the system has to decide which one would be the greater evil.

The Match Made in Hell

I’d heard of the Hillside Stranglers and, more recently, the Golden State Killer (who is facing a murder trial in Sacramento this year for 50 rapes and 12 murders committed between 1976 and 1986), but I had no idea there were so many serial killers active in Southern California in the late 1970s on through to the end of the twentieth century. New York had drugs, grime, and crime, but SoCal had serial killers.

I had never heard of the Sunset Strip Killers and when I hear the name ‘Bundy’, I think Ted, not Carol. This is the second quickie murder audiobook I’ve listened to and I enjoyed this one just as much as the first. Again, Ms. Cresswell has chosen a lesser-known crime where many of the victims were marginalized girls and women. Girls who had repeatedly runaway, sex workers, and women who were never even reported missing. In this case, it is perhaps less to do with police disinterest and more to do with the frequency of the crimes, but if the link was made earlier, how many lives might have been saved? If these had been rich and well-bred (and white) young women, might there have been a different outcome? A faster resolution?

Ms. Cresswell does provide some background of the killers – leaving the reader to decide if their criminal behaviour was due to nature or nurture. Mental illness or just pure evil? And I don’t use the word evil lightly – there are some very graphic and disturbing details in the book. As Carol Bundy herself said it was, “rape, murder, and post-mortem sex”.

Little details make a difference in these short audiobooks. The reasoning of how and why Doug Clark chose Carol Bundy and how much culpability she actually carried was important to my understanding of the case.

What makes someone a rapist and a killer? Why do two people – siblings for example – with the same parents and circumstances, grow up so differently? And how can two people make it to middle age without committing felonies, but once they meet up, start killing young girls and women without hesitation? Well, with Ms. Cresswell’s books, the need to check Wikipedia isn’t necessary as she provides so many details. The books might be short, but they are solid.

Jack Fella is the perfect narrator for this series. He is able to recite the gruesome details without going for the easy titillation. He makes the story engaging and I can’t wait for the next book from this duo.