Mothers and Murderers

A True Story of Love, Lies, Obsession...and Second Chances

By: Katherine Ellison

Narrated by: Lee Ann Howlett

Length: 9 hrs

Publisher's summary

New from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Ellison!

Mothers & Murderers: A True Story of Love, Lies, Obsession...and Second Chances takes listeners on a wild tragicomic ride from the criminal courtrooms of California’s Silicon Valley to the Himalayan mountains of Pakistan to the deserts of Ethiopia.

In delightful, insightful prose, Ellison reflects on her mistakes and her triumphs as she weaves together the stories of how her Pulitzer Prize-winning career almost ended before it began, how she nearly missed marrying the love of her life, and how she unwittingly got drawn into a stranger-than-fiction murder case.

Rich in drama and self-reflection, replete with unique characters - including two bumbling hitmen, a rodeo-riding prosecutor, a flamboyant Beverly Hills defense attorney, and a charismatic stay-at-home mother-of-three who is keeping outrageous secrets - Mothers and Murderers is a mashup of Fargo, Body Heat, and Eat, Pray, Love.

It's guaranteed to make you laugh, cry - and think.

©2019 Katherine Ellison (P)2020 WildBlue Press

A mix of memoir and true crime

This is sort of a ho-hum mix of true crime and memoir. At least the true crime portion is complete. But neither the true crime case nor the memoir are especially interesting or exciting. Thankfully, Lee Ann Howlett's narration is quite satisfactory.

NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A good read with some reservations

Mothers and Murders. .
Is a good read/listen with some reservations.
Personally I felt the book was a little long winded, and wandered a bit making it hard to follow in places.
The main story takes place then follows the main characters for the best part of 20 years till the convictions are complete.
It is a mix of a true crime story and the authors personal story.. I really enjoyed the crime story less so the biography.
Great narration keeps the book very readable. I don't think I would have finished it without it being the audiobook.
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily leave this honest review. .

Interesting Memoir with A Bonus Murder Case

Like others, I thought this was going to be another true crime novel about a murder and subsequent trial. I was surprised to learn quickly that this is actually a journalist's (Katherine Ellison) memoir about her own life with the added bonus of a true-crime story weaved throughout. She did a great job explaining how her own lift story parallels the life of a woman accused of facilitating the murder of her husband. While they have a lot in common, they are also nothing alike.

The only part that made me cringe was when Katherine called someone who dropped out of college and idiot (or something similar to that word) in her description meaning if you drop out of college you must be intellectually inferior which is simply NOT true at all. She may have not meant it to be interpreted as such but the wording seemed to lead the listener/reader to that conclusion.

The narration of this book was great! Lee Ann Howlett did a spectacular job and was pleasant to listen to.

*I was given a free copy of this audio book in exchange for my honest opinion - this did not have any influence on my review*

GREAT READ!

I really enjoyed it! The narration was great and kept me entertained! The author did a great job with the character builds and plot! This was my first book by this author but definitely not my last! I look forward to reading more books by this author! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Riveting story masterfully told

I loved just about everything about this book, which captivated me from start to finish in its treatment of so many issues of interest to me:
-the riveting murder story and the journalist’s decades-long preoccupation with that story,
-the newspaper business of a bygone era (and the criminal justice system of a bygone era!)
-women’s inner conflict between professional ambition and the desire for a certain kind of personal life
-the social facades that some families and individuals work hard to present — and what happens when these get stripped away
-the ways we take on our parents’ legacies and struggle to resist them, among many other insights into family dynamics

I so admired the artful way the author wove all these various threads together, and her courage in baring parts of herself that most people would be afraid to share. I finished listening to the audiobook a few days ago—and am still thinking about it.

Just awful

I really tried to like this book, but the narration was no very good, and the story is a autobiography, with some ones murder twist, thrown in