Murder on Birchleaf Drive

The True Story of the Michelle Young Murder Case

By: Steven B. Epstein

Narrated by: Eddie Frierson

Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's Summary

Was Jason the monster who bludgeoned his beautiful wife to death, leaving his toddler alone for hours to walk through her blood? If so - would he get away with it? 

To the outside world, Jason and Michelle Young lived a storybook life - an attractive couple with great jobs, a beautiful home, a precocious two-year-old daughter, and a baby boy on the way.    

Soon after the 29-year-old pregnant mother’s brutally beaten body was discovered on their bedroom floor, a very different picture emerged. Of a marriage crumbling at its foundation. Of a meddlesome New York mother-in-law whose running critique left Jason frustrated and angry. Of a 32-year-old man who behaved like a frat boy rebelling against adult responsibilities. 

Murder on Birchleaf Drive documents the gripping tale of a family’s marathon quest for justice, confounding crime scene evidence, the persistence of law enforcement officers, and riveting courtroom combat. 

“One of the best true crime books I have read.” (David S. Rudolf, featured attorney, The Staircase [Netflix])

©2019 Steven B. Epstein (P)2019 Steven B. Epstein

Great story.

Hadn’t heard of this story.. book kept me interested. Easy to turn the virtual pages.

I followed this horrendous crime, real time.

I'll never understand what drives a person to commit this type of unspeakable violence. Especially gruesome when the murderer is well aware his own child's life hes ending too. Sick! The book was well done and the narrator/ narration grew on me, so to speak. I'd recommend.

Excellent reading and content

Truly enjoyed this book and the way it was presented. It felt very objective and factual, both in tone and style.

Awful narration

Good story, but listening to the audio was painful. If I didn't know better, I would have wondered if it was read by a robot.

I can see the movie version of this story

This was Steven Epstein's first crime book and I feel he did an amazing job. I had not heard of this story which made it even better for me. The narrator did a pretty good job with both the long Island and southern accents. His rendition was actually funny and I am from the south. I recommend the book for sure.

Love true crime books!!!

I so wanted this to be good “true crime”. I have been reading this genre for 30 years. I think this author will grow and become a good writer but this felt very redundant in places. I think I could have overlooked a great deal if the narrator had not tried all the different southern accents. It just came across as hokey in my opinion. I grew tired of his voice.

Great True Crime Read

I thought Narrator was excellent. Some reviews criticized narrator. Totally unfair. Strongly recommend this book. Very well told and thorough co tent

Those character voices (SMH)

The narrator's character accents became so cringeworthy, it was painful to finish. Also, not all southern men sound like a version of either Bill Clinton or a Mayberry drunk

True Crime Story

There is a lot of technology of the courtroom in this true story. The author stuck to the facts and really kept very neutral in my opinion with the families in mind. I live in Raleigh so a lot of the references were something I knew so I probably like it better than some would.

Good book, so-so narrator

This crime took place in my home state, and this is the only book I have ever found about it. I don’t buy true crime audiobooks too often although I do read a lot of true crime. The narrator could have been so much better, but the book gets high marks for being thorough and substantial. I’m glad to have it in my library to listen to. If you have never heard of this case I highly recommend it, but ultimately it’s the same old story: failing marriage, narcissistic husband having an affair with pregnant wife’s friend, “someone” kills the wife. What’s interesting here is the way it all played out in court and how much of an immature jerk the husband was and the fact that his poor little toddler was there when it happened. It took years for Michelle’s family to get justice, and some people still feel Jason Young was convicted without solid evidence. It’s a very interesting case. I wish some narrators would just do a straight read of the book while not sounding robotic. If you can tolerate the narrator the book itself is very good.

I cant listen to this

The narration is just very robotic I can't listen to it. I might read instead.

Murder on Birchleaf Drive

Story line dragged on and the big issue was the narrator's voice struggled to finish.

Great book

Great story - narrator grated a little but I got used to him after a while