New York Times Best Seller and Court TV Host Sheds Light On Scott Peterson's Deadly Game Announces ReganBooks

New York Times Best Seller and Court TV Host Sheds Light On Scott Peterson's Deadly Game Announces ReganBooks

NEW YORK, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Hitting bookshelves March 11, 2005, A DEADLY GAME: The Untold Story of the Scott Peterson Investigation (ReganBooks, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers) Catherine Crier, respected former judge and best-selling author, reveals hours of wiretap transcripts and uncovers dozens of incriminating new details not admitted at trial. Appearing in bookstores as Peterson awaits the imposition of his sentence, A Deadly Game goes beyond all previous accounts of the story, drawing upon hundreds of hours of taped conversations between Peterson, his family, and others, to give readers a stunningly intimate window into the case.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050311/LAFRU2 )

"Ever since Laci Peterson disappeared on December 24, 2002, and the public became galvanized by the story, people have asked me Why?" says Catherine Crier, the noted legal journalist and commentator. "Why was there so much interest in this single murder case?" After all, observes Crier, "women go missing all too often in this country" -- and homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women, usually by the father of the child.

Covering the Peterson case for her Court TV program Catherine Crier Live gave Crier an inside track to the workings of the investigation and trial. She and co-author Cole Thompson had access to previously unseen police and justice department records, photographs, wiretap transcripts, and forensic reports. She also interviewed police investigators and many other participants in the case, gaining insights and information that never made the news or reached the jury.

The result is one of the most up-close and chilling portraits ever published of a sociopathic personality as he tries -- with both bravado and desperation -- to evade suspicion. The author reveals Peterson as an emotionally empty narcissist with "the textbook characteristics of a sociopath," who truly believed he could get away with murder, but was done in by his own "brash lies and flagrant conduct."

Among the many revelations highlighted in the book:

-- Never-before-published details of Scott's first disturbing interview
with police -- and how smart detective work may have saved the case on
the first night of Laci's disappearance

-- Early in the investigation, before Scott was a serious suspect, he
told his mother-in-law, Sharon Rocha: "You know, if they find blood
anywhere, that doesn't mean anything. I'm a sportsman. Just look at my
hands. I could drop blood anywhere." Later, after Laci's parents
learned about Amber Frey, Rocha confronted him in a series of furious,
anguished phone calls-taped by the police and published here for the
first time.

-- New eyewitness accounts pointing to signs of trouble in the Petersons'
marriage that never reached the courtroom ... including one woman's
story of watching Scott try to escape Laci's nagging by hiding in the
bathroom-only to have her follow him there and nag him through the
locked door.

-- Extensive new evidence of Scott's indifference to his wife's
disappearance, and obsession with irrelevant details -- from insisting
on receipts for evidence items, to hastening to protect objects in his
home from scratches.

-- Scott's reaction when police presented him with photos of himself with
Amber: "Is that supposed to be me?" he asked.

-- A shocking phone message to Scott from his mother, Jackie Peterson,
urging Scott to "deny, deny, deny," and her suggestive comment: "It's
not good if there's any truth to your [unintelligible]," she said.
"I'm not saying there is ... "

-- Accounts of Scott's womanizing from his conquests themselves-including
the woman he was dating just before Laci, and two of his mistresses
before Amber Frey.

-- The untold story of how Amber maintained contact with Scott without
informing police, and was briefly considered a suspect in the case.

-- How Scott bragged to two different witnesses about how to kill
someone.

-- Scott's childish fixation on the manhood, physical endowment, and
sexual abilities of the detectives covering the case.

A Deadly Game also includes sixteen pages of photos from the trial evidence files, many of which have never been published before, and a 38-page appendix with more photos and revealing evidence -- including forensic workups and Scott's haunting post-arrest photos.

Extensively researched, definitive in its detail, A Deadly Game includes scores of surprises for even the most avid followers of the Peterson case.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050311/LAFRU2
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: ReganBooks

CONTACT: Heidi Krupp, +1-212-579-2010, hkrupp@kruppnyc.com

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