Perfect Murder, Perfect Town audiobook

Monsters or monstrously unlucky?This is a book about three distinct, yet intimately interrelated stories, told as one. First, there is the story of the murder of JonBenét Ramsey; second, the story of the investigation of that murder and the antagonism between the Boulder Police Department and the District Attorney's office; and third, the media coverage of these events.I think Schiller does a workman-like job on all three, but for readers primarily interested in the story of the murder of JonBenét, this book, at about 800 pages, is a bit too much. For those interested in the politics and pecking order of the judicial system as practiced in Boulder, Colorado, this is probably a fascinating read from cover to cover. The story of the media is also interesting, but too narrowly focused on the tabloid coverage, especially the material about Jeff Shaprio, then working for the Globe. Stories from the local (Colorado) media are quoted liberally throughout the text, but the day-to-day inner workings of the local press is not detailed. Some of this material seems pasted in as though Schiller began to weary of his subject. The detail about the Colorado judicial system, often presented in footnotes at the bottom of pages, was legalistic and not really illuminating. Additionally the text is marred by typos of the kind not caught by spell checkers, including the wrong "their" near the bottom of page 385, an extraneous article on line 11, page 501, and most significantly, an "isn't" for an "is" on page 227. (Actually the sentence in that footnote doesn't make sense with either an "isn't" as written, or an "is" as seems indicated.) On the plus side Schiller does an excellent job of making some of the players come to life including the very tricky Jeff Shapiro, the tabloid reporter who insinuated himself into the district attorney's offices, made friends with the Boulder police, joined Ramsey's church and even talked at length with John Ramsey on the phone (something Schiller was not able to do). The portrait of the sincere and tremendously dedicated Det. Steve Thomas was also good, as was that of retired detective Lou Smit, who befriended the Ramseys. Boulder County District Attorney Alex Hunter comes across primarily as a politician. I also appreciated the floor plan of the Ramsey house in Appendix A and the character list at the back of the book. The name index was also valuable, although I think there should have been a subject index as well.Because I didn't know the details of the case before reading this book, for me, the most important parts are pages 497-499, where the FBI profilers present their extremely powerful arguments against the intruder theory, and pages 660-670 where there is a summation of the evidence gathered by the Boulder police. Reading between the lines we can see that John Ramsey himself is a slightly "superior," somewhat cold and calculating man with some prejudice against the relatively liberal culture of Boulder, Colorado and against the poor (see page 690 where he argues that Bill McReynolds, who played "Santa Claus," should be a suspect partly because "he doesn't have two nickels to rub together"). Nonetheless one imagines that John Ramsey loved his daughter (and she loved him) so that it is untenable to think that he could have deliberately murdered her. Furthermore he has too much control of himself to have accidentally struck and killed her. On the other hand Patsy Ramsey comes across as someone with particularly shallow values predicated almost entirely on appearance who has a temper that she could very well lose. Her love for her daughter is less clear than her husband's, although her need for JonBenét to succeed and thereby reflect favorably upon herself is very strong. One imagines that she could punish her daughter very severely but outside of public scrutiny. One further imagines she would seek to cover up anything that would make her look bad. One very telling observation in the book (p. 13) is that the ransom note was the "War and Peace of ransom notes." The Patsy Ramsey seen in this book is a person who does everything in a flamboyant and overdone manner.I don't think, however, that the evidence as presented here is strong enough to draw a definite conclusion about who killed JonBenét. One thing is clear: John and Patsy Ramsey are either monstrously unlucky, or they are monsters. --Dennis Littrell, author of the sensational mystery novel, “Teddy and Teri”

Schiller does a great job presenting all sides of the case. Now I don't know what to think.

There is so much of this case that will never be understood. But it was the incompetency of the Denver police to secure the crime scene and avoid evidence contamination that led to much of the media speculations at the time, as well as the Ramsey's behavior. They ACTED guilty. At least of being afraid they could be held accountable. So of course, they became accountable in the public's eyes anyway. This book does a good job of pointing out what went wrong in the investigation and how things seemed to spiral out of control so badly.

Excellent comprehensive look at the evidence and timeline of the JonBenet Ramsey murder case. Lets the reader draw his or her own conclusions, which I liked. I seriously could not put this down and finished it in no time at all.

A good page turner.

This is the story of the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey in Boulder. After reading this, I felt there was an accident of some sort in the home on that Christmas night and the parents did it.

This book is often recommended to people new to the JBR case, because, like JFK, conspiracies and suspects abound, but here, mostly, are the known facts of the case as of 1999. The grand jury had not made any recommendations as of the time of publication. This book is less focused on the crime itself; the Ramseys occasionally appear as inscrutable antagonists, but the focus is on a) the divisions between the Boulder PD and the DAs (Alex Hunter) office, and b) the use of the media by the various parties, and the effect of the media on public opinion about the case.JBR herself is mostly missing as a real person - she’s a symbol of the investigatory divide, a totem of justification for many questionable actions on the part of everyone involved. Politics, face-saving, and weak leadership from the officials; stonewalling, obscurantism, and facade-preservation on the part of the Ramseys.Two other books:JonBenet: Inside the JonBenet Ramsey Investigation, by Steve Thomas. Thomas was a BPD detective originally assigned to the case. Argues one of the Ramseys (Patsy) did it.Foreign Faction, by James Kolar. Kolar was a DAs investigator in the early 2000s for DA Mary Lacy. This has the most detailed case information.I already have Foreign Faction, so I suppose I’ll read it one day out of curiosity. In the meantime, ugh. It’s very clear that this case was horribly mismanaged from day one, by all of them - the BPD, the DA, and the Ramseys, and consequently, it’s very unlikely anyone will ever be held accountable for JBR’s murder.

This is an excellent read for all the true crime fanatics out there. Most people are at least somewhat familiar with the case of Jon Benet Ramsey, but to hear so many facts presented as well as this book does really allows the reader to think critically about the case. it's a quick well-written book with as non-biased of an approach to the case as I have found.

Very interesting and informative book about the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. Everything was told in a very comprehensible way. I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it! At times, it felt like a true crime podcast. I learned a lot from this book and have done some of my own research into the case. Very interesting to come up with your own theory as to who the killer might have been.

I listened to this book because I've always been curious about how JonBenet was murdered. I feel the parents had something to do with it. This book was about her death and the facts around it. Great read if you are into true crime.

Incredibly dense and thorough chronicle of the JonBenet Ramsey investigation, from the POV of almost everyone involved, from reporters to DAs to police detectives--and everybody in between. If you're interested in what happened to that little girl on December 26th, 1996 (Could it have been that long ago?!?) then this is mandatory reading for you.Like the case itself, it is a complicated maze to read, and you may, like me, forget momentarily who somebody is. There's a character page in the back to help you with this problem.Schiller doesn't pull any punches and immerses you in everything for the sole purpose, as he says, to chronicle what happened for anyone interested in the case. It reads like a 579-page report. There are no writers' tricks here, and no embellishments. Schiller does an amazing job of organizing all of this stuff into one (mostly) seamless flow.What does it show? Oh my goodness, it shows how very thoroughly and completely the D.A.'s office, the Boulder Police Department, the witnesses, the suspects, and the media all worked together to screw up this case beyond repair. Like the research into AIDS in the early-80s, when American and French scientists fought each other over copyrights and egos and countless people died, so too did the Boulder PD and the D.A. office fight each other over supremacy, evidence and theories.And we know what happened.Nothing.Nothing at all. A grand jury failed to indict anybody in 1997, and here afterwards have we sat.As detailed in this book, this case never had a chance. Evidence was immediately trampled upon. Both Ramseys, and their son, Burke, took leave of the police for a very long time upon the arrival of the first cops. The crime scene was not controlled and it became very, very compromised. And the Ramseys somehow were allowed to not be thoroughly interviewed until four months after the killing.And the police bungled evidence and interviews that anyone who's ever seen an episode of Law & Order could have done better. The D.A. turned down help from the FBI, whose officers had investigated and tried tons of murder cases against children. How many had the current D.A.'s office tried? Zero.You may imagine yourself, as I did, screaming at, and shaking, some of the well-intentioned but hopelessly inept people involved in this case.And that's just the beginning.The book stops just before the grand jury returned its verdict of nothingness, that there wasn't enough evidence to bring anything to a trial. That's frustrating, and you may want to read more current material after reading this.But, sadly, there's nothing much to add.Patsy Ramsey has died since. Nobody's ever been brought to trial. It may seem there's nothing more to say.But there is. Schiller takes pains to try to remain unbiased with his book, and largely he succeeds. But his one-page epilogue gives him away a little bit, as does the preponderance of the evidence he allows the real people to supply here.Ultimately the reader has to make his own decision about who did it. Was it the Ramseys? Any of them, in the murder and / or in a cover-up? Was it an intruder?You'll have to decide. I have, I think, for the most part. Maybe I'll write about it in my blog one day--keeping in mind, of course, that many of the people are still alive. And able to file lawsuits for slander.But still a riveting read. If this case interests you, read it.Please join the conversation about this book on July 27, 2014 at www.stevenebelanger.blogspot.com.

Very detailed and unbiased account of the investigation into the Ramsey caseHaving never followed the JonBenét Ramsey case, but knowing it was a big deal in the press, I thought I'd bring myself up to speed on the evidence. I was impressed with the amount of research that went into this book, and the detail of the investigation. The book clearly explains the conflicts between the various players (police detectives, district attorney's office, media, witnesses and family members), and I was left with a genuine appreciation for how difficult this case was to solve. I can see that mistakes were made, but it is clear why they were made, and hindsight is, as usual, 20/20. If you want to better understand the process of investigating and prosecuting/defending a murder case, including the role the media and general public opinion play, this is a great book to read. Honestly, I was left with a complete understanding of why this case was not resolved!

BURKE DID IT!!! 20 years and still no justice...I don't think me saying Burke did it is a spoiler because this book ends when the D.A. decides to not press charges against any of the Ramsey's in the late 90's. Poor girl, this case haunted and fascinated my sister and I as children and Schiller recounts everything with precise detail but never points the finger at any one.

I have always wondered why this murder couldn't be solved. It just seems that with today's forensics, it should have been solved. This was a very disturbing murder to me. All murders of children are...but this one was broadcast nationally for weeks and years later when they thought they caught him, it was splashed all over the news again, for days. Also, her parents were vilified