Ann Rule Books

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Ann Rule was a celebrated American author best known for her relationship with Ted Bundy. Born in Lowell, Michigan, in 1931, Ann attended Coatesville High School (Chester County, Pennsylvania), Highline Community College (Des Moines, Washington), and the University of Washington.

She came from a family of two children, born to a teacher that dealt with developmentally disabled children (mother) and a sports coach (father). Because her family was steeped in law enforcement, the author followed the same route, joining the Seattle Police Department.

Her interest in the criminal mind can be attributed to all the summers she spent with her grandparents. Her grandmother would cook food for prisoners. The people she saw in jail looked like ordinary men and women, and she couldn’t figure out what had motivated their criminal behavior.

The question sparked a desire in the author to analyze and understand the criminal mind. She spent one and a half years in the Seattle Police Department before failing an eye test.

Turning her attention to publishing, she accumulated several rejection slips before selling her first article and starting a new career as a writer for the magazine ‘True Detective.’

Her life took an interesting turn when she started working at the suicide crisis hotline center as a volunteer. She met Ted Bundy, a seemingly ordinary work-study student that she described as ‘Kind’ and ‘Empathetic.’

Later on, when his murders came to light, Ann said that during all the times they spent together, she saw nothing to suggest that he was deranged. Initially, the author published all her articles using the ‘Andy Stack’ pen name.

When she wrote ‘The Stranger Beside Me,’ her first book, which detailed her relationship with Bundy, she published it under her real name. The book revealed the contents of conversations between Ann and Bundy. During one of those conversations, Bundy told Ann that he had murdered more women than the police knew.

‘The Stranger Beside Me’ was a commercial success. Initially, the next three books in the author’s bibliography were published under her pen name. However, her publishers re-released them using Ann’s real name to take advantage of the popularity ‘The Stranger Beside Me’ had attracted.

The Ted Bundy murders were not the only real-life events she covered. ‘Heart Full of Lies’ from 2003 chronicled the death of Liysa Northon’s husband. Northon sued Ann Rule and her publisher for defamation, though the suit was eventually dismissed.

The author’s books explore the lives of detectives hunting criminals, the people those criminals victimized, and the prosecutors fighting to convict them. She also provides a glimpse into the lives of her killers. She does this by investigating the upbringing of the killers in the hopes of identifying the factors that sparked their criminal behavior.

Ann Rule Awards

Ann won Bouchercon’s Anthony Award in 1994. She received several Edgar Award nominations.

Ann Rule Books into Movies

‘Dead By Sunset’ became an NBC Miniseries of the same name, starring Annette O’Toole and Ken Olin. ‘The Stranger Beside Me’ became a TV movie in 2003. Other books that received adaptations include ‘Every Breath You Take,’ ‘Too Late To Say Goodbye,’ and ‘Everything She Ever Wanted.’

Best Ann Rule Books

The author died in 2015 from congestive heart failure. Ann’s best books include:

The Stranger Beside Me: ‘The Stranger Beside Me’ is Ann Rule’s most popular book. She worked alongside Ted Bundy, a prolific American serial killer, at a suicide hotline center. This book describes Ann’s encounters with Bundy and her slow realization that her co-worker had killed numerous women.

People do not realize that Ann and Bundy stayed in touch with one another until shortly before his death. The book reveals the contents of their conversations.

Small Sacrifices: Diane Downs was distraught when she entered the hospital. Apparently, a shaggy-haired man had attacked her. As they tended to her gunshot wound, the nursing team took note of the children in her car. Two of them were also shot, injured. But the third was dead.

Diane stuck to her story that a shaggy-haired man had assaulted her family. But the truth eventually came out: the mother of three shot her children, killing one and grievously wounding the others. This book reveals the events that led to the tragedy.

When Does The Next Ann Rule book come out?

Ann Rule doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Lying in Wait and Other True Cases and was released on November, 25th 2014. It is the newest book in the Crime Files Series.

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