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Cold Kill

The True Story of a Murderous Love

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Cold Kill

By: Jack Olsen
Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
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From Jack Olsen, the New York Times bestselling author known as "the dean of true crime," comes a shattering portrait of a crime rooted not in rage or madness, but in something far more chilling: cold calculation.

On the night of June 19, 1982, respected Houston attorney James Campbell and his wife Virginia were shot to death in their luxurious home while their grandchildren slept nearby. No signs of struggle. No forced entry. Just two bodies and a daughter who sobbed at the funeral, then immediately began removing valuables from her parents' house and demanding her share of the estate. When asked what should be done with her two young boys, Cindy Campbell Ray told her family to take them to an orphanage.

Everyone suspected Cindy. No one could prove it.

What investigators didn't yet know was that Cindy had spent weeks manipulating David West, a troubled ex-Marine who loved her desperately. She fed him fabricated stories of abuse, convincing him that killing her parents was not only justified but necessary. Dressed in camouflage, they slipped into the Campbell home and executed the plan with brutal precision. Then Cindy walked away, leaving David holding both the gun and his love for a woman who had never loved him back.

For years, Houston's top homicide detectives could get nowhere. The case cracked only when a bold young private investigator named Kim Paris was brought in to do what the police could not. Paris embedded herself in David's life, earning his trust over months of careful intimacy, and slowly drew out the truth.

What emerged was a story of manipulation at its most intimate and most lethal. A woman who felt nothing. A man who felt everything. And a love story that ended in murder.

With his signature psychological depth and journalistic precision, Jack Olsen explores how a daughter could order the execution of her own parents, how a man could kill in the name of love, and how one investigator's nerve cracked a case that had defeated everyone else.

©2017 Jack Olsen Literary Works, LLC (P)2026 Jack Olsen Literary Works, LLC
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very good read and performance interesting story but I do feel like it had a funny ending

Very good

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This true story was good, but marred by the ‘f’ word, which actually detracts from the narrative.

Too many “f” words

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Jack Olson always does a good job with his books. This one is no exception.

Great Jack Olson as always.

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This is the fifth Jack Olsen True Crime book I've listened to on audible. Superbly narrated by Kevin Pierce and once again it was unputdownable (my word). The more you listen to Kevin Pierce narrating the great Jack Olsen the further you get drawn into Jack's great crime writing. I listened to this book on every possible occasion, on the treadmill, in the car, in the bathroom - wherever I could. Olsen and Pierce are the best pairing in the audible galaxy and Jack writes a riveting story in the earthy language murderers would use.
Time to move on to book number six!

Jack Olsen UnputDownable again!

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Extremely repetitive about Cyndi and David’s qualities and personalities. Very little about the victims. No satisfying conclusion.

Uninteresting main characters

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