
Mothers and Murderers
A True Story of Love, Lies, Obsession...and Second Chances
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Lee Ann Howlett
About this listen
New from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Katherine Ellison!
Mothers & Murderers: A True Story of Love, Lies, Obsession...and Second Chances takes listeners on a wild tragicomic ride from the criminal courtrooms of California’s Silicon Valley to the Himalayan mountains of Pakistan to the deserts of Ethiopia.
In delightful, insightful prose, Ellison reflects on her mistakes and her triumphs as she weaves together the stories of how her Pulitzer Prize-winning career almost ended before it began, how she nearly missed marrying the love of her life, and how she unwittingly got drawn into a stranger-than-fiction murder case.
Rich in drama and self-reflection, replete with unique characters - including two bumbling hitmen, a rodeo-riding prosecutor, a flamboyant Beverly Hills defense attorney, and a charismatic stay-at-home mother-of-three who is keeping outrageous secrets - Mothers and Murderers is a mashup of Fargo, Body Heat, and Eat, Pray, Love.
It's guaranteed to make you laugh, cry - and think.
©2019 Katherine Ellison (P)2020 WildBlue PressListeners also enjoyed...
-
Slenderman
- Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls
- By: Kathleen Hale
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 31, 2014, in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls attempted to stab their classmate to death. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier’s violence was extreme, but what seemed even more frightening was that they committed their crime under the influence of a figure born by the internet: the so-called “Slenderman”. Yet the even more urgent aspect of the story, that the children involved suffered from undiagnosed mental illnesses, often went overlooked in coverage of the case.
-
-
Excellent narration
- By Pink Amy on 08-21-22
By: Kathleen Hale
-
If You Would Have Told Me
- A Memoir
- By: John Stamos
- Narrated by: John Stamos
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you would have told a young John Stamos flipping burgers at his dad’s fast-food joint that one day he’d be a household name and that, at the height of his success, he’d be living alone, divorced, with no kids, high on a cocktail of forgetting, he might’ve asked, “You want fries with that?”
-
-
Don't expect Uncle Jesse's autobiography...
- By Song4Ten on 10-24-23
By: John Stamos
-
Victim
- The Other Side of Murder
- By: Gary Kinder
- Narrated by: Gregory St. John
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now a classic of true crime, Victim is a compelling and tragic look at how lives can be changed forever by a random act of violence. During an armed robbery, several hostages were brutally tortured, shot in the head, and left for dead. Victim focuses on the members of one family - including a mother who died after the attack and a son who was left barely alive - as they fought for his survival and struggled to rebuild their lives.
-
-
Unbelievable story
- By S. Sorensen on 04-06-20
By: Gary Kinder
-
Through the Window: The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells
- By: Diane Fanning
- Narrated by: Thomas M. Hatting
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten-year-old Krystal Surles watched as her best friend was murdered before the intruder slashed her throat with a 12-inch boning knife. Despite the odds, she survived and led authorities to 35-year-old Tommy Lynn Sells, a former truck driver, carnival worker, and drifter. Through the Window includes his confession to the murder of 10-year-old Joel Kirkpatrick, playing a pivotal role in obtaining justice for wrongfully convicted Julie Rea.
-
-
Very Good Book About a Very Bad Dude
- By Dave on 08-07-12
By: Diane Fanning
-
Seventy Times Seven
- A True Story of Murder and Mercy
- By: Alex Mar
- Narrated by: Alex Mar
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a spring afternoon in 1985 in Gary, Indiana, a fifteen-year-old girl kills an elderly woman in a violent home invasion. In a city with a history of racial tensions and white flight, the girl, Paula Cooper, is Black, and her victim, Ruth Pelke, is white and a beloved Bible teacher. The press swoops in.
-
-
Interesting
- By Mmj on 08-23-23
By: Alex Mar
-
Love Me to Death
- The Chilling True Story of WIlliam “Wild Bill Cody” Neal—The Vicious Denver Lady-Killer
- By: Steve Jackson
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
William Neal, who called himself "Wild Bill Cody," was seductive and skillful at separating love-struck women from their money, and ultimately, their lives. Apprehended by police, Neal, who proclaimed himself “better than Ted Bundy,” pleaded guilty to three murders then insisted on representing himself at his death penalty trial. But the psychopathic killer found himself up against the incredible courage of his one surviving victim.
-
-
Disappointed
- By donald on 02-09-23
By: Steve Jackson
-
Slenderman
- Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls
- By: Kathleen Hale
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 31, 2014, in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls attempted to stab their classmate to death. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier’s violence was extreme, but what seemed even more frightening was that they committed their crime under the influence of a figure born by the internet: the so-called “Slenderman”. Yet the even more urgent aspect of the story, that the children involved suffered from undiagnosed mental illnesses, often went overlooked in coverage of the case.
-
-
Excellent narration
- By Pink Amy on 08-21-22
By: Kathleen Hale
-
If You Would Have Told Me
- A Memoir
- By: John Stamos
- Narrated by: John Stamos
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you would have told a young John Stamos flipping burgers at his dad’s fast-food joint that one day he’d be a household name and that, at the height of his success, he’d be living alone, divorced, with no kids, high on a cocktail of forgetting, he might’ve asked, “You want fries with that?”
-
-
Don't expect Uncle Jesse's autobiography...
- By Song4Ten on 10-24-23
By: John Stamos
-
Victim
- The Other Side of Murder
- By: Gary Kinder
- Narrated by: Gregory St. John
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now a classic of true crime, Victim is a compelling and tragic look at how lives can be changed forever by a random act of violence. During an armed robbery, several hostages were brutally tortured, shot in the head, and left for dead. Victim focuses on the members of one family - including a mother who died after the attack and a son who was left barely alive - as they fought for his survival and struggled to rebuild their lives.
-
-
Unbelievable story
- By S. Sorensen on 04-06-20
By: Gary Kinder
-
Through the Window: The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells
- By: Diane Fanning
- Narrated by: Thomas M. Hatting
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten-year-old Krystal Surles watched as her best friend was murdered before the intruder slashed her throat with a 12-inch boning knife. Despite the odds, she survived and led authorities to 35-year-old Tommy Lynn Sells, a former truck driver, carnival worker, and drifter. Through the Window includes his confession to the murder of 10-year-old Joel Kirkpatrick, playing a pivotal role in obtaining justice for wrongfully convicted Julie Rea.
-
-
Very Good Book About a Very Bad Dude
- By Dave on 08-07-12
By: Diane Fanning
-
Seventy Times Seven
- A True Story of Murder and Mercy
- By: Alex Mar
- Narrated by: Alex Mar
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a spring afternoon in 1985 in Gary, Indiana, a fifteen-year-old girl kills an elderly woman in a violent home invasion. In a city with a history of racial tensions and white flight, the girl, Paula Cooper, is Black, and her victim, Ruth Pelke, is white and a beloved Bible teacher. The press swoops in.
-
-
Interesting
- By Mmj on 08-23-23
By: Alex Mar
-
Love Me to Death
- The Chilling True Story of WIlliam “Wild Bill Cody” Neal—The Vicious Denver Lady-Killer
- By: Steve Jackson
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
William Neal, who called himself "Wild Bill Cody," was seductive and skillful at separating love-struck women from their money, and ultimately, their lives. Apprehended by police, Neal, who proclaimed himself “better than Ted Bundy,” pleaded guilty to three murders then insisted on representing himself at his death penalty trial. But the psychopathic killer found himself up against the incredible courage of his one surviving victim.
-
-
Disappointed
- By donald on 02-09-23
By: Steve Jackson
-
Dead in the Water
- My Forty-Year Search for My Brother's Killer
- By: Penny Farmer
- Narrated by: Tess Gallagher, Ian Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1978, two corpses were discovered in the sea off Guatemala. Hooded, bound with ropes and weighted down with heavy engine parts, Chris Farmer and his girlfriend Peta Frampton were thrown from a yacht on which they had been crewing. This is the gripping account of how Chris's family painstakingly gathered evidence against the boat's Californian skipper, Silas Duane Boston, working alongside the FBI, Interpol, and police in the UK and the USA. Almost four decades later in 2015, there was a major breakthrough in the case when, using Facebook, Chris's sister Penny tracked Boston down.
-
-
A riveting story.
- By Hugelucyfan on 09-27-19
By: Penny Farmer
-
Alice & Gerald
- A Homicidal Love Story
- By: Ron Franscell
- Narrated by: Chris Lutkin
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1974, Alice, a desperate young mother in a gritty Wyoming boomtown, kills her husband and dumps his body where it will never be found, then slips away and starts a new life. But when her new man's ex-wife and two kids start demanding more of him, Alice delivers an ultimatum: fix the problem or lose her forever. With Alice's help, Gerald fixes the problem in an extraordinarily ghastly way...and they live happily ever after...that is, until 2013, almost 40 years later, when somebody finds a dead man's skeleton in a place where Alice thought he'd never be found.
-
-
HORRIBLE narration!
- By gauzy on 09-25-19
By: Ron Franscell
-
Extreme Punishment
- The Chilling True Story of Acclaimed Law Professor Dan Markel’s Murder
- By: Steven B. Epstein
- Narrated by: Eddie Frierson
- Length: 23 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the morning of July 18, 2014, 41-year-old Florida State law professor Dan Markel dropped his boys off at preschool, hit the gym, and headed home to his quiet, tree-canopied neighborhood. Within seconds of pulling into his garage, two .38-caliber bullets fired from point-blank range were lodged in his brain. His brutal slaying defied explanation.
-
-
Good book. Guys voice awful
- By Anonymous User on 12-17-23
-
Our Little Secret
- The True Story of a Teenage Killer and the Silence of a Small New England Town
- By: Kevin Flynn, Rebecca Lavoie
- Narrated by: Aven Shore
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 20 years Daniel Paquette's murder in New Hampshire went unsolved. It remained a secret between two high school friends until Eric Windhurst's arrest in 2005. What was revealed was a crime born of adolescent passion between Eric and Daniel's stepdaughter, Melanie - redefining the meaning of loyalty, justice, and revenge.
-
-
A
- By Diana Hart 33 on 04-28-21
By: Kevin Flynn, and others
-
The Girl I Never Knew
- Who Killed Melissa Witt?
- By: LaDonna Humphrey
- Narrated by: Linda Jones
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For over two decades the identity of Melissa Witt's murderer has been hidden among the dense trees and thorny undergrowth rooted deeply in the uneven ground of a remote mountaintop in the Ozark National Forest. Determined to find answers, LaDonna Humphrey has spent the past seven years hunting for Melissa's killer. Her investigation, both thrilling and unpredictable, has led her on a journey like no other.
-
-
The facts of the story that we never knew! This audiobook was excellent!!
- By KAhne on 04-22-24
By: LaDonna Humphrey
-
Secrets of a Marine's Wife
- A True Story of Marriage, Obsession, and Murder
- By: Shanna Hogan
- Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In June 2014, 19-year-old Erin Corwin was living a quiet life in Twentynine Palms, California, expecting her first child with her husband, US Marine Corporal Jon Corwin - until the day she drove off into the desert and never returned. As temperatures climbed into the hundreds, friends and family teamed up with local law enforcement in a grueling search of Joshua Tree National Park. Nearly two months after her disappearance, Corwin's body was found at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft, a homemade garrote wrapped around her throat.
-
-
Secrets
- By Judy on 04-06-19
By: Shanna Hogan
-
A Clockwork Murder
- The Night a Twisted Fantasy Became a Demented Reality
- By: Steve Jackson
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In April 1997, pretty, 22-year-old Jacine Gielinski stopped her car at a red light in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She had no idea that the two young men looking at her from the car next to hers would in that moment decide she would be their target for unspeakable horrors.
-
-
well written, excellent narration
- By Roberta on 07-08-17
By: Steve Jackson
-
Heart Full of Lies
- A True Story of Desire and Death
- By: Ann Rule
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An idyllic Hawaiian wedding held the promise of a wonderful future for handsome, athletic Chris Northon, an airline pilot, a confirmed bachelor-turned-devoted family man; and Liysa, an acclaimed surf photographer, loving mother, and aspiring Hollywood screenwriter. But few, including Chris, had seen Liysa's other side - her controlling behavior and dark moods, her insatiable hunger for money and property. And no one anticipated the fatal outcome of a family camping trip in an Oregon forest.
-
-
Liysa Northon- It’s not a lie if you believe it
- By M. Thompson on 01-06-21
By: Ann Rule
-
Inconvenience Gone
- The Short Tragic Life of Brandon Sims
- By: Diane Marger Moore
- Narrated by: Chris Monteiro
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The four-year-old Brandon Sims had not been seen since July 3, 1992, when he attended a birthday party with his 20-year-old mother, Michelle Jones. For years, Jones lied to her friends about Brandon, telling some that he was living with his father and others that he was staying with his grandmother in another state. When Brandon’s father, who had been in jail, came looking for Brandon, Michelle’s shocked friends confronted her. She confessed that Brandon was dead. She repeated her story of how Brandon died to a detective. The detective didn’t believe her story.
-
-
Tragic story, excellent storytelling
- By Gigi on 12-14-18
-
Terror Town USA
- The Untold Story of Joliet's Notorious Serial Killer
- By: John Ferak
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The summer of 1983 was like no other in Joliet, Ill., a hard-working, rough-and-tough blue-collar industrial city an hour’s drive southwest of Chicago. During one of the hottest summers on record, the citizens of Joliet, were terrorized by an elusive serial-killing madman.
-
-
Finally...it's been a minute ...
- By Colleen T. Mizeres on 01-24-22
By: John Ferak
-
The Devil's Cinema
- The Untold Story Behind Mark Twitchell's Kill Room
- By: Steve Lillebuen
- Narrated by: Steve Lillebuen
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the night of October 10, 2008, Johnny Altinger was heading to his first date with a woman he had met online. He was never seen again. Two weeks earlier, aspiring filmmaker Mark Twitchell, a young father with a devotion to the television series Dexter, began a three-day shoot for his latest short film. His horror story featured a serial killer who impersonates women on an online dating site to lure unsuspecting men to his suburban kill room. But was his script actually the blueprint for a real-life murder?
By: Steve Lillebuen
-
The Decision to Kill
- A True Crime Story of a Teenage Killer and the Mother Who Loved Him
- By: Leslie Ghiglieri
- Narrated by: Stephanie Lane
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the early morning of October 18, 1986, Cherie Wier’s life collapses when her teenage son takes the life of her beloved husband. For years, Cherie grapples with events preceding and following the crime, struggling to overcome the consuming grief she suffers from her loss and the difficulty she faces as she attempts to forgive her son. The courtroom accounts of gruesome details and the shocking testimonies from experts only add to Cherie’s yearning to make sense of the crime. She is tormented, wanting to know why the tragedy happened, and if there was anything she could have done.
-
-
Awful, awful, awful
- By Susie Q on 11-09-22
By: Leslie Ghiglieri
What listeners say about Mothers and Murderers
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jeff and Sabrena
- 05-02-20
A mix of memoir and true crime
This is sort of a ho-hum mix of true crime and memoir. At least the true crime portion is complete. But neither the true crime case nor the memoir are especially interesting or exciting. Thankfully, Lee Ann Howlett's narration is quite satisfactory.
NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rayc
- 06-16-20
A good read with some reservations
Mothers and Murders. .
Is a good read/listen with some reservations.
Personally I felt the book was a little long winded, and wandered a bit making it hard to follow in places.
The main story takes place then follows the main characters for the best part of 20 years till the convictions are complete.
It is a mix of a true crime story and the authors personal story.. I really enjoyed the crime story less so the biography.
Great narration keeps the book very readable. I don't think I would have finished it without it being the audiobook.
I received a free copy of this audio book at my own request and voluntarily leave this honest review. .
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nicole
- 06-16-20
Interesting Memoir with A Bonus Murder Case
Like others, I thought this was going to be another true crime novel about a murder and subsequent trial. I was surprised to learn quickly that this is actually a journalist's (Katherine Ellison) memoir about her own life with the added bonus of a true-crime story weaved throughout. She did a great job explaining how her own lift story parallels the life of a woman accused of facilitating the murder of her husband. While they have a lot in common, they are also nothing alike.
The only part that made me cringe was when Katherine called someone who dropped out of college and idiot (or something similar to that word) in her description meaning if you drop out of college you must be intellectually inferior which is simply NOT true at all. She may have not meant it to be interpreted as such but the wording seemed to lead the listener/reader to that conclusion.
The narration of this book was great! Lee Ann Howlett did a spectacular job and was pleasant to listen to.
*I was given a free copy of this audio book in exchange for my honest opinion - this did not have any influence on my review*
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- G C
- 05-02-20
GREAT READ!
I really enjoyed it! The narration was great and kept me entertained! The author did a great job with the character builds and plot! This was my first book by this author but definitely not my last! I look forward to reading more books by this author! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MarinaK
- 01-13-21
Riveting story masterfully told
I loved just about everything about this book, which captivated me from start to finish in its treatment of so many issues of interest to me:
-the riveting murder story and the journalist’s decades-long preoccupation with that story,
-the newspaper business of a bygone era (and the criminal justice system of a bygone era!)
-women’s inner conflict between professional ambition and the desire for a certain kind of personal life
-the social facades that some families and individuals work hard to present — and what happens when these get stripped away
-the ways we take on our parents’ legacies and struggle to resist them, among many other insights into family dynamics
I so admired the artful way the author wove all these various threads together, and her courage in baring parts of herself that most people would be afraid to share. I finished listening to the audiobook a few days ago—and am still thinking about it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Islandgirl
- 05-21-20
Just awful
I really tried to like this book, but the narration was no very good, and the story is a autobiography, with some ones murder twist, thrown in
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!