Echoes in the Darkness by Joseph Wambaugh

The Main Line Murder Case is a true story to rival Joseph Wambaugh's most bizarre fiction.

Bill Bradfield is an outstanding teacher and self-styled expert in Greek. Along with his penchant for poetry is his bent for collecting women. Dr Jay Smith, the principal of Bradfield's school, has such strange nocturnal habits and sinister ways that colleagues have dubbed him Prince of Darkness. Both men are at the core of this case.

What brings them to public attention is the baffling murder in 1979 of a teaching colleague whose nude body is found in her car. Her two children have vanished.

Seven years of investigations by the FBI and state police - one of the biggest homicide investigations in American history - result in an unforgettable and unique murder trial. Joseph Wambaugh's brilliance in making the atmosphere and the people in this fascinating case come alive make this penetrating account of a bizarre murder and a classic police investigation his most compelling work of non-fiction since The Onion Field.

Genres: Nonfiction - True Crime - Mystery - History - Horror - Biography - Thriller - Detective - American