These were interesting true-life stories. I was particularly impressed by the private detective in several of the cases who persevered when law enforcement did not have the manpower and/or imagination to figure out what unusual crime had happened!

In Bowden's introduction, he talks emphatically about the difference between writing compelling fiction and compelling non-fiction. The key difference is that with non-fiction, one can only report the facts without adding a gloss to them. As a reporter, one can only with confidence tell a factual story with the details given by the eyewitnesses. One cannot utilize a non-fiction piece to fill in gaps in testimony, to add details that you think are true, but have not been proven. Following the introduction, Bowden, a reporter by trade, offers us readers six news articles about crimes.

The first couple of stories are difficult ones to read about, including a fraternity gang rape of a vulnerable girl, too drugged out to consent and an on-line predator caught in a sting operation. In particular, with these two stories, Bowden not only gives us the details in a compelling manner, often giving us both points of view, but offers an understanding of the policy difficulties. With the gang rape, which took place in 1983, we get a chilling story of what happens when society's unspoken rules are put aside, when there is no one in the building with the maturity to say stop, and how little understanding the fraternity brothers had of what they had done. With the online predator story, Bowden goes step by step through the on-line chats between the man who was caught and the actor pretending to be a woman with two young children and shows us how difficult it is to sometimes understand where the line is between entrapment and actively taking these people off the web.

The remaining stories are not so chilling. They are more along the lines of Sherlock Holmes mystery puzzles. Each is an unsolvable crime that lay dormant for years in the cold case bins till someone took a different perspective in looking at them. One is where a woman's body is found in the Florida Everglades, but there is no camera angle at the major hotel she was staying in which ever shows her leaving the hotel on the night in question. One is a man found in a motel room in the midwest with no explanation for how he got so beaten, no signs of the struggle in the motel room.

Each of these mini-stories is well-written, easy to read, and quite intriguing. This fairly short volume is a fascinating quick read.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

A true crime fan I found this book a fascinating and intriguing insight into several true crimes. Well written and I will definitely be reading more books by this author. Great read.

Bowden is at his best here! Six fast-reading, intriguing true crime stories that will keep you interested. Guaranteed you will not be able to put this aside. I really enjoyed his "Doctor Dealer" and "Killing Pablo" books, but here he really shines. And I really hope that, someday, he does an entire book on his private detective friend, Ken Brennan!

This was an interesting group of true crime stories that was entertaining to read. I think only one of them I had read before. There is a PI that is just astounding at solving tough cold cases that I think most will enjoy. He’s rather like a magician. I’ll be looking for more to read about him, I know, this Mr. Brennan. This was certainly worth the read if you enjoy true crime and are looking for separate stories. Advanced electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Mark Bowden, and Atlantic Monthly Press.

The Case of The Vanishing Blonde: And Other True Crime Stories by Mark Bowden is a collection of six long-form true crime pieces of journalism previously covered during his long career. Five of these pieces were previously published in other forms elsewhere and Bowden has included short updates on those when applicable. Several of these stories have received wide media attention, with one of them turned into a movie.

With these pieces, as with his other non-fiction works, Bowden is consistent in his ability to craft compelling accounts of almost any topic he comes across. These tales include experiences with a tireless private detective with an uncanny ability to solve the unsolvable and other law enforcement agencies throughout the United States.

Recommended to those that enjoy true-crime tales.

This book had some quite fascinating elements and I read it quickly, but it was lacking something.
Ive read some better true crime accounts recently, and I think my expectations for this were too high.

Thank you Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for sharing this upcoming Mark Bowden compilation of true crime reporting. I am already a fan of the author, so it’s no surprise that I found this book great and would recommend to anyone who likes true crime reporting or non-fiction in general. The only thing that prevented me from giving a 5 star rating is that I had previously read 3 of the 6 stories, and that may be true of anyone who reads Vanity Fair.

Not a bad selection of stories, some are surprising. They are well written with no typos etc that I noticed. I would say in general they are on the bland side but worth reading if you are into short pieces that don't take too much time. Crime genre but pretty tame for the most part. Maybe too tame.