Date With the Devil

by Don Lasseter, Ronald E. Bowers

MURDER IN THE FAST LANE David Mahler, a 43-year-old east coast lawyer, came to Hollywood for the celebrity lifestyle, the movie industry, and the women. At his seven-level home in the Hollywood Hills, Mahler rubbed elbows with the seedy elements of the entertainment wannabe rock stars, drug lords, and porn stars--one of whom introduced him to Kristin Baldwin, a pretty, upbeat blonde. One night, during a violent argument in his bedroom, a vicious, drug-crazed Mahler grabbed a gun. A shot rang out--and Kristin was never seen alive again.

"True crime aficionados will savor this riveting read."

--Publishers Weekly on Honeymoon with a Killer

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2011

About the author

Don Lasseter has written five true crime books for Pinnacle plus 16 magazine articles that were reprinted in Pinnacle's anthology books about murders. In addition to being a crime writer, Mr. Lasseter is a WWII historian who frequently lectures on the subject in schools, at service clubs, and for veteran's groups. He accompanies his talks with slide packages titled "WWII, Then and Now", consisting of photos he took while actually retracing most major battles in Western Europe and in the South Pacific. Taking black and white combat photos with him, Mr. Lasseter laboriously searched for the exact spots on which the photographers stood and shot the same scenes as they look today. He accumulated over 1500 such pictures associated with various battles including the Normandy invasion, Battle of the Bulge, crossing the Rhine, taking Berlin, and other major engagements.

A native Californian, Mr. Lasseter resides in Orange County. He has served as guest lecturer in criminology classes at California State University, Fullerton. Hollywood history is Mr. Lasseter's third major interest. His personal library includes an extensive collection of movie books, and he takes pride in being able to name hundreds of old character actors whose faces are often seen in classic films. One day, Lasseter says, he will write books, both fiction and non-fiction, about the golden era of film production and the people involved.

Reviews

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haunting story about a pretty young lady who was shot & killed by a stoned "Scarface" wannabe lawyer in California who dumped her body like trash to try and save his neck. Tells about his capture and trial.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part I enjoyed reading this book, but if it had been 100 pages shorter that would have been fine with me. The case described here wasn't complex, and unlike the authors I didn't find the characters particularly fascinating.

[Halli Villegas · Rating 1 out of 5]

terribly written. I'm glad it is getting harder than ever to write in this genre because of lawsuits, etc. It means that the books that are coming out now have to be better written, carefully researched, and really be a project that the writer is invested in other than a quick money grab.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story . A little slow sometimes with background information but otherwise an interesting read .

[morris elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

If your new to true crime you will find this book pretty interesting.The scumbag protagonist is so devoid of basic humanity that you will be wishing for the death penalty even if you don't believe in the death penalty. This guy is some kind of shady lawyer/stock trader who get's the hell out of New Jersey one step ahead of the law and people who Really want to hurt him and sets up shop in California where he conducts "business" while ingesting savage amounts of crystal meth, cocaine, crack, xanax, and alcohol. I don't want to give away too much. There are strippers, porn people, never were/would be rock stars, and more lowlife people then you can shake the proverbial stick at. That's just the beginning. You will be shaking your head and asking yourself, WTF? HOW? WHY? The author will bring it all together for you. It's not an enjoyable trip, but it is one worth taking.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The coincidences and bizarre list of characters you would expect it to be nothing but a work of fiction. The victim seems to have been unlucky enough to purely have been in the wrong place at the wrong time as it could have been one of number of women given the circumstances.

Not the type of book I would usually perhaps pick up and read but this was a charity shop purchase.

[seb gratz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully written

This was terrifically written with a great list of many somewhat colourful characters and and personalities. Whilst I admire the police involved and all the judicial personnel I really didn't need to know their educational and work histories to accept that they were the "Good guys"

[Roger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not meaning to sound gruel and heartless but this is a murder that never made headlines and frankly there is no story here but the author, Don Lasseter turned this into 376 boring pages. Actually I believe he spends more words on writing about totally irrelevant people and events that have nothing what-so-ever with the central theme of this crime. Found two of his other books; "You'll Never Find My Body" and "Honeymoon With A Killer" which were very well written and interesting but Date With the Devil is a loser.

I never finish reading this monotonous and tediously written book.

[Ilona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading true crime stories make me realize just how vulnerable we are. Very bizarre behavior was ignored by everyone around the killer.