Murder at 75 Birch

by Richard T. Pienciak

Revealing the truth behind a shocking story of family anger, the author of Deadly Masquerade traces the evolution of Glen Wolsieffer's murderous career as he plots the deaths of those closest to him. Reprint.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1992

Reviews

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A woman is murdered and her dentist husband is the immediate suspect. Interesting, but the author needs to tell the story and let the reader draw his or her own conclusions, rather than constantly pointing out what is 'obvious,' 'ridiculous,' 'stupid,' etc.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good read about one of your classical Marilyn-Sheppard-style family murders. I did have a hard time telling the two brothers apart, but it appears that so did their wives and even the local post office, so I feel I'm on firm ground there. The main quarrel I have about this book is that they told you almost the whole story in the photo section. The updates in the back did give me some new information, though -- some of it rather appalling. Well worth a look.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for a book club and I wouldn't recommend it. I was engrossed, but also super frustrated. Book was longer than it should have been, and fawned over the killer, completely forgetting his victim in the closing portion of the book. It's upsetting to read about a terrible person mistreating those around him and lying and getting his way through life. He murdered his wife and his brother died because of him, and all those affected by those two devastating loses are still around trying to manage their grief. If this is what "true crime" as a genre is like, I am not its target audience.

[Lynette · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fairly interesting but got “lost in the trees” quite often. Primary take-away: If you’re going to kill your wife, do it in Pennsylvania – these people were so busy tripping over their political and journalistic careers they couldn’t manage to arrest, try or convict this guy with any degree of alacrity.

[Kaitlyn Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10 Another true crime book, don’t judge me😅. I feel like I now know EVERYTHING about this case bc the writing was that detailed. But this backfired and made it redundant and boring to read some times. The murderer in this book was a true woman-hating, A-hole, disguised as a successful family/businessman, so trigger warning there.

[Angelina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pacing of the book is very uneven. I drowned in details in some sections.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a very interesting account of what happened, as this took place in Wilkes-Barre, PA, a place I know very well. The first two parts of the book really hooked me into the story, but as I am not a legal buff, the jargon used to explain how the case was presented in court, was not as interesting to me. Overall, it was worth reading, although it was terrible that this happened.

[Sarah Meehan · Rating 5 out of 5]

this actually happened in my town