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Masquerade: A True Story of Seduction, Compulsion, and Murder
In this masterful true crime account, award-winning journalist Lowell Couffiel brilliantly unravels Alan Canty's bizarre world of double identities and double lives which ended in his lurid murder at the hands of Fry. In careful, often shocking detail, Couffiel goes beyond brute facts to recreate for true crime readers everywhere one of the most incredible crime stories in the history of Detroit.
472 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
May 19, 2021
Very well written. No repetition at all. It wasnt all about the court case which I dont like. I never felt disinterested, I kept wanting to read more and more. I liked the fact he kept the actual murder right to the very end, we knew who killed him but he still made it very interesting. I felt like I was reading a thriller which is my favourite genre apart from true crime !!
February 18, 2017
Who in the hell recommended this book to me!!!!!
OMG!!
It
is
so
good.
Here i was thinking that after reading true cime books for 14 years straight I had read all the good ones.
I was so wrong.
If you have not yet read this book go find copy. Not just the true crime readers but everyone that likes a thriller.
What you should do is trust me and do not read anything of this book.
No reviews besides mine of course ;) no book description and whatever you do.
DO NOT read the prologue!!!
You will be in for a hell of a ride.
Superior writing and I wondered while reading that it feels like a Jack Olsen book and then I discovered he had some influence but I am not sure but I loved it.
One of the best tc books I have read.
ETAL I now have the ebook version as well so if one of my friends wants to read contact me.
OMG!!
It
is
so
good.
Here i was thinking that after reading true cime books for 14 years straight I had read all the good ones.
I was so wrong.
If you have not yet read this book go find copy. Not just the true crime readers but everyone that likes a thriller.
What you should do is trust me and do not read anything of this book.
No reviews besides mine of course ;) no book description and whatever you do.
DO NOT read the prologue!!!
You will be in for a hell of a ride.
Superior writing and I wondered while reading that it feels like a Jack Olsen book and then I discovered he had some influence but I am not sure but I loved it.
One of the best tc books I have read.
ETAL I now have the ebook version as well so if one of my friends wants to read contact me.
January 10, 2014
I have read too many true crime books to count & this one is in my top 10. It is a very quick read, no parts that I wanted to skip. Sometimes true crime books get boring during the trial but not this one. I've wondered over the years about Dawn Spens & would love to see her now & what she's up to. A very good read & re-read.
December 6, 2010
It's about a psychologist named Alan Canty from Grosse Pointe who gets mixed up with a prostitute named Dawn Spens from Harper Woods and her pimp John "Lucky" Fry in the mid 80s. Dr. Canty ends up dead and dismembered. The background story on Dr. Canty is very interesting, this dude had to be coo-coo for coco puffs.
January 26, 2016
I found this book incredibly fascinating and the author is #One! I can't say enough about his talent and his attention to detail is over-the-moon. I only wish the book was twice as long. It is highly recommended and a page-turner for those of you who are addicted to Lowell Cauffiel.
June 14, 2016
I have owned this book for almost a decade and have moved it across the country with me, yet had never read the book. We just moved again and I decided to read the book or get rid of it. I'm sure glad I read the book, I couldn't put it down. The story is so well told by Lowell Cauffiel, he makes the story read like a novel, and even though I knew the Dr was going to get murdered, I was still hoping for a different outcome. The author obviously didn't agree that Dawn Spens was as innocent as she tried to make out and he presents pretty good evidence that she was involved.
Worth the read!
Worth the read!
January 26, 2013
Read this a long time ago, but thought it was one of the most interesting books I had ever read, especially because it was based on fact. Originally intrigued because I had just met the author and it took place in Detroit, I found this glimpse into the dark side of human nature both repulsive and riveting. Tells the story of how a seemingly decent and upstanding member of the community can be drawn into a web of deceit and meet with a hellish fate.
January 15, 2016
Answered all my questions about Alan Canty's horrible murder, right in my hometown. I still can't see a plastic garbage bag by the side of the road without thinking of that man. Amazing portrait of self-deception and criminal stupidity, as well as plain old criminal criminality. Fascinating psychologically, interesting legally, and so well written that it never bogs down for an instant. It gets better with every reading.
December 9, 2016
A gripping true-crime story
The nonfiction book is a compulsively readable telling of what happened to a successful Detroit psychologist who got involved with a pimp and a prostitute. It's more than that, though. It's about the deception of a double life, some genuinely peculiar behavior, and how drug use can twist and destroy lives. The true story is so sordid and fascinating that it just pulled me along.
The nonfiction book is a compulsively readable telling of what happened to a successful Detroit psychologist who got involved with a pimp and a prostitute. It's more than that, though. It's about the deception of a double life, some genuinely peculiar behavior, and how drug use can twist and destroy lives. The true story is so sordid and fascinating that it just pulled me along.
February 27, 2008
Great true crime in Detroit. You won't be able to put it down once you start!
May 22, 2018
O carte de 525 de pagini care ar fi trebuit sa spuna atat de multe despre uciderea psihologului Alan Canty si care desi se bazeaza pe evenimente reale, pe testimonialele martorilor si documentele politiei, pana la urma nu ne dezvaluie nimic :)
November 24, 2020
The psychologist and the prostitute...
This is a true crime book about the murder and dismemberment of Alan Canty, a married psychologist who got involved with a prostitute in eastern Michigan in the early '80s. He certainly didn't deserve what happened to him, but it was hard to feel sorry for someone with such a sordid secret life. In fact, it was hard to feel sorry for anyone in the book, such as his mother who enabled him and his wife who had her head in the sand. And then there's the prostitute and her boyfriend/pimp who would do just about anything to feed their addiction to drugs.
I think the book deserves 3.5 stars. I'm rounding down only because I've read other true crime books I couldn't put down. This book was good, just not quite that good.
This is a true crime book about the murder and dismemberment of Alan Canty, a married psychologist who got involved with a prostitute in eastern Michigan in the early '80s. He certainly didn't deserve what happened to him, but it was hard to feel sorry for someone with such a sordid secret life. In fact, it was hard to feel sorry for anyone in the book, such as his mother who enabled him and his wife who had her head in the sand. And then there's the prostitute and her boyfriend/pimp who would do just about anything to feed their addiction to drugs.
I think the book deserves 3.5 stars. I'm rounding down only because I've read other true crime books I couldn't put down. This book was good, just not quite that good.
July 4, 2021
4.5 stars
Given to me by a friend who actually knew and worked with Alan Canty. Very detailed; very well written. Interesting to me, knowing many of the locations. At the end, I am amazed at how he lived a multiple life for so many years. My friend had only good to say about him, yet it seems he deceived so many. Obviously his family was hurt by his actions and , it appears, the prostitute in this case, but largely it seems he was just wanting to be someone else. Very sad.
Given to me by a friend who actually knew and worked with Alan Canty. Very detailed; very well written. Interesting to me, knowing many of the locations. At the end, I am amazed at how he lived a multiple life for so many years. My friend had only good to say about him, yet it seems he deceived so many. Obviously his family was hurt by his actions and , it appears, the prostitute in this case, but largely it seems he was just wanting to be someone else. Very sad.
April 23, 2015
Good solid crime novel
Stayed up til 5am to read this book. Read like a novel, despite the fact that is a well researched nonfiction book. Greatly recommend to other fans of the genre.
Stayed up til 5am to read this book. Read like a novel, despite the fact that is a well researched nonfiction book. Greatly recommend to other fans of the genre.
May 6, 2015
This book is compelling and engrossing. The outcome is a foregone conclusion, and the people described are unsympathetic to say the least, so I admire the author's ability to make things interesting (fascinating, even) over the course of 450+ pages.
January 24, 2018
Easy to read, and intriguing at that. As a native Michigander, it’s interesting to read about places I am familiar with, even though this crime took way before I was born. It kind of has a hold on me, and I will have to do more internet research at that — I still have so many questions.
July 3, 2017
Masquerade, a true story based in Detroit.
Very well written, and interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this true story. Definitely had me shaking my head.. I would recommend this book.
Very well written, and interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this true story. Definitely had me shaking my head.. I would recommend this book.
March 25, 2019
I knew the people involved. Grew up in Southwest Detroit. But this book fills in alot of blanks. We knew John Frye was crazy but never imagine he would go this far. Great book.
February 2, 2023
Masquerade tells the tale of two cities, one of 1980s Detroit drug addicted street whores and the other of the upscale, country club set residing in the mansions of Grosse Pointe. The worlds collided when fifty-year-old psychologist, Dr. Al Canty picked up eighteen-year-old Dawn Spens, a heroin and coke fueled hooker and the shrink's life would forever be changed.
Dawn and her boyfriend and pimp with the unlikely nickname of "Lucky" managed to pry more than $100,000 from the published author and well respected man with a wife and six bedroom abode.
After a year and a half, the financially drained and infatuated victim met with an extremely unpleasant demise involving a baseball bat and Ginsu knife.
The clueless wife had no idea that her husband was getting busy with a teenage prostitute, even though her marriage had been a sexless one for several years. She also held a doctorate in psychology but like many of the super educated, lacked much common sense.
Masquerade is a great read and I finished the four hundred plus page book in one day.
Dawn and her boyfriend and pimp with the unlikely nickname of "Lucky" managed to pry more than $100,000 from the published author and well respected man with a wife and six bedroom abode.
After a year and a half, the financially drained and infatuated victim met with an extremely unpleasant demise involving a baseball bat and Ginsu knife.
The clueless wife had no idea that her husband was getting busy with a teenage prostitute, even though her marriage had been a sexless one for several years. She also held a doctorate in psychology but like many of the super educated, lacked much common sense.
Masquerade is a great read and I finished the four hundred plus page book in one day.
June 13, 2018
Pretty good
September 13, 2020
About a decade ago, I had a copy of Lowell Cauffiel’s Masquerade. I thought that it was great, but I made a mistake by donating it before my better half had a chance to read it. When I saw an awful, dog-eared copy at Pensacola’s Waterfront Rescue Mission thrift store, I knew that I had invest a quarter for it.
My wife is getting ready to read Masquerade as her next book. I just read it for a second time. I seldom reread books, but Masquerade was worth it. At its core, Masquerade is a true-crime book that is all about deception – the facades that we all construct for dealing with the world.
Dr. Alan Canty was a very-successful psychologist in Detroit. He was married to another Ph.D. psychologist named Jan. But Alan had a secret life – he became heavily involved with a young prostitute named Dawn Spens and with her pimp, a habitual offender called “Lucky” Fry.
After Spens and Fry murdered Alan Canty, his secret life came to the public’s attention. The media and Jan Canty both unraveled the story – and found that almost nothing about Alan Canty was as it had first seemed. Alan had a decades-long history of “rescuing” women and of puffing up his public reputation.
Simply put, Masquerade’s amazing. Author Cauffiel does a great job of describing the characters and the high and low places in Detroit, Michigan. Read this one –you’ll never forget it.
My wife is getting ready to read Masquerade as her next book. I just read it for a second time. I seldom reread books, but Masquerade was worth it. At its core, Masquerade is a true-crime book that is all about deception – the facades that we all construct for dealing with the world.
Dr. Alan Canty was a very-successful psychologist in Detroit. He was married to another Ph.D. psychologist named Jan. But Alan had a secret life – he became heavily involved with a young prostitute named Dawn Spens and with her pimp, a habitual offender called “Lucky” Fry.
After Spens and Fry murdered Alan Canty, his secret life came to the public’s attention. The media and Jan Canty both unraveled the story – and found that almost nothing about Alan Canty was as it had first seemed. Alan had a decades-long history of “rescuing” women and of puffing up his public reputation.
Simply put, Masquerade’s amazing. Author Cauffiel does a great job of describing the characters and the high and low places in Detroit, Michigan. Read this one –you’ll never forget it.
December 12, 2016
This seemed like a good true crime novel, but it was the first I've ever read. I didn't enjoy reading about the two perpetrators and their ongoing drug habits. Because it's all based on documents and witness testimony, glimpses into the mind of the psychologist, who obviously had some issues, seemed fleeting. I guess I prefer fiction, where you can see right into the mind of any character the author chooses. It was still a good story.
August 31, 2017
This book has an interesting story but it just goes on and on. 100 chapters, each only a few pages. It makes for a propulsive read, as you know you can knock out another chapter or two quickly but it is just so repetitive. By the time you're 2/3 of the way through you just want it to be over. It's not terrible and I did enjoy much of it but it could have lost about 1/4 or more of the material and been the exact same book.
August 6, 2017
Reads like
a work of spectacular fiction, but is a true story that defies belief. The complex personality of the victim (the man that dies), not to be confused with an entire cast of victims, is astounding to contemplate. "Al" led a double life difficult to follow or imagine...his wife Jan says it might have been easier dealing with a Sybil-like persona, I entirely understand after dwelling on the subject. Great read.
a work of spectacular fiction, but is a true story that defies belief. The complex personality of the victim (the man that dies), not to be confused with an entire cast of victims, is astounding to contemplate. "Al" led a double life difficult to follow or imagine...his wife Jan says it might have been easier dealing with a Sybil-like persona, I entirely understand after dwelling on the subject. Great read.
March 9, 2021
A tour-de-force in true crime non fiction. It's always a delicate balance between in the genre what's pertinent to the case, what's interesting or even tantalizing and what's just plain lurid. Cauffiel never crosses the line into tabloid journalism, nor does he get dry and academic. He does an excellent job of making the psychology of the key figures so detailed that you feel like you're on the inside track of the story. Immediately absorbing from the very beginning.
May 3, 2019
He may have been a very good therapist, but he sure didn't know how to pick his friends.
A very interesting true crime book. Well written and easy to follow, It held my interest. Another plus is that the trial portion was not very large and not bogged down in tiny details.
If you're into "true crime" read this book.
A very interesting true crime book. Well written and easy to follow, It held my interest. Another plus is that the trial portion was not very large and not bogged down in tiny details.
If you're into "true crime" read this book.
September 2, 2013
a chilling true story set in Detroit written by a former police beat writer. his style reminds me of Norman Mailer's...very fact-oriented.
chapters are short, which I like. one problem---I didn't like any of the characters...but this is true life and you don't always.
chapters are short, which I like. one problem---I didn't like any of the characters...but this is true life and you don't always.
January 27, 2018
I’m impressed with the writer. I like an occasional true crime book but they often seem dry. Not the case with ones written by Lowell Cauffiel who has a talent for making you feel you witnessed the crime with your own eyes. Good book!
June 4, 2008
Actually I don't remember much from this one... I think the killer must've been a biker-type guy?
December 13, 2014
This book was especially interesting to me because it took place in Detroit. I am familiar with many of the buildings and streets where the crime and events leading to it took place.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews