'Till Death Do Us Part: Love, Marriage, and the Mind of the Killer Spouse

by Robi Ludwig, Matt Birkbeck

Every day six people in the United States are murdered by spouses or intimate partners. Society is captivated and startled by stories of these killers, leading people to wonder how seemingly normal and happy people manage to go over the edge. In Till Death Do Us Part, noted psychotherapist Dr. Robi Ludwig, along with journalist Matt Birkbeck, presents the psychological profiles of notorious killer spouses -- from Scott Peterson and Clara Harris to Rabbi Fred Neulander and Betty Broderick. Dr. Ludwig reveals the ten killer personality types and defines them in detail with examples from high-profile cases and in-depth analyses of the motivations behind the murders.

Gripping and insightful, Till Death Do Us Part explores a phenomenon that many spouses can't help but think about -- shedding light on the very notion of "happily ever after."

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Psychology, Audiobook

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2006

About the author

Robi Ludwig, Psy.D. is a nationally known psychotherapist, award-winning reporter, and author. She is a relationship contributor for Investigation Discovery Network’s Scorned, and has hosted TLC’s reality show One Week to Save Your Marriage and GSN’s Without Prejudice? Dr. Ludwig is a regular guest on CNN, Fox News, and Headline News, discussing psychological and lifestyle issues as well as the criminal mind. She has appeared on Today, Entertainment Tonight, 20/20, World News Tonight, Nightline, The View, Fox and Friends, Steve Harvey, The Wendy Williams Show, and is on the medical board and a contributor for BELLA Magazine. She also writes for the Huffington Post. Dr. Ludwig lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This true crime work was full of repetition without much depth.

[Patricia Joynton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this kept my interest. It's a book that came to me via library book sale or some such. Admitting I found this interesting is like saying you find "True Romance" likeable. However, it was researched by professionals and written in a professional manner. Reading it was like being drawn to a bad train wreck, and then saying you "found it interesting." The psychological aspects that were adressed made it worth reading. Not sure I ever found out how anyone could kill a spouse, but in the end, the psychologists make a case for: anyone can given the right conditions. NOW, that's scarry!

[Marianne Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watch Robi Ludwig on Court TV and respect her as a psychologist. Her book is as precise as she is. This is a MUST READ for all true crime lovers.

[Kelly B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why I chose to read about partners who kill each other, I do not know. Disturbing. I can't believe the number one cause of death for pregnant women is homicide. There are some seriously sick people out there. Try not to date any of them...

[Charlene · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly could not imagine a more biased and less critically minded author than Ann Rule. I was wrong. This person should have their degrees stripped from them. I looked them up to see if maybe they received their degrees online. The author went to at least one reputable university. Apparently she did not attend any course on critical thinking. This book is 100% sensationalism. The author purports to know what the killers were thinking and why they took the actions they did. If you like reading authors who apparently think they are psychic, you will like this book. If not, I would skip this.

[Nicole Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok, it had a lot of generic psychoanalysis. I didn’t feel like she dug into specific cases much, just gave generalized reasons/categories of spousal killers & then gave an example of which well known murders could fit into that “type”. It almost felt like she was writing a college paper. I didn’t buy into all her reasoning.

[False · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chapters are broken down into the types of killers out there:

The Betrayal-Abandonment Killer
The Control Killer
The Sociopathic Killer
The Black Widow-Profit Killer
The Narcissistic Killer
The Temper Tantrum Killer
The Transference Killer
The Revenge Killer
The Pregnancy Killer
The Caregiver Killer


Plan on finishing this book once you start reading it. Not only are you given a factual account of the crime, you are also presented with the psychological analysis for the motivation. Each chapter chronicles a different psychosis, providing the reader with a clinical view of the criminal's state of mind.

The first chapter is particularly heavy on the marriage research aspect of things, including a section about why people marry in the first place, along with such depressing details as the fact that a huge percentage of men and women (even those without murder in their hearts) are unfaithful. You have to get through that before you really start to get to specific cases of spousal murder. It is pretty dry stuff, unless you are MOSTLY interested in research about marriage.

If that doesn't dissuade you and you are willing to read about various theories in between the accounts of the various crimes, this might be worth a browse for you. But some of these cases HAVE been covered in detail before, including the one of Pamela Smart, a media services worker at school who got her much younger 15 year old lover to agree to be a hit man and murder her husband.

If you are a true crime reader, you may already be familiar with this case and others in the book. I think the Pamela Smart case was actually covered much better in the book To Die For (although it is a fictionalized version of the case) as well as the movie by the same name (starring Nicole Kidman in a tour de force performance).

In my opinion, this author needed either a better editor, proofreader or writer friend to help get rid of the drier material and hone in on the main points and focus on the actual cases. I found this to be a pretty dull read - and that is saying a lot for a book which SHOULD be inherently pretty exciting and interesting, simply because of the subject matter.

[Nicole Diamond · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible book. I love the subject matter but the book was VERY poorly written. The other spells DJ as deejay. The work DJ is from disc jockey. It reads like a student writing a paper at 2am that is due the next day.
Terrible book.

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting stories and analysis. But sometimes the analysis seemed very repetitious and not very informative. I did learn that the most common cause of death in pregnant women is homicide. (owned CD copy)

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, easy to read, informative, helpful

[Pat Kroken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up after seeing the author comment as a subject-matter expert for a news segment. Some of the examples covered in the book have been covered extensively in the news media so it wasn't necessarily "new news" but I was fascinated by the categorization of murderous types and the evolution of their relationships.

OK, so I have a fascination with true crime and incidental dating/relationship advice. And sociopaths.

Robi Ludwig doesn't just re-hash the news, but provides a valuable perspective as a professional.

[Kathleen Hagen]

‘Till Death Do Us Part: Love, Marriage, and the mind of the Killer Spouse;
by Robi Ludwig and Matt Birkbeck
Narrated by Ellen Archer, produced by Tantor Media, downloaded from audible.com.
Publisher’s note:
In the tradition of Ann Rule and the international best seller Women Who Kill comes the first book that chronicles the psychological profiles of spouses
who kill, from Scott Peterson to Rabbi Fred Neulander, told by a renowned psychotherapist who specializes in spousal behavior and the criminal mind. Every
day six people are murdered in the U.S. by a spouse or intimate partner. The stories of killer spouses capture the attention of readers, who wonder how
such normal and seemingly happy people can go over the edge. In every relationship there are "extreme moments" where scary feelings surface. But what happens
when those feelings turn to action? In 'Till Death Do Us Part, noted psychotherapist Robi Ludwig, along with journalist Matt Birkbeck, answers these troubling
questions by identifying ten killer personality types. In Ludwig's practice she has found that within nearly every relationship there are extreme moments
where scary and dangerous feelings surface. These are deep feelings and disturbing thoughts we all have, yet for the most part never act upon. But when
that line crosses over into murder something has gone terribly wrong, and we all ask the same question, how could this have happened?

[Kelly Rice]

A nice collection of stories about a dozen or so different murderers who killed their spouse. Although the profiles of the murders themselves are somewhat thinly told and lack a good amount of detail, the chapters they support make up for it. Each chapter focuses on a specific kind of killer relationship: the Control Killer, Sociopathic Killer, Pregnancy Killer, etc. Within these chapters the authors spend a great deal of time discussing the motivations of that kind of killer and the psychology behind it as well as some discussion on how to best handle those people which, depending on how you look at it, kind of makes it a self-help book for people in bad familial or emotional relationships.

The profiles of the murders themselves could be a bit more fleshed out (pun kind of intended) but each gives you enough that you'd know if you wanted to read a book about that specific murder. So it's also a good bet for rue crime fans who are on the lookout for inspiration on other books to get.

[A.r. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an interesting examination of the phsycology of murdering husbands and wives. However I had to deduct stars for whats NOT in the book. The author doesn't even acknowledge the possibility that people of same sex can have a loving and fullfilling relationship, and can raise a proper family. Equally, like ALL human relationships, they can turn sour and end in murder. Even if the author did not want to talk about any particular case she still should have acknowledged the existence of same-sex relationships.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book late at night while I was driving home. It gave me the willies.

It did not answer a lot of the questions that were posed. There is never any definite answer on what kind of spouse kills another. However, there are warning signs. If you are listening to your intuition, chances are you'll stay safe. Pretty decent read; some parts were really dry. I think it was the subject matter, not the author's fault.

Pick it up if you're interested in the psychology of criminals.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

im still reading this book. i just picked it up from the library two days ago only on chapter 4. there are some parts that are too me boring maybe a bit too much talk about the psychological parts of some were a snore so i skimmed over it. however its very interesting on how they go about explaining it all. i dont want to put the book down which is what i love about reading. i might repost once im done glad to have found this book. i wouldve gave it 3 and a half stars but idk how.

[Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

- from the jacket: "Every day six people in the United States are murdered by spouses or intimate partners. The stories of killer spouses tend to captivate us, as they beg the question of how so many seemingly normal and happy people manage to go over the edge..."
- interesting topic
- so-so delivery

[Kristine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written.

[Amy Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book I saw years ago on a cataloging truck and have been meaning to read. Psycological analysis of the reasons people kill their spouses.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy-to-read, well-documented and good common well-known cases; nice pictures.