The Lazarus Files: A Cold Case Investigation

by Matthew McGough

A deeply-reported, riveting account of a cold case murder in Los Angeles, unsolved until DNA evidence implicated a shocking suspect - a female detective within the LAPD's own ranks.

On February 24, 1986, 29-year-old newlywed Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in the home she shared with her husband, John. The crime scene suggested a ferocious struggle, and police initially assumed it was a burglary gone awry. Before her death, Sherri had confided to her parents that an ex-girlfriend of John's, a Los Angeles police officer, had threatened her. The Rasmussens urged the LAPD to investigate the ex-girlfriend, but the original detectives only pursued burglary suspects, and the case went cold.

DNA analysis did not exist when Sherri was murdered. Decades later, a swab from a bite mark on Sherri's arm revealed her killer was in fact female, not male. A DNA match led to the arrest and conviction of veteran LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus, John's onetime girlfriend.

The Lazarus Files delivers the visceral experience of being inside a real-life murder mystery. McGough reconstructs the lives of Sherri, John and Stephanie; the love triangle that led to Sherri's murder; and the homicide investigation that followed. Was Stephanie protected by her fellow officers? What did the LAPD know, and when did they know it? Are there other LAPD cold cases with a police connection that remain unsolved?

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Mystery, Audiobook, History, Death

448 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2019

About the author

Matthew McGough was born in New York. He is the author of “Bat Boy: Coming of Age with the New York Yankees” and has also worked as a screenwriter for LAW & ORDER. He lives in Los Angeles with his family.

Reviews

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The is such an excellent true crime story about the murder of Sherri Rasmussen back in February 1986. She was a newly married director of critical care nursing at Glendale Adventist Hospital. It is meticulously told, a bit too much so, in that it comes out to six hundred plus pages. Some repetitious areas where really, we got it the first time. But that aside, the cold case gets traction after DNA comes into play and the husband’s old girlfriend, LA cop Stephanie Lazarus is finally suspect #1, as she should have been long ago. Stephanie is a real piece of work, as you will know by reading this book.

My original review went poof, so I’m piecing this together from memory. It’s a good book, but I give a warning for the length. But maybe you’re in the mood for a good long book. There is a chapter on The Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez you could probably skip if you are already familiar with him and want to cut out some filler. Otherwise, enjoy and I can’t wait to see what you think of this book. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Matthew McGough, and the publisher.

My BookZone blog:
https://wordpress.com/post/bookblog20...

[Donna Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s almost as if two crimes are committed inside these pages: the first is the premeditated murder of Sherri Rasmussen, and the second is this atrocious book. How many writers can take a compelling story—that of a cop killing her romantic rival, and her arrest and conviction—and make it this dull? So I still thank Net Galley and Henry Holt for the review copy, but nothing and nobody can make me read anything written by this author again. It appears that very few reviewers even forced themselves to finish it; those of us that soldiered on till the end either deserve commendations for our determination, or a mental health referral for not cutting our losses.

The book’s beginning comes the closest to competent writing as any part of this thing. We get background information about Sherri and John’s courtship and marriage, as well as John’s relationship with the murdering woman he scorned, Stephanie Lazarus. Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying this part is well written. Even here, there are serious issues with organization and focus, yet I continue, believing that when we get to the meat of the story where the truth is revealed and the killer arrested, tried and convicted, it will be worth the wait. In that, I am mistaken.

The author wanders anywhere and everywhere, apparently unwilling or unable to exclude one single fact about anyone, even those tangentially involved. Why do we need pages and more pages devoted to the life and times of people the victim barely knew? To add insult to injury, many of the facts he’s uncovered are inserted into multiple places in the narrative in a way that emphasis doesn’t justify. It appears as if he is attempting to reveal a cop cover-up, but his inner attorney forces him to equivocate, hinting throughout without ever reaching the punchline. He infers that maybe Sherri’s husband John knows more than he’s saying, but again we see innuendo everywhere without an accusation being made outright. The writing is riddled with clichés. In many places he tells us how one character or another feels, or what they are thinking, and yet there are no citations anywhere for anything; this is a cardinal sin in writing nonfiction. I go to check the notes at the end of the book and there are none. The copious gushing over Sherri’s excellent character and intelligence, while it sounds warranted, is salted so liberally over 597 interminable pages that it makes me wonder if there is a connection between the author and the victim’s family, but again, if it’s true, he doesn’t say so. All told, it’s a very unprofessional piece of…writing.

By the time I consider abandoning this thing, I have put in the time required to read over a hundred pages, and so I see it through. I skip the section about the murder of someone else; had it shown up before I was completely disgusted, I’d read it in case it provides strong evidence to back up what the author is inferring but not saying, but as it is, I just want to get to the meat of the matter and be done with this thing.

Imagine my surprise when the Rasmussen murder case is not reopened, and Lazarus is not investigated, arrested, tried and convicted until…the epilogue.

There is not one redeeming feature of this book. It’s a train wreck from the start to the blessed ending. If I feel this way after reading it free, how might you feel if you paid money for it?

[Antigone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whenever a homicide is reported in Los Angeles, detectives are assigned to the case and a murder book is begun. A murder book is a binder designated to record every step taken during the course of an investigation, from the exact time each police officer arrives on the scene to the moment a courtroom verdict is rendered. All evidence collected, every interview performed, each test result, report, suspect, consultation, action taken and theory espoused is meant to be noted down in what will become the primary ledger of the effort made to solve this crime. Sometimes such efforts take years, decades even, in which event the murder book will be reverently passed down to each succeeding team of detectives as the foundation upon which it is hoped they build.

Matthew McGough's central questions are as follows: What happens when certain information is excluded from the murder book? Can you, through the lens of your professional eye, afford to cherry-pick your contributions? Can an initial theory of the crime, when hewed too closely to, close off potential paths of investigation and stall a case in the mire of confirmational bias? Those are the softballs. The money pitches are these: What happens when the murder book is located in a building where the murderer is employed? What happens when all the evidence in a case is checked out one day, never to be returned? What happens when the occasional diligent third party calls attention to oddly-purposeful attempts to ignore where the facts lead? When do you charge cover-up? For how long, and against how much blowback?

The Los Angeles Police Department takes a serious hit with the release of The Lazarus Files. This is no sucker punch; they had to know it was coming. The case took over twenty years to solve - during which time, as McGough must relish to point out, the murderer had a rather mortifying multitude of opportunities to have her picture taken aside her smiling employers: Police Chief Daryl Gates, Police Chief Bill Bratton, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. A full, post-killing career had she when the DNA evidence came to call, and I'll bet a fresh five-dollar bill she's the only current resident of the Central California Women's Facility at Chowchilla to receive a full police pension check every single month. That's right, they permitted her to quit retirement-equipped.

Could this be any more embarrassing?

Don't think so.

While a bit heavy on the minutia, this is a solid and well-researched account of an old murder - and the even older fraternal rationale for engaging in obstruction of justice.

[January Gray · Rating 1 out of 5]

For the love of EVERYTHING, edit this book! Please! Repetitive, entirely too detailed. I haven't even finished this book and at this point, I'm just going to skim the rest. I read on it forever last night, some this morning, and again some this afternoon. My Kindle says I'm only 50% through? (!!!) There is entirely too much history on the victim, her family, and Ms. Lazarus. Those parts need to be seriously trimmed down. This is an interesting story, but please delay the publication and put it through three more rounds of editing. PLEASE!!! This book has to be massive in print. I simply cannot recommend this book to my blog followers.

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars

Holy buckets, this is a LONG book. The authors went overboard in background information, even repeating certain things several times.
I enjoy reading true life mysteries with background information but this book just droned on and on and on. For instance, I was almost 100 pages in and was only 10% done with the book.
The story itself is fascinating, it's the writing that is the issue.
I unfortunately cannot recommend this book. I truly dislike leaving a bad review. I just have no choice..

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.

[Maryanne Kehoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I marveled at the extent of research that was done. I thought I knew a lot about this case but The Lazarus Files told me more than I could have ever imagined. I understand the issue raised by other reviewers about the length and some slight redundancies. But I found the story and writing so engaging that I was happy to have so much material to enjoy. Yes, there were sections that could be skimmed over if a reader was so inclined.

I'm going to take the liberty of putting in a plug for an author who provided a blurb on the back cover, Miles Corwin. Mr. Corwin is a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times and the author of several outstanding books, both fiction and non-fiction. Homicide Special, a profile of the LAPD's Detective Unit, is one of my all-time favorite books, which I have re-read multiple times. I am putting The Lazurus Files on my bookshelf next to Homicide Special and look forward to future readings of both.

[Brandon Forsyth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, it’s a long book, but it’s also impeccably researched and beautifully told, in a way that reminded me of Michelle McNamara’s I’LL BE GONE IN THE DARK. There’s a real compassion here for the victims and their families that is truly touching, and layered on top of this compassion is a meticulous examination of the case file and available evidence that is incredibly impressive. This is true crime that can make a difference.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Six hundred pages that include such bits as several pages on the O.J. Simpson trial and another totally unrelated murder case of a woman who lives in a "teardrop camper." Also such memorable passages as listening to the interrogation-room tape when nobody's there and hearing the "clack of their shoes" as the investigators walk down the hall. Nearly 100 pages about nothing but the victim's family and her two lovely sisters, her father the dentist, who hates the father of the victim's husband. This writer could have condensed this whole book into 200 pages. 1) Victim is killed; 2) LAPD is corrupt and full of treacherous people; 3) the lead investigator insists it's two Mexicans who tried to rob the victim and LEFT A HUGE BITE ON HER FOREARM before only taking her purse and her car. That's what robbers usually do--bite the homeowner on her forearm. 4) The real killer is the husband's old girlfriend, whom the cops will not investigate because she's also a cop in the LAPD. It takes over 20 years for them to figure it out. One of the longest and dullest books I have ever read.

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The murder of Sherri Rasmussen was a horrific act that devastated countless people. She was vivacious, well-liked, and outgoing. If you are going to read one book this summer, grab this one, it is a masterpiece.

When Sherri was murdered, no one could figure out who had done it. Although there were some who had their suspicions, it was not until many years later that the truth finally came to light, and when it did, it left an entire community in shock. The murder had been committed by John's ex-girlfriend, someone who was to uphold the law - she was a police officer.

This book was an "oh good heavens, what am I reading" novel. I was horrified at the precision that Stephanie undertook, and the very callousness that she held within her. Her obsession with John led to the murder of an innocent person.
As for the husband - don't even get me started. More than once (probably more than 100) I wanted to reach into the book and shake him senseless.

Get the book, and read it. It will leave you in a roller coaster of emotion. It was fabulously written!

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love true crime and this book immediately caught my attention, however the book is way too long. I think the author went a bit over the top with some of the background information and I started to lose interest because of the length. There was just way too much information included in the book and the author even repeated a few things. The true crime story itself is very interesting but for me the author's writing was just too much for me. I really think this book could have been 150-200 pages shorter.

Thank you to the publisher, Henry Holt & Co., and Netgalley for sending me an ARC of this book.

[jessiah marielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was a fine book. But just like the 20 year unsolved murder it described, it went on for far too long.

( my book review in video )

It reiterated details for what I presume is emphasis. But there's emphasis, and then there's broken records. You decide which of the two this book was.

This was my first true crime book. If you decide you want to get into true crime through this, I wouldn't recommend it. It made me want to speedrun the audiobook just so I could get to my next read, finally, after weeks of reading this.

It started off well. I loved the details when I first went into it. But it quickly became too repetitive.

[Emily Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book frustrated me. The first part, which I read for free as a Google Books preview, was a descriptive and sympathetic biography of an innocent murder victim. I paid for the book because I wanted to know the rest of her story. Unfortunately, the ‘crime’ part of this true crime saga is where the quality takes a turn. I don’t usually dismiss a book just for being long, but this one felt unnecessary. A generous editor might cut it in half. A skilled journalist could have done justice to this complex and interesting story with a single article.

The author repeats so much - definitions of police lingo, the number of days since the murder, irrelevant people’s relationships to the victim and to each other - as though he’s afraid we’ll forget in 5 pages. He passively revisits key events, such as the confrontation with Stephanie in Sherri’s office, multiple times without adding any information. Other times, he presents entirely too much detail, such as word-for-word transcription of interview tapes, and the fact that a tape recorded silence for “about twenty minutes” while detective and interviewee left the room.

***(Spoilers ahead: if you don’t know the outcome, don’t read further)*** The author also seems to hold bizarre contempt for the victim’s husband John, considering he wasn’t involved in the murder. Is it so unbelievably weak or suspicious that a man who’s just tragically lost his wife might turn to his own parents for comfort? McGough seems to think so. So do Sherri’s parents, and while I understand it’s hard to avoid a lopsided story when one party (John) refuses to be interviewed, it’s not impossible. Reading this, I felt like John was the one on trial and he didn’t get any kind of a defense.

On the other hand, we are provided with excerpts from several years’ worth of the killer’s diary. Unfortunately, Stephanie doesn’t confess to, or even mention the murder. Instead, we’re treated to routine patrol shifts, the outcomes of her basketball games, mundane social outings, and (my personal favourite) her tanning schedule. Stephanie does do some suspicious things, like reporting her duty gun stolen weeks after the murder, and demonstraing her obsessive (even stalkerish) behaviour towards men, which was the motive. She also writes about civilians in a way that indicates a cocky and prejudiced mindset, learned from fellow officers. But those parts are so deeply buried among useless details that they’re hard to find and don’t feel very rewarding to uncover. The author’s job is to wade through everything and pull out pertinent information for the reader - and it feels like he was afraid to cut anything at all.

As for the case itself, McGough has a habit of lingering on one detail for a page or so before shrugging and concluding that the answer “is unknown”. Cold cases have a lot of unanswered questions, of course, but he fails to show why most of these questions even matter. It hurts the pace of the book, especially when he brings up the same unanswered questions several times, speculating at length as though he’s about to make a point, but then doesn’t.

Another common phrase here is “typed chrono”, a police document which outlines a murder investigation chronologically. The original, handwritten version is missing, so it can’t be compared to the updated, typed one left in Sherri’s file. Now, the disappearance of that document and other evidence is significant, in that it indicates police sloppiness or even corruption. But that fact is drilled into us repeatedly, each time the chrono is reintroduced! The story of this case could easily be told by addressing the missing chrono once, and not quoting directly from it at all. Its contents aren’t very revealing, nor is the gratingly repetitive way the author lists every single entry, error, or omission. This causes more pacing issues, with much time spent saying “the chrono contained nothing for the next date”, “Sherri’s father called but that’s not in the chrono”, or “the chrono misspells this person’s name”. It is never concluded, or even theorized, who (other than Stephanie herself) might have removed the documents, why, or how much information, if anything, they altered.

I do my best to finish every book, even those I don’t like, but predicting the author’s habits almost became a game by the end. This really would benefit from a harsh edit. Finally, while I personally didn’t mind the lengthy asides about Richard Ramirez (the Night Stalker), the O.J. Simpson trial, or the parallel cold case of Catherine Braley - they were more colourful and succinct than the main story - I understand why other reviewers felt they were irrelevant and distracting from the case we were trying to learn about. I credited the author with an extra star for writing about Braley with more empathy and dignity than seemingly anyone else connected to her still-unsolved case.

Sherri Rasmussen absolutely deserved better from the detectives who ‘investigated’ her case and protected the real killer for decades. But she also deserved better than to have her story shared with the world in this way.

[Hillary McDaniels Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The case covered is super interesting but the book gets lost in overwhelming the reading with details that are often unnecessary and constantly repeated.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent depiction of the investigation into the cold case murder of young newlywed Sherri Rasmussen. Savagely beaten and killed in 1986 in the condo home she shared with her new husband, John Ruetten, Sherri's death went unsolved until 2009. The book details the mishandling of the case by the Los Angeles Police Department, during a time when the agency was embroiled in controversy for other incidents. The murderer herself, in this case, was none other than an LAPD officer, Stephanie Lazarus, a former lover of Sherri's husband.

Matthew McGough goes into minute details about the LAPD and its history of abuse and nationwide controversy during the years leading up to the murder and afterward. Some may find the book much too detailed, but in my opinion, it was important to document so much about the LAPD and its history to put it into context with what played out during and after Sherri's murder. Many times I've found too much detail in a book to be distracting and boring; in this situation, it was so well-written that I was fascinated throughout. Also, because I didn't remember this case at all, I was enthralled throughout to find out what happened and the outcome of so many years of negligence on the part of the LAPD.

My only disappointment in the story, which had nothing to do with the book itself, was that there was not enough info as to what actually happened in the condo the day that Sherri was murdered. I have many questions about that day, but the only person who really knows is the murderer. And she's still not talking.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Company for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. 5 stars.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book by listening. This impacts my review.

I did enjoy reading this book and would recommend it with a couple of caveats. First, it is narrated by the author and for me that took some getting used to. He and I have different ideas about the pronunciation of some words. Also, I didn’t particularly like his reading. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe I felt like he was introducing Dragnet as he read. Given that this is a book that takes a lot of hours to complete, if you have a low tolerance to some narrators’ voices, you might want to listen to a sample, if that’s an option.

Secondly, the author is very repetitive. After a while, I wanted to scream at him, “ I remember already!” The author may be anticipating that this book would not be read as rapidly as I read it and therefore be reminding his readers, but for me it started feeling as if he thought his readers had fallen asleep.

For these reasons I felt I couldn’t give the book five stars. When I consider the amount of work it must have taken to research and report all this information, and that the book sheds light on more than one issue that deserves further examination, I want to reward the author. I just cannot do it. The book could be so much better if it were read by someone else and if an editor worked to eliminate some of the repetition.

[Krianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 55% / skim read
I wanted to like this book. I really really did. As a lover and avid consumer of all things true crime, I expected (and hoped) to love this book, but it was just too dense. I couldn’t do it.
This book was stunningly research and I applaud the author for the incredible effort and devotion that went into it. Unfortunately I found there to be far too much information (ex: whole chapter on the night stalker, detailed account of “unimportant” people’s lives). This book reads as very dry and expressionless. It’s great if you can handle unnecessarily comprehensive books, but otherwise, I suggest checking something else out instead.

[Carlton Phelps · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far I love this book. If you are interested on police procedure this is the book for you. It is amazing what the police will do to protect one of their own, or it looks that way throughout this book.
Very detailed and graphic so be prepared.
Great book though and I recommend it to anyone who likes true crime or mystery stories.

[Court · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a meticulous account of a horrific murder and the justice that Sherri Rasmussen's family finally got nearly 20 years later. But my God is it dry, and at least 200 pages too long. I could've done with less of a play by play of Sherri's sainthood and Stephanie's documentation of her own banal evil, and more of Cathy Braley, who is relegated to the epilogue.

[Cherise Wolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and deeply disturbing account of the 1986 murder of Sherri Rasmussen in her condo in Van Nuys, CA - which was a cold case until 2009. It's not a whodunit, the killer's identity is disclosed early on, but rather an in-depth examination of a murder and also the systemic faults in the LAPD, including what is problematic for detectives - investigating with tunnel vision, here inexplicably, their lapses in not interviewing those closest to Rasmussen a travesty, but perhaps their failure to do so was a cover-up, which remains unknown, and if it was, it protected the murderer for more than two decades. Despite being a bit too long, and repeating details, it's an intriguing book that leaves one certain that justice was not done here, even once the murderer was arrested, tried, and convicted. Also, an interesting look at the LAPD in those days, working then under a consent decree, as well as what the city of Los Angeles looked like then.

[Roberta Guthrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Painstakingly researched

McGough has gone into incredible detail in this twisted story of a murder buried for decades by a police detachment seemingly determined to protect one of their own.
The challenge here is that painstaking detail can make for a painful read. In a long tale (over 500 pages) excruciating details about internal police procedures and repetition of facts we knew pages before don’t make this a particularly compelling read.
Frustratingly, we also keep returning to things that can’t be verified - so over and over we are given pieces of information, quickly followed by “and no one knows why”.
Why wasn’t the victim’s husband forthcoming and honest about his ex-girlfriend? (Who actually committed the murder). Well, no one knows. Who wrote notes in the files over the years? Well, no one knows. Why would the police cover up a murder? Well...no one one knows that either.
More confusingly - suddenly more than two-thirds of the way into a story about the murder and investigation (or lack thereof depending on how you see it) into the death of Sherri Rasmussen - McGough suddenly introduces an entirely different unsolved case that has nothing to do with the Rasmussen case.
I kept wondering why this is even in here - there is absolutely nothing connecting the cases in any way - except that police were involved in the investigating (??) To be honest, I’m stymied.
McGough seems to be trying to make a point about police corruption - but there’s not a lot of facts actually pointing to anything more sinister than some serious bungling.
But even that has as much to do with the victim’s family and loved ones not coming forward with critical pieces of information many many times or even sharing it amongst themselves.
So while the victim told her parents that her husband’s old girlfriend was harassing her and she even found her standing in their living room clearly after breaking in - she apparently never told her husband about it.
The secretary who witnessed the murderer showing up at the victim’s office and the two of them having a heated argument - doesn’t tell anyone about this for years.
What is wrong with these people? Why didn’t the victim say “Hey husband - tell your old girlfriend to knock it off” or “we need a restraining order against this psycho”? Why didn’t the secretary call the police after the murder and say “Hey - this weird woman showed up at my boss’s office and threatened her ... you should look into this”).
Oh yeah “No one knows why...”
pfffft.

[Stephanie Dargusch Borders · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a true crime book that focuses on the recent DNA evidence that helped solve a crime from the 80s. Sherri Rasmussen was a young newlywed who had made a name for herself with a successful nursing career. She and her husband John had only been married for three months when John came home one night to find Sherri dead on the floor of their condo's living room.

It had been a bit of time between requesting this book and actually reading it. When I went to read it, I did not refresh my mind with the synopsis, which was nice because I didn't know where the story was leading. It became evident early on, but it was refreshing to watch the mystery unfold without any preconceived notions.

I found this to be an excellent narrative for true crime. I'm a true crime junkie, but I tend to gravitate toward true crime that has more of a literary feel to it. Many authors think they can write true crime, but there's not always the finesse present of a true writer. McGough drew me in quickly though, and my attention was held throughout, which is not always easy with a 400+ book. I found myself making excuses in order to put other books aside to come back to this one.

I've read quite a few reviews of this book and I've noticed that quite a few of them mention how long winded it is. That is unequivocally true. McGough leaves no stone unturned. He repeats himself often for emphasis, which did become redundant at times. I also felt that, while I like excessive, mundane facts about criminal cases and homicides, this book went a little overboard. My biggest criticism is the inclusion of the Cathy Braley case. When that portion of the book started, I struggled to see how it fit in with the narrative. I didn't understand until the very end of that portion. I think it's a mistake to include it. It doesn't fit well and it adds to an already lengthy book. I get why McGough wanted to include it--it bolsters the claim that the LAPD may have been actively covering up crimes committed by their own. I don't think it needed to be included at all, but if McGough felt it necessary, it should be limited to a few paragraphs. Perhaps McGough can instead start a series with each book detailing a crime that the LAPD mishandled or purposely covered up. I would certainly read every book! As soon as I finished this one, I looked to see whether McGough had published any other true crime books, but was disappointed to see that he has not.

[Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lazarus Files came to me as an advance readers copy through NetGalley and the publisher, Henry Holt and Co. I went into it blind, knowing nothing about the Sherri Rasmussen murder case, whether the book was based on a single case or several, and why the name Lazarus was used in the title.

Thus, it was confusing when, after a lengthy background section on Sherri Rasmussen (going back several generations in her family); on her beau John Ruetten; and one of his friends Stephanie Lazarus (now I'm catching on to the title!), there was a sudden switch to a chapter on the Night Stalker murders. This was a lengthy passage -- 50 to 60 pages -- and seemed to serve merely as context, since the two cases were contemporaneous, but without any relevance to the Rasmussen saga.

So, was I reading about cold-case murders in general, or about Los-Angeles-area-murders? Where were we headed?

Again, much later in the book, there is a second abrupt interruption of the book's momentum, in a highly-detailed chapter on another murder victim, Catherine Braley. It is not until the book's final pages that we glimpse any relevance to the Rasmussen case.

These are quibbles about form, rather than content, but they illustrate a point that numerous reviewers have made: There was so much good material in this book, but overall it suffered from the choppy and disjointed narrative layout.

Matthew McGough is a very good writer. After finishing The Lazarus Files, I researched a bit and found a September 2011 long article published in The Atlantic magazine on the same case, titled The Lazarus File (singular). The writing there there is crisp and compelling, and the facts are laid out with an innate order.

Which leads me to focus my quibbles on the publishing house and its editorial staff. Whose idea was it to repeat eight or ten long passages two, three or four times, inadvertently insulting the readers' intelligence (yes, yes, we got all that first time!) and slowing the flow of the story?

What there is to admire about this book is the meticulous research. It became clear that the author was not just reporting on an old case -- he was building a new one: on the many, many investigative missteps made by the LAPD in Sherri Rasmussen's and, yes, Catherine Braley's murders.

[Keith Lytton · Rating 4 out of 5]

First thank you to Netgalley for a preview edition of this book...I read lots of true crime and it probably is my favorite genre as of right now...This book....was good...but got to the point that I thought it was never going to end...

First the book was extremely long...and there were so many times items were repeated ...there could have been many parts cut...there was a fairly long detailed talk about the serial killer...Night Stalker...it happened in Los Angeles ...at the same time frame ...but other than that had nothing to do with anything...I read it on my phone...and showed it having 512 pages....the background ended at page 490. The last 18 detailed the arrest and the conviction...I personally like to read about the aftermath...the trial...the results....and it just got tedious...There were also several misspellings...

So...why 4 stars...because even though I had to put it down several times...I had no problem going back to it...it was very interesting and kept my attention...I am so glad that I read it and again thanks to Netgalley...I did go on to YouTube and watched the confession and a television show on the murder and investigation...

I guess the saddest part of the whole thing is the poor job of investigation the detectives did originally...but again shows how sad this can be when police investigation decides in advance what the answer is and makes the path fit the solution they have already decided. One part I would love to know more about other aspects but specifically who checked out all the trace DNA and where it went...if this isn't evidence of some sort of cover up I don't know what is....but thankfully the DNA swab was stored in another location...so justice was finally served...

Overall a decent read...and sent me on further investigation on my own...but would recommend to the author...while all the detail was no doubt important to him...there was much that could have been shortened...and please add more of the arrest and such...

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for any true crime content, but I struggled to remind myself why I committed to this book several times while reading it. The story itself is super interesting - a woman named Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in the 80s in her own home, which the LAPD declared a home invasion robbery gone wrong (despite none of the evidence pointing towards a burglary). McGough follows the investigation and the most important person connected to Rasmussen's murder: a female cop named Stephanie Lazarus.

While this had all the makings of a great read, there were some serious faults. First off, the book is looooong. There are so many extraneous details included that it often felt like McGough was simply trying to show off how much research he did, not that the info was actually important to the reader. This long-windedness also came across with how much repetition there was. Events are often described several times (even non-essential events). Because this book was such a slog to get through, I was going to rate it three stars, but then had to knock it down to two when I got towards the end of the book. First, the author spends 40 minutes (according to the Kindle app) on another murder that didn't have a lot of connection narratively speaking to Rasmussen's. This completely took away from the drive of the story. Then, despite sharing nearly every single detail about the case, the (spoiler) trial at the end of the case was relegated to two solitary sentences. I was extremely disappointed with how quickly the story was resolved.

This is a crazy interesting case, but if people are interested in learning more about it, I'd recommend a Google search instead of this book.

*Free copy provided by Netgalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review*

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I vaguely remember this case. It was very shocking not just because of the fact that Sherri's killer was a LAPD but because the killer was a female. While, sadly, there are a lot of murders that happen every year, the percentage of killers being female are still low. So whenever a murder is revealed to have been committed by a woman, it is still shocking.

Mr. McGough really did a very through job of investigating this case and gathering all of the facts he could. I felt like there was no rock left unturned in details. In fact, it was not until the latter third half of the book where I did start to feel like it went on a bit long. When the last section of the book focused on the authorities investigating Stephanie; is where my interest super speed up. You could say that my heart was racing.

As I got to know Stephanie and read her diary entries as well as how she interacted with co-workers, I am not surprised that she did turn into a murderer. She was so fixated on John that if it had not been Sherri; it would have been another woman that would have been her victim.

I like reading true crime. This is a catch twenty two. In order to have material to write true crime novels, someone had to have been murdered. Yet, I have to say that Mr. McGough is one of those writers that does justice to a true crime novel. I would read more of these types of books from him. Readers of true crime will want to pick up their copy of The Lazarus Files for themselves.

[Chantal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This falls somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me. If you’re looking for an in-depth, very detailed report of this cold case then you’ll be well served.
I appreciate the author’s passion for the case and his thoroughness but I found the pace to almost painfully slow.
His reporting lacks objectivity - John (the husband of the murder victim) was not painted in a favorable light. Not that he necessarily deserved to be, but he was never found guilty of anything. I felt we were seeing him through Nels’ (father of the murder victim) perspective and it was most certainly not a flattering one.
Why the heck did the chapter of the other unsolved case have to be part of this book? It felt completely out of place. Why, just before the climax of the book, are we all of a sudden reading about another woman who was murdered? It was, I believe, to make one small point in the end but it was totally unnecessary. I did not have the interest in her case that she deserved because I was keen to know how the case I’d been reading about for the last 400+ pages was going to end.
I wish the author had mastered the art or précis writing. So much of the book could have been sloughed off.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

While a lot of reviews rightfully are critical of the length and organization, I’d like to focus this review on the ambiguous tone that permeates throughout the book.

Preface that I was familiar with this case via online resources, so I went into it hoping that some light could be shed on a few areas. At minimum I would have liked more concrete opinions from the author, who takes a very safe and legalese approach.

The main thesis of the book - that police corruption and coverup are to blame in how Stephanie almost got away with it - is written in a hodgepodge and circumstantial manner. There are nuggets of insight, but you sort of have to pick them out. It almost seemed like he didn’t actually want to present a clear case of corruption, even though there was ample evidence of it.

It is a really good book for highlighting and note taking, for the reasons I described above. I read it once, highlighted about 50 pages worth of important material, and then reread that.

[Libgirl16 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thorough account of a very cold case solved thanks to the diligence of a few good and honest keepers of the law. Utterly maddening to see the lengths that the LAPD went to cover the crime of one of their own. Not to mention the absolutely weak individual that Sherri Rasmussen's husband turned out to be. A young, diligent, hard-working nurse lost her life to a senseless act of violence. One can only hope that her killer being behind bars after twenty-three long years brought some sense of closure and justice to her parents and well-wishers. What a strange twist of events it is that Lazarus, who snatched a daughter from her parents, was denied the privilege of raising her own daughter when her time came. Talk about Karma!

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a compelling read. Heavily detailed, but I raced through this book in a couple days, despite over 500 pages of text. Overall I enjoyed the book.

I do note that the author could have trimmed some of the duplicate narrative. Further, the section on the Night Stalker was inserted to show how break-in murders were a thing in So. Cal. in the 80s, but not really on point in this story. Also, the Braley murder chapter was probably a bit off course and the author should have kept the focus on the Rasmussen case, exclusively.

I would highly recommend this book to both lay persons and true crime aficionados.

[no elle · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book is def 300 pages 2 long but 2 important things 2 know are 1) ann rule wanted to write about the murder from the pov of the family cat bozo who witnessed the crime!! and b. the dude unknowingly had sex with the woman who murdered his wife!! she killed her and then like two years later they hooked up again!! what a horrible thing to have to live with. also stephanie reads as both a huge dumdum and also a psycho, much like all cops