What do you think?
Rate this book
The Cheaters: The Walter Scott Murder
This riveting true-crime focuses on the motivating factors of lust, greed, and cheating, which triggered the murder of Walter Scott, the singer of the national hit song "The Cheater." The pages recreate Scott's struggle to attain stardom, sexual passion, the gruesome discovery of Scott's body in a cistern, and years of legal maneuvers in a faltering justice system.
- GenresTrue Crime
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
40 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 21, 2016
Fascinating true crime story. Lust and greed lead to murder, which tears apart many lives. Well written.
November 2, 2020
I grew up listening to Bob Kuban and the In-Men with my oldest sister in her late teens at that time so I was well aware of who Walter Scott was. After reading the book this review will make sense to you: Our family went to the same church as the Williams family and knew Mr. Williams and his first wife Sharon who he was also convicted of killing. We went to catechism classes with his son. Cottleville is still considered a small area but back then, everyone knew everyone, it was very small. Their home was on the next road from our church and the cistern that they found Walter Scott's body in was maybe only 800 feet from the back of the church grounds. As you can imagine, we kept up with everything about this from first finding out about the terrible loss of his wife Sharon in the car accident that we believed was an accident at that time only to find out after his arrest for Walter Scott's death that he killed Sharon too and staged the car accident and then set the car on fire. This story is very interesting but if you are from the St. Charles County area, you know all the players, streets, attorneys, courts, downtown area, airport, etc. It's part memory lane meets evil. A few years after reading this book I was fortunate to have gone to Barnes & Noble and Jodie Priesmeyer was there for a book signing. As I spoke to her about my knowledge of the Williams family she asked if I wanted to have a coffee with her when she took a break. We talked for every bit of a half hour or so and went over all I learned from the book and I shared memories. I didn't have my book with me because I didn't know about the book signing so she gave me one with a wonderful note signed in it. She was so knowledgeable and had really done her research prior to writing this book. To make a long story short, five years later I met a friend of mine's new friend who was in a swing dancing club with her...it was JoAnn Williams. Needless to say, this book has been borrowed many times from me and by happenstance the story followed me around for several years. Buy the book, it's an unbelievable story!
June 4, 2025
“The Cheater” was the biggest hit for the St. Louis band Bob Kuban & The In-Men. Walter Scott was the lead singer of the band on the song. This book details Scott’s career with the band in the 1960s, his religious upbringing which caused his reluctance to divorce, his 2 failed marriages, and brutal murder. “The Cheaters” in this book title refers to all those in this book that are cheating with others while married – which led to Scott’s murder. I picked up this book at a thrift store to learn the facts about this story.
The paperback book is divided into two sections, with photos dividing the two parts. Part 1 documents Scott’s family life, and tries to weave in the backgrounds of all the key players in Part 2 – but the writing is rather choppy and can be confusing. Part 2 focuses on the murder and eventual murder trial. Part 2 is better written, but actually reveals little about what actually happened to Walter Scott the day he was murdered. This is due to the bungling of two murder cases by the St. Charles police force, and the lack of technology to tie the murder suspects to the crime. If the police had investigated the first murder, the second might have been avoided.
If the murderer in Scott's case had not foolishly buried the body in his own backyard, the case would probably still be unsolved. Scott’s second wife got off easily in sentencing because the prosecutor could not make a case against her. Sad, because with today’s technological improvements – tracking phone calls made before and after the crime could have provided a trail to what was happening.
This is a niche book that probably isn’t for those unfamiliar with the participants. There is a Forensic Files video on YouTube that covers the murder mystery well, but seems to identify the wrong person as the dancer that was Scott’s final love interest.
The paperback book is divided into two sections, with photos dividing the two parts. Part 1 documents Scott’s family life, and tries to weave in the backgrounds of all the key players in Part 2 – but the writing is rather choppy and can be confusing. Part 2 focuses on the murder and eventual murder trial. Part 2 is better written, but actually reveals little about what actually happened to Walter Scott the day he was murdered. This is due to the bungling of two murder cases by the St. Charles police force, and the lack of technology to tie the murder suspects to the crime. If the police had investigated the first murder, the second might have been avoided.
If the murderer in Scott's case had not foolishly buried the body in his own backyard, the case would probably still be unsolved. Scott’s second wife got off easily in sentencing because the prosecutor could not make a case against her. Sad, because with today’s technological improvements – tracking phone calls made before and after the crime could have provided a trail to what was happening.
This is a niche book that probably isn’t for those unfamiliar with the participants. There is a Forensic Files video on YouTube that covers the murder mystery well, but seems to identify the wrong person as the dancer that was Scott’s final love interest.
March 18, 2021
"The Cheater" by Bob Kuban and the In Men is a classic. What happened to lead singer Walter Scott is one of the most exceptional murder mysteries to take place. This book tells the story of Scott's rise to fame, his troubled marriage, and his disapearance/murder. A great true crime read that will keep you intriuged and reading.
January 6, 2022
Despite being a longtime St. Louis resident I was unfamiliar with this story. It was fascinating because it’s all true. The author did her research including interviewing the guilty and not so guilty parties. So many lives were damaged by the central players. I’m not a fan of true detective stories but this one really held my attention.
July 19, 2018
While I'm not sure why this book needed to be written considering many questions are left unanswered, it was interesting to read about local places and characters. However, it was difficult to read due to the many grammatical and spelling errors.
February 4, 2024
Having grown up in St. Charles County I found it fascinating to read and be familiar with names or places. It made it all that more real to me.
November 6, 2024
This story was wild. It was crazy to read about all the places / roads all around where I grew up. Didn’t love the overall writing style and it kind of dragged on but still interesting.
July 29, 2016
I read this book as the a couple of years ago as a selection for my book club, but never posted my review. So here it is now! I was interested in the book because this story happened in my own ‘backyard’. I grew up listening to the group sing The Cheater and these were local celebrities, so I was somewhat familiar with the story, having followed it when it happened. The story itself was interesting, and I enjoyed learning some of the details that I did not know.
However, as interesting as the story itself was, the writing was terrible. The book was in need of a good editor before it went to press. Normally, I don’t think it would have bothered me as much. Usually when I come across gramatical errors, I do notice them, but I brush them off. And when a sentence or paragraph is poorly written, I will subconsciously rewrite it to make sense, then move on.
But with this book, I made the mistake of googling the author before I read it. See, in the introduction, the author mentions that he did not really follow the band and knew little of the story, but was convinced by his friends to write the book, and resigned his position as a ‘tenured HS English teacher’ to pursue the story. When I googled, I learned that ‘he’ is a ‘she’, and she is a professor teaching creative writing at the local community college, and that she is poorly rated as a teacher on ‘rate my professor’ sites. After reading some of her teaching reviews, I was disappointed to learn that the book is so poorly written. True, the book is nearly 20 years old, and she may have learned a lot about writing since then, but... Well, never mind....I’m supposed to be reviewing the book and not the author!
It is an interesting story, and you will probably get angry at times as you read through it. ‘Mrs. Walter Scott’ was not a very nice person. One example; she turned her children against their grandparents and changed her number within days of the disappearance of her husband so that the grandparents could have no contact with the children. And that is just one example. If you enjoy ‘true crime’ stories, you will enjoy this book, despite the poor writing.
However, as interesting as the story itself was, the writing was terrible. The book was in need of a good editor before it went to press. Normally, I don’t think it would have bothered me as much. Usually when I come across gramatical errors, I do notice them, but I brush them off. And when a sentence or paragraph is poorly written, I will subconsciously rewrite it to make sense, then move on.
But with this book, I made the mistake of googling the author before I read it. See, in the introduction, the author mentions that he did not really follow the band and knew little of the story, but was convinced by his friends to write the book, and resigned his position as a ‘tenured HS English teacher’ to pursue the story. When I googled, I learned that ‘he’ is a ‘she’, and she is a professor teaching creative writing at the local community college, and that she is poorly rated as a teacher on ‘rate my professor’ sites. After reading some of her teaching reviews, I was disappointed to learn that the book is so poorly written. True, the book is nearly 20 years old, and she may have learned a lot about writing since then, but... Well, never mind....I’m supposed to be reviewing the book and not the author!
It is an interesting story, and you will probably get angry at times as you read through it. ‘Mrs. Walter Scott’ was not a very nice person. One example; she turned her children against their grandparents and changed her number within days of the disappearance of her husband so that the grandparents could have no contact with the children. And that is just one example. If you enjoy ‘true crime’ stories, you will enjoy this book, despite the poor writing.
April 29, 2012
The story kept me interested, I suppose, but I didn't really like the writing style of the author. In the prologue she says she wanted to "get into the heads" of the people who were involved with this crime. But she's more apt to describe the movements of deer than the emotional states of the murderers. Overall I was disappointed in the storytelling. If I wanted the straight facts of the case I could have read a wikipedia article.
May 28, 2012
Not one of the best true crime books I've read, but still held my attention. Tells the story of a one-hit wonder, the lyric of which presaged the lead singer Sir Walter Scott's demise. Had I not caught the bulk of a TV documentary on this same subject, I might never have ventured as far as I did to learn more about "The Cheater."
August 5, 2013
This was a fun read. I bought it on my 22nd birthday. The writing is okay, but not that great.
Fun trivia:
Walter Scott's house was one street over from mine in the Park Charles South Subdivision.
I would pass by Jim William's house on Gutermuth Road on my way to work at Shop N' Save in O'fallon.
Jim Williams used to go to the liquor store I worked at from 2010-late 2011.
Fun trivia:
Walter Scott's house was one street over from mine in the Park Charles South Subdivision.
I would pass by Jim William's house on Gutermuth Road on my way to work at Shop N' Save in O'fallon.
Jim Williams used to go to the liquor store I worked at from 2010-late 2011.
August 26, 2015
This was an OK read. What made me read it is that Walter Scott was a St. Louis performer and much of what is in the book is familiar to those of us that knew about this already. Not a hugely great crime novel and probably more of interest to those of us from the area than anyone else.
February 7, 2015
Fascinating true story-rock and roll meets the Forensic Files
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews