Etna – A Murder Out of Time

by Michael Mancuso, Eric Kerchner

Almost one hundred forty years after the vicious and unsolved murder of the beautiful 17-year-old daughter of a well-to-do local family, a seasoned prosecutor and detective of the Monroe County Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Office team up to solve this coldest of cases. By using the techniques, methods, and insights acquired over the course of their careers they pursue the crime in all its details, recognizing the limitations and failings of the original investigators, uncovering leads long ago forgotten, and using the passage of the years to connect suspects to the crime. Their mission is to fulfill a centuries old mandate issued by a long forgotten grand jury directing their predecessors to ‘use all resources to ferret out the murder of Etna Bittenbender’. Their journey through the darkest inner recesses of the human soul gives form and shape to an innocent life brutally snuffed out and of a depraved crime both of which had been reduced to nothing more than a dim memory.

303 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 29, 2020

Reviews

[Scott Breslove · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, I’m torn here. The book is interesting and well done, but it also, and I’m putting this nicely, definitely should have been ran by a professional editor first. I know writing isn’t these gentlemen’s first profession, so hopefully if they do decide to write any more books they will continue to find their voices. There’s a lot of repetition, and a lot of things that could be cleaned up to make them more concise, down to some silly grammatical and spelling errors. For some reason, one that sticks out is when they were talking about a suspect named Louis, but at one point referred to him as Louise. Nitpicky, I know, but that kind of stuff bothers me. My other sticking point with the book, and this is on me, not the authors, is that I’m a natural skeptic. They did a lot of good detective work, but to say the case is solved? Ehhhhh. Maybe, maybe not. I agree their work is sound, but I’m just not convinced, and again, that’s me and not them. Unless they found the murder weapon in an evidence box and matched fingerprints or DNA or something definitive, unfortunately I can only agree that they chose the best killer, but not the 100% definite one. It was fun reading about a local case, and all the history of the area and the people

[Marlo Spritzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very interesting for the local Monroe County historian but also for anyone interested in true crime, or even for a student of law, as much time is spent on the process of the investigation. That said, there were segments that felt unrelated and could have been edited, and an outside editor could have also helped clean up the writing a bit not only to keep it focused but also to eliminate numerous errors I. Punctuation and spelling that distract a reader like myself. Though I read this book on and off during three very busy years of my life, the thing that kept me going was wanting to discover how all the pieces came together, which they did in the final chapters. Overall the book did provide a window into the long-forgotten history of my local area, and taught me a great deal that I did not previously know.

[Claire P · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is so poorly written that it nearly undermines the clever detective work done to solve the murder. It’s a shame, too, because this is an interesting story with an unexpected outcome. It is riddled with grammatical errors, misspellings and incorrectly used language. If that kind of thing doesn’t bother you, you’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A local cold case in Monroe County, PA explored over 8 years by district attorney staff. Other cases with local roots used as examples as well as investigative techniques. A bit heavy handed on moralism and assumptions but gripping in discovery.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the history but got lost several times on who the authors were referring to.
Poor girl.

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dry at times, but a very nice local mystery. A great analysis and a convincing argument. Glad the author took up this case and presented it so well for his audience.