Luggage By Kroger: A True Crime Memoir

by Gary Taylor

"Catherine was destined to become several important things to me. But most prominently, she would become my problem-solver. Before I met her, I had a bunch of problems. Then, all of sudden, with her in my life I had only one."

Written as a true crime memoir, Luggage By Kroger is a unique, genre-crossing tale that blends memoir with mystery, legal procedural, and psycho-thriller. Fatal Attraction meets Angela's Ashes as a former Houston newspaper reporter recounts a pivotal year centered on his dangerous affair with one of the most intriguing femmes fatales of American crime. Forewarned of the dangers but unable to resist, he still dives into a torrid relationship that takes him to a new level of self-awareness and revelation as he becomes her target while trying to protect his estranged wife and their two daughters from the violence they all know is set to explode.

Told with self-deprecating humor and high-octane drama, Luggage By Kroger pulls no punches in finally sharing the inside story that forced him onto the talk-show circuit in the late 1980s as the poster boy for true-life fatal attractions with Oprah, Regis and Sally. It's a story that twice has seen life as television docudrama. But the intimate details have remained under the radar since they occurred in 1979-80. As he says in his dedication, this book is written partially for all those who "kept me out late in bars demanding more."

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime

304 pages, Paperback

First published November 24, 2008

About the author

Gary Taylor began his journalism career after graduating in 1969 from the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, where he won the Walter Williams Award as the outstanding writer in the class of ’69. Until December of 1971, Taylor worked for The Flint Journal as the courts and legal affairs reporter for that Michigan daily. He joined the staff of The Houston Post in 1971 and worked there until August of 1980 covering a wide range of police, crime and government stories that earned him recognition as the UPI Texas Enterprise Reporter of the year in 1978 and a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting. For 17 years, Taylor was self-employed as a freelance journalist based in Houston and covering a wide range of stories for newspapers and magazines. His byline has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, USA Today, Time magazine, Money magazine, Southwest Spirit, Houston City Magazine, Texas Sports, The National Law Journal, the Journal of Commerce, Texas Business, Houston Metropolitan Magazine and the AAPG Explorer. Since 1997, Taylor has worked as a reporter for two business trade publications covering the chemical and oil industries from Houston. He is the author of five books, including his latest, Luggage By Kroger. It is a memoir of the inside story of a well-publicized personal adventure he experienced during his career as a reporter for The Houston Post.

Reviews

[Lance Greenfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too much AND too little


I have mixed feelings about this book.

The introduction was intriguing as it related the murder of Doctor George Tedesco. The top suspect is Catherine Mehaffey, who claims to have been Tedesco’s common law (in British terms) wife after having lived with him for only a few months. The police fail to make a strong enough case against her to get a conviction: Catherine then goes to court to claim the estate. This all happens in the first few pages, so I am not giving anything away. It is obvious, during the introduction, that Gary is going to get his life intertwined with this mad and dangerous woman.

There then ensues around a hundred pages of background: the history of Gary’s life up to the point that he gets together with Catherine. This feels too much, but most of it is necessary, so bear with it.

I would have liked a bit more of Catherine’s background, to begin to understand how long she had been this crazy, and why. That would be fascinating.

Gary, himself, is hardly whiter than white, but the reader has to have some sympathy for the poor guy. However, he has himself to blame for many of his troubles, and not just those that he has with Catherine. You think he’d run a mile when he had a good idea of just how dangerous she is, but, every time he takes a serious knock, he keeps coming back for more punishment. Who is the crazy one, Gary?!

Anyway, without revealing any more, and thus ruining the read for anyone who is about to pick up this book, I would say that it is a great read, and so much more so because it is true. Well it is the truth from the viewpoint of one of the central characters. It is gripping, and I recommend it.

I would love for Gary to try to take up the almost impossible challenge of writing the same story from Catherine’s viewpoint. That could be very interesting indeed!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why I initially picked this book up was that it took place in Houston. As a native Houstonian, I wanted to know where the events took place and if I had been close to any of the locales. One of the important settings in the book, 1723 Kipling is blocks away from two of my former addresses and the names of reporters, lawyers and politicos in the book were all names I knew. The Houston part was all fine and dandy.

What made me turn page after page was the twisted relationship and the stalking that went on. So many times in the book, I was tempted to yell at the book, "No don't go with her - don't do it". This is an actual "Fatal Attraction" story. Being a true account of that type of relationship, the movie, "Fatal Attraction" pales in comparison.

What was mentioned only in passing, was the Houston mayorial election going on at the time of the events in the book was history making in itself. It was the election of Kathy Whitmire, Houston's first female mayor.

[Gary Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note; This is a book I wrote and published. Of course I will give it five stars. Others have done that, too. And here are two guest reviews from POD People.com and Self-Publishing Review webzine:

Title: Luggage By Kroger: A True Crime Memoir
Author: Gary Taylor
Genre: memoir, true crime
Price: $22.95
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-0-595-53030-4
Point of Sale: Amazon
Reviewed by: Chris Gerrib

Gary Taylor is an interesting fellow, self-described as one-third rogue, and his book Luggage By Kroger is an entertaining read. In 1979, Gary was working the courts beat for the Houston Chronicle. He was also getting a divorce from his second wife, and broke enough that he was using a Kroger grocery sack to transport his dirty laundry. (Hence the title – Luggage By Kroger).

While all this drama was going on, Catherine Mehaffey, a young and attractive Houston lawyer, was suing for alimony from her boyfriend of three months, who she called her common-law “husband.” The case wasn’t going that good for Catherine, until on January 15, 1979, Catherine’s boyfriend, George Tedesco, turned up bludgeoned to death in his garage. Undaunted, Catherine amended her case to proceed as his widow, despite being the obvious lead suspect in the murder. Fully aware of Catherine’s background, Gary Taylor started a relationship with Catherine. Four months later, Catherine put a bullet in Gary’s back.

The story of that shooting and the tempestuous, illogical and frantic maneuverings of the controlling Catherine Mehaffey take up a good third of the book. Another third of the book is an entertaining recounting of Gary’s life as a young reporter. For example, the first day on the crime beat in Houston, Gary lost $25 in a poker game that broke up when a bank president, armed with his personal gun, was killed chasing bank robbers. The final third of the book is taken up with the story of Gary’s divorce from his second wife, a soap-opera-like story of infidelity and drug use.

All three of these narratives are skillfully and carefully woven into a coherent and interesting tale. Gary has a self-deprecating sense of humor, and a reporter’s eye for critical details. He’s also done some research (alas after his shooting) into the nature of mental illness, and has come to understand that the obsessive “love” of Catherine Mahaffey was really a need to control everybody.

The Mehaffey story, which was well-publicized at the time, became one of the inspirations for the movie Fatal Attraction. Taylor’s book is a window into that attraction. It’s also a damn fine read. There’s adult language and sex, so it’s not for the faint of heart, but I highly recommend buying Luggage By Kroger.
RATING 10/10
POSTED BY CHRIS GERRIB AT 9:21 PM 1 COMMENTS
LABELS: 10/10, CHRIS GERRIB, REVIEW





Guest reviewed by Randall Radic, author of A Priest in Hell and The Sound of Meat.
Remember the movie “Fatal Attraction”? And the movie “Basic Instinct”? And the movie “Play Misty For Me”? Toss all three of the movies in a blender, hit frappe and stand back. What comes out would be Gary Taylor’s new book – Luggage By Kroger.
LBK is the story of Gary’s intimate relationship with Catherine Mehaffey, which began way back in 1979. As the story opens, Mehaffey is suing her live-in lover for half of everything he has. No, they weren’t married. Mehaffey claimed they were some bizarre version of common-law husband and wife, therefore, she was entitled to sue for divorce and get half her husband’s money. Before the divorce hearing can take place, Mehaffey’s live-in lover husband turns up dead. Somebody beat him to death with a pipe (or some other equally gruesome blunt instrument).
Now Mehaffey wants the entire estate and the money from the life insurance policy. And did I mention that Mehaffey is a person of interest to the Houston Police Department. In fact, they consider her their prime suspect.
By the way, did I mention that this is a true story. This is not fiction.
Enter Gary Taylor, who is a reporter for the Houston Post. He’s trying to write a story on the whole Mehaffey/murder/quasi-marriage/dead lover/who might be a former husband. Taylor gets shall we say “involved” with Mehaffey. They have lots of steamy sexual interludes. As the freak show, which is called a “relationship” (sounds like a disease), moves along, Taylor begins to wonder about his new girlfriend. What he wonders is if she’s just psychosocial or fully psychotic. It’s obvious to Taylor that Mehaffey killed her previous live-in lover.
And it isn’t too long before Mehaffey takes aim – literally – at Taylor. She tries to kill him. I won’t describe it, but it involves a .32 caliber handgun, a screaming harridan, and Taylor running away as fast as he can.
LBK is a great book. It’s well-written, which means that it moves along and doesn’t get bogged down in nonsense that isn’t pertinent to the story. And Taylor’s voice, which is funny in a I-can’t-believe-I-did-this-and-lived kind of way, entertains without trying to deliberately prove he should have been a comedian.
Did I mention another tidbit? It’s a self-published book, which is hard to tell because somebody did a good job of editing the text. And somebody (the same person?) did a wonderful job copy-editing the text. I couldn’t find one typo or glitch in punctuation. Most self-publishers don’t put that kind of time and attention into their final product. The self-publishers forget that when readers pay 20 bucks or more for a book, they want their money’s worth. Taylor provides it.
The title – Luggage By Kroger – was just weird enough to catch my eye. The more I think about the title, the more I like it. And the cover art was a good idea gone bad. I liked the concept, but the implementation was poor. The colors are washed out, which means I had to stare at the cover for two minutes to figure out what it was supposed to be. Whereas, in a perfect world, the cover should slap me across the face with its high contrast.
The cover was my only gripe. Luggage By Kroger is worth the price of admission. In fact, in my semi-humble opinion, some BIG BOY publisher in the Big Apple should pick it up and publish it in hardcover (with a more lucid cover photo), then sell the paperback rights, then sell the translation rights and maybe do a movie-option deal with Warner Brothers or MGM. If they do, and it all comes true, I want 5 points on the back end of the movie as my middleman’s fee.
I’ll see you in Hawaii, if it comes true. I’ll be guy working on his tan, drinking one of those fruity-alcoholic-concoctions-with-an-umbrella in it.
Short review summary: buy this book. It’s sick! as the hip kids say.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tells the tale of the volatile relationship between reporter Gary Taylor and femme fatale attorney Catherine Mehaffey.

It is a slow burner, the first half of the book being spent largely on providing background details of Gary Taylor's early life and career. While at the time this seemed excessive, it added to the overall 'roundness' of the story.

There is a devastating finale, the details of which I won't reveal to others who have not yet read the book. The couple of chapters preceding this were suspenseful and had me gripping the edge of my seat. The text prior to this provided a comprehensive and highly detailed account not only of Taylors life leading up to his relationship with Mehaffey but also her irrational acts and violent behaviour during their affair.

Taylors philandering behaviour did not perhaps generate much sympathy from me as a reader as he related his traumatic experience at the hands of Mehaffey. However, by the books end it is hard not to feel relieved that the consequences were not worse than was the case, particularly with regard to his children.

Taylor appears to act first and think later throughout the book, almost compulsively inviting dire consequences. He doesn't seem to have any moral qualms about notching up as many pieces of skirt as he can throughout the book and I did ask myself briefly; 'What exactly are you looking for from a relationship?'. He only awoke from his slumber of ignorance in the final phases of the book when Mehaffeys behaviour could have had consequences which could have been terminal for either Taylor or anyone who had any involvement with him.

I did feel that perhaps by the end of the book and approaching his mid thirties, Taylor had perhaps grown into a mature adult and realised that actions have consequences - something most of us learn earlier in life.

There is a warning contained within the book in terms of the caution we should all observe before embarking on a sexual relationship with someone who we barely know. However, given Taylors own serious character flaws, the events have to be interpreted in the light of ones own personal set of values and moral code.

In terms of the quality of the book, I did enjoy it. It was well written, in depth and like any good thriller, had a slow build up to a climactic finish.

[David Ye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining read —I originally purchased it to research a story that I was writing, and was pleasantly surprised by Gary Taylor's even-handed and at times empathetic retelling of events that happened to him a couple decades ago. The book was somewhat marred by the clumsy way in which the climax was handled. There was alot of buildup for an underwhelming climax. There's maybe 150 pages of story here, but the book was 300 pages long (at least according to the B&N ebook page count). Interesting read if you happen to like the True Crime genre.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evil in Disguise

I found this to be a page Turner for me. This woman was one of the most evil persons that I have read about in my 40 years of reading true crime books.
I was amused by the title and wondered why the author used it , but understood later.

[Traci · Rating 2 out of 5]

Should actually be 2 1/2. The only decent half was about the crime. This guy was a jerk. Nobody deserves to be shot at, but . . .

[shinfu]

This looks like it will be a great book to read.

[Landy]

I would like to read/review this book.

[Vickie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I posted a review when I originally finished this book

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one. Very well-written and with character depth which is sometimes absent in true crime books.