Black Widow

by R. Robin McDonald

Book by McDonald, R. Robin

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

Audio Cassette

First published June 10, 1986

Reviews

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good book about the life of Audrey Marie Hilley, an infamous serial killer/ black widow killer from Anniston, Alabama. I'm from Anniston and this book accurately describes the place where Hilley grew up, lived, killed, and died. According to my aunt and grandmother who were in some of the same social circles as Hilley and remember the trial, this book is an accurate account of what happened.

Not too dry but still gives you all the facts, gives a very sympathetic perspective to Hilley's victims and family, but also gives you the little details some books (and true crime podcasts) have left out.

[Maria Carlisle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author’s purpose of writing Black Widow by R. Robin McDonald is to inform the reader of the Hilley poisonings during the 1970s. The Hilley poisonings took place in Alabama from 1974 to 1979. The three victims were given heavy amounts of arsenic throughout a period of time, killing and aiding the death of two, and almost killing another.
A possible theme of this story is that greed can make people do insane and monstrous things. The poisoner in the story took life insurance policies out on each of the victims before they died. After their untimely deaths, the murderer collected the life insurance policy money and very quickly spent it on things that they could not afford. Even after the money ran out, luxury items were still being bought and soon bad checks were being bounced around to fool the banks.
The style of Black Widow is narration. It explains the events of these unfortunate crimes with interviews and quotations from family members. It begins with the early life of the murderer and the first victim. It continues on into life in the Hilley home before the deaths, and then after. It tells the story of an attempted murder and diminished mental state of the murderer.
I very much enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the many details given along with the interviews/quotations provided by family and friends of the Hilleys. A thing I don’t like about this story is that it had to be written. That these events occurred and innocent people were hurt and killed by someone they trusted. I wouldn’t change anything about this book though, since it’s very truthful about real events that people should learn from.

[Ronnie Cramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has a tendency to drag things out and drop unnecessary spoilers throughout the text, but there's no denying that this is a strange and fascinating saga. A seemingly demure Alabama mother poisons her husband and her daughter, and that's just the beginning of her story. Not surprisingly, this case inspired a 1991 Lifetime TV-movie ('Wife, Mother, Murderer').

[GRITS · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the Marie Hilley Story! Read several books and have seen movies about her...imagine pretending to be your own twin sister...her husband was very naive!