Tainted Roses: I Married America's Most Wanted

by Margie Danielsen

Also published as Tainted Roses: A True Story of Murder, Mystery, and a Dangerous Love in 2000, and Most Wanted in 2008.

Prince Charming

Margie Danielsen, a divorcee and mother of three, had fantasies of finding the perfect man. Then one night, in a smoky country and western club, she found him. Sean Paul Lanier was charming, handsome, and kind-everything Margie had dreamed of.

A romance-with reservations

Soon after, their whirlwind romance took flight. Sean showered Margie with flowers, jewelry, expensive gifts, and his intense-sometimes scary-devotion. And just months after their courtship began, she agreed to marry man.

A nightmare marriage

But the honeymoon was soon over. One day Margie turned the TV on to America's Most Wanted and saw the face of her husband, whose real name was Paul Mack-a fugitive with a lengthy arrest record who was now wanted...for rape and murder.

America's Most Wanted

In Tainted Roses, Margie Danielsen tells her harrowing story in riveting, detail-from her courtship with Mack to her shocking discovery; from her brave trip to the police station to turn in her husband, to its terrifying aftermath...

Genres: True Crime

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Diane in Australia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very disturbing story about a woman who falls in love with a man, marries him, and later finds out he is wanted for murder. She seemed a bit naive to me, and I just wanted to shake some sense into her. The writing isn't really 4 stars, but the story she relates definitely is. I can't even imagine what she, and her children, went through.

4 Stars = Outstanding. It definitely held my interest.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fact that this book was written by the victim herself made it more personal. I was actually surprised at how much I really enjoyed this book. I had never heard of the case before but once I started I couldn't stop. Loved it.

[Ice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true, and highly disturbing, recounting of a wifes worst nightmarethe ideal husband revealed as fugitive murdererthat unfortunately provides a textbook example of how overheated, emotionally wrought writing will serve to obscure dramatic coherence. In 1988 Danielsen married Sean Paul Lanier after a rapid courtship. Handsome and romantic, Lanier was nevertheless a deeply odd character: He told outlandish tales about his background, possessed various official documents that failed to stand up under scrutiny, and his moods swung from charming to manipulative and threateningeven towards Danielsens three children.

Eventually she hired a private detective to investigate these troubling discrepancies, and she was not exactly surprised but horrified all the same to learn that her husband was a wanted man. His real name was Paul Mack, and he was a skilled con-man and Lothario who had fled Sacramento the previous year to escape arrest as the prime suspect in a case involving the murder of an aspiring model. Danielsens third-person narrative of these events saddles much of her book with a consistently hysterical tone: Margie feared there was no escape. `I wont stop until I find out the truth! . . . I need to know! Without making light of a uniquely traumatic experience, one feels Danielsens tale would have been better served by restraint for claritys sake.

Danielsens organizational style also leaves much to be desired: She liberally summarizes important narrative developments, while providing dramatic re-enactments of repetitious moments of inconsequential dialogue involving Macks blandishments, her fear for her daughters, and her domestic routine. Much of the story reads like a fever dream of undergraduate genre-writing exercises. The going improves somewhat during Danielsens dramatic re-creation of Macks crimes, trial, and convictionhe appears as a sordid killer lost in a tacky haze of lies, scams, and forcible sex leading to murder via overdosebut, given her highly emotional involvement, the theoretically neutral third-person makes for a problematic re-creation. Readers who are untroubled by these flaws will surely admire Danielsens strength and resourcefulness.

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads like it was written by a real amateur. Usually I don't finish books like this as I don't care for the style. I will say however,. because of the story I did read it all. It shows how easy it is to be conned by the best. A warning to everyone that you never really know someone else and the dark heart they truly have. How you can innocently put yourself and family in danger in the name of love. Always follow your first instincts.

[Angel Wooden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine falling head over heels for this man who seems to be everything you've ever wanted, only to find out he's Americas Most Wanted. For Murder. This is a true story of just that. No one had any idea who this man really was, they just knew what he told them. He had a whole other life filled with dark secrets. Watching the way this book unravels from start to finish is terrifying to say the least. It makes you want to background check everyone you talk to.

[Brooke]

This book wasn't bad, but I skipped over most of the second half, it just didn't hold my attention. I wouldn't recommend it.

[Jennifer Martinache · Rating 3 out of 5]

It wasn't overly exciting but not too bad..I didn't care for all of the court testimony in the last chapters.

[Juicy_Groot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not bad.It made me realize how cautious you need to be when you're dating someone you (or friends/family) know nothing about.I did think the ending was a little slow and dull.

[Donna Humble · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really makes the reader feel the horror of recognizing your spouse on America's Most Wanted.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could have been so much better. It is a true story and the author lived to tell the tale but it is written in 3rd person and it is overly dramatic.

[Millie · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was definitely a good read

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best book I've read - written very simple with some terrible mistakes in the writing. The story, however, which is true is interesting, especially following the court case.

[Sarah Lonsdale · Rating 1 out of 5]

The beginning went slow and I lost interest in it very quickly