Widow's Web

by Gene Lyons

The true saga of Arkansas beauty Mary Lee Orsini details the shooting of her husband, the defense lawyer whose wife she arranged to have murdered, the prosecutor whose career she ruined, and other crimes.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, Mystery Thriller, True Story

447 pages, Hardcover

First published August 2, 1993

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had actually read something by Gene Lyons before - Fools for Scandal: How the Media Invented Whitewater, on the recommendation of Daily Howler blogger Bob Somerby. Somerby recommends Lyons as a journalist who gets it right, seeing through the bullshit and nonsense that so often pass for journalism.

A few days ago Somerby linked to a Gene Lyons column on the Trayvon Martin case - "a lamentable tragedy of errors marketed as a multi-media morality play on the combustible theme of race. It makes me crazy to see what I call the Mighty MSNBC Art Players and other media figures fictionalize, dissemble and play fast and loose with facts. The case is troubling enough without turning the participants into political symbols," Lyons wrote in the Arkansas Times.

He mentioned his own book Widow's Web:

Twenty years ago, I wrote a book called "Widow's Web" about two politically charged, media-driven murder cases. The subject was all anybody in Arkansas talked about for a couple of years. The book documented how an audience worked into a frenzy by a histrionic murderer with big blue eyes, a publicity-mad county sheriff and slipshod, sensational media coverage helped to compound a tragedy by ruining a good man's life.

I can still remember my astonishment upon realizing that front page trial coverage in the state's leading newspaper depicted not the actual testimony and crime scene photos, but an imaginary scenario calculated to cast suspicion on the victim's husband. Media accounts also falsely depicted a man who lost everything due to his wife's death as inheriting a fortune.

"It was the popular thing to believe," one Little Rock detective told me. "You could ask the ladies under every hair dryer in every beauty shop in Arkansas if McArthur was involved, and they'd say yes. They didn't have to know a thing about the case. They just knew."

And they were completely deluded.

Writing the book was a life-changing experience. I've never read a newspaper or watched a TV news program the same way since — particularly not about a homicide trial.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in either well-written true crime, or byzantine state or local politics/law enforcement. Some of the shenanigans that went on in Little Rock as these two murder cases were being investigated really must be read to be believed.

[Mollie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book because an attorney that I cherish lent it to me and that is the only reason. Finishing this will go down as a hardship of 2022 for me.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Hmmm...this is a crazy read. Highly recommended to me by Heidi when I was in Little Rock, and yes, it's something of a wild introduction to that city and an extremely thorough exploration of a notorious criminal, the nutcase Mary Lee Orsini. A sort of charming (apparently) pathological very nutty liar and murderer who held the city in thrall for months and months. She first offs her husband for his life insurance, then the wife of the handsome lawyer who defends her...the latter out of jealousy it seems. What's most amazing is how many fall for her outlandish tales, which keep changing. At one time she even blames her husband's murder on her teenaged daughter. In the meanwhile you see Little Rock and North Little Rock politics, press, shenanigans up close and personal. Did I say Lyons was thorough? An interest in Arkansas history/politics helps.

[Shanti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but way way too long and redundant

[Annotaré · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gene Lyons brings his journalistic talent to life in Widow's Web taking this intricate and intriguing story with mingled plots and sub-plots with so many characters into a story style readers will understand.

Published in 1993, most of the characters were living and agreed to Lyon's interviews making this a first-hand story.

Lauded as the "greatest criminal drama in Southern history," this "Twin Peaks" saga of an "alluring seductress, murder, sexual intrigue" intertwined with political and legal corruption gripped the state of Aransas as unethical media reports ensnared its readers into frenzies over the whodunit murder of Alice McArthur, the wife of prominent criminal lawyer, William McArthur.

The saga began back on March 12, 1981, when the North Little Rock police received the 911 call, "I just found my husband... . He's covered in blood."

Mary Lee Orsini becomes the hub in the death of her husband, Ron Orsini and one of the grandest of tale spinners in the good 'ole boys state. Acquitted of murder charges, Orsini hires McArthur to handle her financial affairs...thus begins Part 11 of this story catapulting to July 2, 1982, when Yankee Hall, an acquaintance of Orsini with Larry McClendon drive to 24 Inverness Circle in Pleasant Valley, the home of Bill and Alice McArthur and blow her brains out with a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson.

Alice had survived a car bomb back on May 21, 1982. Authorities assumed the attempt was against McArthur and by July, Alice had let her guard down. Her paranoia subsided to live life. When McClendon stood on her doorstep with a bouquet of flowers, she didn't suspect her life in danger until she looked into the man's eyes and knew why he was there.

First on the scene were Tommy Robinson's sheriffs. The question is why? They were out of jurisdiction and later would come under suspicion of altering the crime scene. Sub-plot, Sheriff Robinson hated McArthur and for three years did everything in his legal and unethical power to pin the murder on McArthur. Reading Robinson's escapades puts fear into a potential Arkansas resident.

The extraordinary mystery — unsolved to date — is the flower bouquet. Any reader able to solve this part of the case would truly solve the McArthur murder, the who was behind Hall and McClendon. Media reports convenience Arkansas readers it was Orsini and William McArthur enmeshed in a torrid love affair and Alice was in the way...and very rich.

Cops found no evidence of this accusation and legal peers found the accusations unfounded. The power of words in an easily persuaded population...

Well written, Lyons does an excellent job telling this infamous story. Good to have, the Cast of Characters listed in the front of the book. Readers will often refer to this listing as they encounter a host of characters. In his Epilogue, Lyons updated character information — 1993 — giving some closure for readers.

Better than a major crime writers novel, Widow's Web will keep readers turning pages and shaking heads at the incredible orgy of corruption as his story unfolds this real-life Arkansas drama.

Recommended to target audience.

[Sandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story doesn't ring true to the police called to investigate. A man lies dead in his bedroom, a gunshot to the head causing his death. His wife, Mary Lee Orsini, says that she found the door locked and when she unlocked it and went in, found her husband dead. She says that she and her eleven year old daughter had been in the house the night before and heard nothing and that she slept in her daughter's room as she was feeling ill. Once it becomes clear that this is not a suicide, she has lots of possible perpetrators for the police to investigate, including her brother.

Orsini is a master manipulator. She is compelling and people are fascinated with her, even if her stories don't hold up. She claims a college degree although she didn't finish high school. She claims connections with prestigious people and insists that powerful criminals have it out for her. Her attorney, Bill McArthur, isn't sure his client is innocent but he is sure the police don't have enough evidence to take the case to trial. When a grand jury refuses to return an indictment, Orsini is set free and McArthur believes his job is done.

But it isn't. Orsini attempts for months to pull him into her web of lies and fabrications. She has several boyfriends during this time and uses them to further the plans and plots constantly spinning in her mind. Things take a more deadly turn when McArthur's wife is found shot and dead in his house. Orsini, who by now is upset that McArthur never took her up on her flirtations, does what she can to cast suspicion on him. Before it's all over, a sheriff with political aspirations becomes part of Orsini's web and McArthur is hounded in and out of court for months.

This case took place in Little Rock, Arkansas. Readers will be as fascinated with Mary Lee Orsini and her manipulations as those caught up in the case were. She is an example of a narcissistic sociopath and her need to be in the spotlight cost the lives of two innocent people. The author's extensive research into the case and the politics that become ensnared in it is evident. This book is recommended for readers of true crime.

[Justin Sangster · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was fascinated with this book because it reads like a who’s who of central Arkansas during the 1980s. I was born in 1980, and my grandparents lived down the road from the Orsini house on Pontiac Drive. While I wasn’t familiar with the case itself, the names and places I’ve heard all my life...it must’ve been like the Lindbergh baby kidnapping trial set right in Central Arkansas.
As for the book, the many many names do become tedious and hard to follow, but that is quite representative of the case(s) themselves.
As for the cases, the book leaves me with a pretty good idea of what happened and who is responsible, but 100 percent certainty is lacking....Intriguing and mysterious.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling read. I observed all the action as it unfolded while I was in junior high. Having read this book in the mid-1990s, I probably have a deeper appreciation for the book now. I had forgotten how many people I knew were involved tangentially (including my childhood pediatrician and some junior high classmates.)

Even knowing how it all turned out, I had forgotten many of the twists as everything wended and winded through.

[Danice · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written true story! Featuring an incredible cast of characters including:

1. Mary Lee Orisini aka Mary Myrtle Hatcher or ..... Is she the strong, personable, attractive mother and widow... or a psychopathic murderess? A victim of an unbelievable sequence of events... or the mastermind and eager participant?

2. Tiffany Orsini, the only daughter of Mary Lee, is she a killer, a patsy or a pawn?

3. Bill McArther, a defense lawyer known for being understanding and pro bono work, happily married father and grieving widower.... or a cheating husband and murder, for whom, divorce too costly a solution to end his marriage and satisfy his greed.

4. Tommy Robinson, the Populist Democratic Politician turned Republican, eager to manipulate the media and his voting pool, using the media to sway public opinion in order to advance his political agenda. How far will he soar, using the lack of journalistic ethics to his advantage, to destroy his potential opponents, control information, and craft his heroic mythology... all the while, living by his own law and thwarting the efforts of the minority who are fighting for justice?

Its an amazing read. Telling the tale of what can happen when we, the people, allow the line between fact and fiction to blur. What is the difference? When we allow ourselves to be swept up in the drama, the intrigue and the entertainment, when law and order become just another spectacle, the distance we create when we become trapped in a feeding frenzy, devouring unquestioning the stories we are told, we become players in our own fiction. We lose our truth, we surrender our rights and our lives to the mass. Populism costs. It costs our humanity. Without ethics, without the desire to question and maintain context, to resist the urge to equate what is real with fantasy, when we do not allow ourselves to let our imaginations override our senses... that is when we can fight against corruption. Fight for ourselves and humanity. It is our job, as humans, as a population, to resist from giving any elected official blind trust, only justice should be blind, keep your eyes open, because eyes shut keep us in the dark.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Growing up in central Arkansas, I was in 6th/7th grade around the time this was all dominating the local news. I was very aware of it then, and had wanted to read this book for a while now.

A fun read that really builds a sense of the time period and the personalities involved, including the Black Widow/Femme Fatale and the Rogue Sheriff Tommy.

Loses some momentum down the stretch as it devolves into a recap of the court proceedings but still largely a fascinating book.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a page turner. It's somewhat of an expanded news report, which was okay, but I'd loved to know more about personal aspects of the characters. Crazy, zany, mixed-up events. Mary Lee Orsini was a freak.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could have been shortened a lot. I found it hard to get into at the end. It just kept going on and on. I'm glad it's over and I can get on to another book.

[Steve Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding read by a gifted author.