Margaret Joyce asked Susan Wittig Albert:

Hi Susan, In your last newsletter, you said you were reading The Stranger Beside Me. Knowing nothing about it, but being curious as to what a great writer as yourself would read, I got it from my local library...... and I can't believe I read the whole thing! Question: Did you? and what might you have gleaned from that experience?

Susan Wittig Albert Thanks for the question, Margaret--and the compliment. I'm regularly read in genres in which I'm writing. I'm currently writing a mystery that has a strong police procedural narrative line and a , so I'm reading police procedurals and true crime. Ann Rule's books are said to be classic true crime, so I started with her first one (and read a couple more). I found the book deeply engaging--especially the relationship between Rule and Bundy--and (like you) I read to the end. I feel that the story was handled very well, given all its many convolutions. The style was clear, easy to read, and not distinguished, but that is apparently typical of the genre. I found Rule's other books similar, but not as engaging, because she was less deeply connected to the subject.

What did you take from the reading?

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