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 Entertainment | Books | February 2005 
Still Charmed By A Murderer
 Bob Minzesheimer - USA TODAY
Publisher Judith Regan is betting that the national obsession with Scott Peterson's murder case is not abating anytime soon.
 ReganBooks, a division of HarperCollins, already has had one best seller in Witness for the Prosecution of Scott Peterson by Amber Frey and has two more books in the works:
• Blood Brother: 33 Reasons My Brother, Scott Peterson, Is Guilty by Anne Bird is to be published March 1. First printing: 250,000 copies.
• A Deadly Game: The Untold Story of the Scott Peterson Investigation by Catherine Crier, the former judge who's a legal analyst on Court TV, will be released March 11. First printing: 200,000 copies.
Why the appeal of the case against Peterson, who was convicted Dec. 13 of murdering his wife, Laci, and the fetus she carried?
"TV. Good-looking people. A great soap opera," Regan says simply.
Regan says she didn't set out to corner the market on Peterson books and notes that "each book is different."
Frey's tell-all was written in four days, Regan says. "The poor collaborator nearly died." But Crier has been working on her book since the case began.
"Timing is of the essence," Regan says. "You need the books before everyone moves on to the next story."
What sets each book apart:
• "Amber's story is one a lot of women can relate to," Regan says. "She was lied to and deceived. But not only was the guy married, he was a murderer."
Witness for the Prosecution, which has been derided by critics, was No. 1 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list for a week in January and is now No. 35. ReganBooks reports 395,000 copies in print.
• Anne Bird, who was given up for adoption at birth, then reunited with her brother and biological mother in 1997, offers what Regan calls "the first glimpse inside the Peterson family, what made this narcissistic, disturbed kid. The title says it all."
• "Crier's is a serious, journalistic investigation of what happened behind the scenes, all the stuff that didn't get into the trial, the people who didn't testify."
Other books to come?
"Jackie Peterson (his mother) could write a book, if she would tell the truth," Regan says.
And Peterson, who faces a death sentence? "He couldn't make any money, and what could he say, 'I did it?' But that's one interview I'd love to get. Why did he do it?"
Regan acknowledges that there's nothing new about "sick psychopaths murdering their wives. But when it's played out on TV, the human drama can be fascinating." |
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