Till Death Do Us Part

February 27, 2006
Capitalizing on America's fascination with spousal murder, psychotherapist Ludwig details 10 "motivations and triggers," and uses real-life examples (some more famous than others) to illustrate her theories about why husbands and wives off one another. And after a slow first chapter on the history of marriage ("Why Marry?"), it's off to the homicidal races. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of the murder profile's hallmarks before delving into case studies, the first of which details a woman running over her cheating husband. That Ludwig loads her book with profiles of seemingly ordinary marriages gone violently wrong lends credence to her insistence that "most of us, whether we admit it or not, sometimes have violent, even homicidal thoughts toward our spouse." Her case studies stick to the facts and don't dwell on or sensationalize the crimes, which are told in a straightforward fashion uncommon in true crime books. An intelligent and timely book, this will please true crime readers as much as those interested in psychology.