This book was very slow. Did not hold my interest. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

Very enjoyable book. Good mystery and was a real page turner! Looking forward to reading more by this author!

As a fan of Dateline and any kind of true crime, I enjoy anything along these lines. This was nothing groundbreaking, but a thorough account of an under-publicized crime that was worth reading.

"The lovely widow had confessed to the coldblooded murder of her husband. But Dorothy Marcic suspected a more sinister tale at the heart of her beloved uncle’s violent death.

The brutal murder of LaVerne Stordock, a respected family man and former police detective, shocked his Wisconsin community. On the surface, the case seemed closed with the confession of Stordock’s wife, Suzanne. But the trail of secrets and lies that began with his death did not end with his widow’s insanity plea.

Dorothy Marcic, a playwright, theatrical producer, and university professor, couldn’t put her doubts to rest. In 2014 she embarked on a two-year mission to uncover the truth. In the bestselling tradition of Ann Rule and M. William Phelps, With One Shot weaves a spellbinding tale of unmet justice and the truth behind a shocking family tragedy."

True crime, in Wisconsin! Sign me up. Also for her book tour, which is stopping nearby!

The way Dorothy lays out the history and fact finding of the mystery behind her Uncle's death is quite interesting, her writing really shows the lengths she went to uncover the truth. However, I also found that there are a lot of tedious details and chapters that are kind of repetitive so it made for a slower read. I think it could be shortened a bit with a lot of the extremely specific details removed to make the story flow more quickly.

A very personal look at the murder of a loved one. The author loved her uncle very much, that I obvious but this story was too long. There were chapters that should have been shorter by far. Aldo, some details were unneeded. The reader does not need to know how the author debated in what to wear to meet the sheriff.

The crime itself is heartbreaking and justice was definitely not served. I would have loved to see what the current sheriff could come up with if the offending parties were still around to speak to.

We follow the author's journey as she uncovers the truth about a family murder. The reader will be hooked after the first page!

This is a great book about the murder of LaVerne Stordock, the author's uncle. HIs widow confessed and was put in a mental facility for a few years. However, the author believed that there was more to the story than what was said in court. So, the author, LaVerne's niece, Dorothy, did some excellent research, to try to get the entire story. Her hard work turned into this book. I think it was also written quite well, making it interesting to read and hard to put down. I always wanted to know what came next. I highly recommend it!

Really liked the sound of this book but I had to give up just about half way through. Sorry to do this to a NetGalley book, but really struggled with it. There were too many facts, assumptions and just didn't flow well.

dates read 4/15-4/16

This book is a little long but I guess needed for the history of the book. Dorothy Marcic did a lot of research into her Uncle Laverne's murder in Wisconsin. I believe probably like the author that Laverne's wife Suzanne did it. I detested this woman Suzanne, she reminded me of Ann Rule's book, Small Sacrifices, using herself in anyway to get what she wanted. She was pure evil. I commend Dorothy for all she did to figure out the truth. Suzanne was tried for murder and pleaded insanity and got a few months and then collected life insurance. I hope that wasn't a spoiler alert. I believe she knew what she was doing. This man, Laverne was a cop and he got no justice. Who knows maybe she put her son up to doing the killing. Someone should of looked into why bodies kept dropping around Suzanne.

ok true story.

Thank you Net Gallery and Kensington Citadel for allowing me to review With One Shot.

Cherie'

with one shot by Dorothy marcic.
 a very good read.
the brutal murder of Laverne stardock, his wife Suzanne confesses to his murder. but food she do it?
Dorothy marcic embarks on a two year Mission to find out the truth. but will she find the truth?
although the picture and diagrams were a bit confusing for me. I did enjoy the story. so only 4*.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Books for an advanced copy of this book. My honest review follows.

I gave this book one star because of the way it was written rather than for the story that was told. Perhaps I received the second draft of this story but the writing was angry, biased, and hard to follow at times. This could have used a few more editing sessions.

The author's uncle was killed, murdered, decades ago. It is possible the person who was punished for his murder, his wife, was not the person who killed him. The wife, the author's former aunt, is a manipulative, devious character.

The bones of an interesting true crime story are here. The execution just simply failed. Reader, beware. Wait for the revised edition of this book to come out before reading it.

I tried several times within a few weeks to dive into this book, however, it is not for me and I realized I needed to bow out gracefully rather than continue to keep trying to get through it just to get through it.
But I wish the author much success and I hope that those of you who do read it, enjoy it. My 2 star rating is because the story was not for me and not a book I would recommend because I could not get through it.

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author and the publisher for my free ARC copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow this book is so well researched and an inmate look into a murder that happened years ago. Dorothy ishe niece of the victim!!! What a twist! This book read like a very interesting history book with a twist of major drama!
Years after the murder the family still didn't have the information and closure they needed, so that is when the digging began to point all the i's and cross all the t's! I found it so interesting how Dorothy pieces everything together as to what happened that horrible night. This case is extremely interesting and WOW!!! I found myself googling when I wasn't reading! And when I was done this amazing book I did a full fledge google search into this case! I applaud Dorothy Maric for writing such a intimate look into her family.

More twists and turns than a wadded up roll of duct tape.... which in this case, could have been extremely useful!

Warning.... there are spoilers..

Vernie Stordock was a family man, respected police officer and all around great guy - until the night he was murdered. It was not just murder... it was the slow systematic wiping out of any life he might have had before he met Suzanne. His niece, Dorothy and his daughter Shannon have had theories and questions for years. Dorothy finally decides to see if she can get to the bottom of the story, and begins to unravel the mysterious surrounding involving Suzanne, her children, and of course - how in the world a professed murderer gets only 11 months in a mental hospital to be "cured" and released.

Now the juicy parts of the story. You are going to hate Suzanne. You have to. The entire story reeks of narcissistic/pathological issues that you can see building through the fabrics of the relationships she had before she met Vernie. It was Suzanne or the highway.. her way or no way. Somehow, she always got exactly what she wanted. She used her body, she used threats, and when it came down to it - violence (for real, exactly how MANY bodies have to accumulate around someone before it gets questioned). But I digress, we are discussing the Vernie situation here..

Suzanne admitted her role in the murder, explained how she did it, and then somehow manipulated the system to barely spend any time in prison, walk out smelling like roses, and managed to claim the entire estate of Vernie, and then some. She was not happy to walk away with the life insurance, she had to hurt his first family by taking half of everything they had, just because she could.

This book... this book is a hard one for me to rate and review. I liked it, I hated it, I questioned the author and her true motives. I wanted more. I wanted to see more answers from the departments involved, the DA, the ADA (who was disbarred), the Sheriff, and most of all, the doctors who allowed this woman to outsmart them. She played each and every person like a fiddle and they sang the exact tune that she wanted. Beethoven would have been proud at the master theater production she managed to concoct and have everyone swaying to her own personal waltz.
I had to admit, I got a little irritated with all the "we had an instant connection" "they were wearing a...." moments. I don't care what someone is wearing. This book is not about clothing and fashion, or the sound of someone's voice. It was a fact, theory expounding, nail the murderer of her uncle book.
I honestly could not tell if the author was satisfied with the findings of the case by the time the book closed. It felt to open to me. Why was David never fully questioned? How in the world could they not go back and amend the charges? There is no statute of limitations on murder, and the fact that the person they suspected was now dead had nothing to do with it. Suzanne was a liar, and that was enough to throw everything out the window and start again. Sadly, the records from the case have mostly been destroyed and many of the people who knew anything are also passing away. This case is a huge miscarriage of justice, and the family of Vernie Stordock never got full closure. As I worked through the case putting the evidence together, it never fully fit to me that Suzanne was the person who pulled the trigger. She was a master manipulator, and would get anyone else to do their work for them (i.e. she even used her own step-daughters research for her thesis/dissertation). Suzanne was not mentally ill, she did not have a lapse in judgement, and I very highly doubt that her husband was ever violent towards her, unless he was protecting himself from her. She manipulated each and every situation she was in. Full blown narcissistic behavior, and more probable, a high functioning sociopath. This woman was the very epitome of evil, who used her children to get what she wanted, and ignored them the remainder of the time. For them to have stuck with her as long as they did, I was surprised, but then again - manipulation goes a long way and when you have been conditioned since childhood with it, there is not much you can do to get away from it.

Like I said above, I had a hard time rating this book. I felt it was really rambly in a lot of ways (kind of like my review), but I think she started off on the right track. If she had stuck to the case, and not let emotion sweep through (hard because it was family), it would have made a more cohesive read. I wonder now about the family of this master manipulator, and how much they truly knew about the "unfortunate situation".

With One Shot, by Dorothy Marcic, is a well-written look at injustice in a small Wisconsin town. The crime seems straightforward: a man is murdered and his wife confesses. So, what is the book about?

The victim, LaVerne Stordock, was a former police detective who disrupted his whole life to marry Suzanne. Their relationship was volatile, and Suzanne’s insanity plea resulted in less than a year of confinement. LaVerne was the author’s uncle, and she totally loved him (partly because re represented calm in the tumult of her life growing up).

The author, a successful professor, playwright and theatrical producer, puts her life on hold to investigate the case years after it seemed closed. TBH, the whole family creeped me out but I found the story believable. The problem is that the author’s clear bias prevents this from being an objective look at a family tragedy.

It’s interesting, and true crime fans will totally dig in to the book and enjoy the story of Ms. Marcic’s dogged pursuit of truth. Thanks to Kensington Books Citadel and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review. Four stars.

A well researched and written book, done by the niece of the victim 40 years after the murder. Later generations realize they don't know enough and want to dig to find out what answers remain while there are still people living that know what happened. So Marcic begins piecing together what happened back on that night, and after a couple of years of research and interview, a sickening picture emerges. This turns out to be a very interesting case, with lots of crooked carrying on behind the scenes. It should interest most true crime fans as it stalks info about a murder that happened back in the 60's, and possibly several more.

An advance digital copy was provided by NetGalley and author Dorothy Marcic for my honest review.
Citadel
Publication date: March 27, 2018

Very interesting story. Lots of repetition, though. I would have liked it better if it had been more chronological.

I had a fair bit of difficulty with this book. It's completely understandable that the author wants to investigate her uncle's murder and the apparent injustice of his then wife only serving 11 months for it. However, the book is so convoluted bringing in family history and family members ' viewpoints that it loses track of the essential story. The topic would have been better served written by an objective third party. The story needs to be streamlined, it is too muddied with personal perspectives to hold the interest of many "neutral " readers.
My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

My Review
This is the hardest book to get into that I have read in a long time. In all honesty I didn’t really get into it.

The writing style was good but the information blended assumption and fact and wasn’t clear on which was which and this annoyed me pretty early on in the book.

I can understand why Dorothy Marcic felt the need to investigate her uncles after his 2nd wife was convicted of shooting him, claimed insanity and only served 11 months. Then to add more insult she claimed him life insurance upon his release.

It was such a mix of imagination, assumption, suspicion and fact and those lines were far too blurred throughout the book.

That the legal proceedings surrounding her aunts incarceration and quick release needed further examination is of little doubt but Dorothy writes her account with obvious and understandable bitterness and anger. This bias is evident on most pages throughout the book.



If this book had been written and researched by someone without an emotional and familial link to the murder then I think it would have been a better book.