I'm a huge true crime fan and also of Mark Bowden so I couldn't pass this one up. Stayed up late reading it for a few nights! Absolutely recommend for true crime fans!

Thanks to the publisher, author and Netgalley for an Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The author is a well known writer for a range of articles including Vanity Fair. Although I had heard of one of the cases, that of Stephanie Lazarus, I was unfamiliar with the rest. As a True Crime enthusiast who regularly binges on true crime podcasts, books and tv series, it's unusual for me not to have at least come across 2 or 3 of these stories before.

The author's writing is empathetic, respectful and you get the sense that he wants the reader to know that real people were part of these stories. He does have his opinions, which you can definitely ascertain, but overall I got the feeling that he just wanted to make the stories about the humans involved in the crimes, not just the sensationalism of the crimes. That really appealed to me, because it's the reason why I like True Crime. Who were the people involved, how did they think and behave, who did the victims leave behind and how did the survivors see justice done?

A very interesting read.

If you're a true crime aficionado, you'll want to love this book. Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down provides a collection of his past articles on true crimes. Of the 6 cases in the book, three are reported directly by Bowden and three involve the private investigator Ken Brennan. The problem with Bowden's book is that Brennan, a retired police detective from Long Island , is such a character in the cases he is featured in that the lack of his presence in the other cases makes them almost not worth reading. I found myself missing Brennan's influence in the stories he wasn't involved in and after finishing the book found that I could only remember things from Brenan's cases. Bowden would have been better served to write a book solely on Brennan and his exploits.

So maybe it was just me on this one, but I just couldn’t get into it. I’m familiar with Mark’s writing, but I found the regurgitated stories in this book a bit dry. I was familiar with all of the stories except the first two, and really I found no new details that haven’t been published before now. It was written well, as his works always are, but this book just wasn’t a high note for me.

There is no doubt that Mark Bowden is a giant in crime writing today. There is good reason for this- all six of the stories within this collection are interesting and well written. It is likely that the three stories featuring real-life PI Ken Brennan are the most conventionally interesting. However, it was the first story, The Incident at Alpha Tau Omega, which fascinated me the most- it wasn't that the crime was compelling but rather the portrayal of our society and its values and how that impacted the outcome which I found interesting.
If you find certain subjects within true-crime hard to process, I would advise doing some research prior to starting this collection. In my opinion, nothing here is too graphic or disturbing so I suspect that the average reader will be fine.

Mark Bowden writes some interesting true crime stories . I liked the vanishing blonde it was mysterious and true . The other stories were also real and written in great detail. I hope to read more from this author in the future .

A well written involving selection of essays about true crimes.Each crime caught my attention kept me reading,True crime readers this is a book you will stay up late reading.#netgalley #groveatlantic

This was a short collection of articles the author wrote in various magazines. I have not read many true-crime books, but this was easier to read than some of the others I have picked up. There are six stories of real cases which range across the decades. I wish the first story was not the one about the college fraternity because there was no mystery involved. The author provides us with the information in a way that both sides of the argument look like they are being presented, while still not making apologies for either. This was odd(to me) because it felt like such a situation must be clear-cut. The ones which were straightforward investigative cases were more fascinating to me ( as most of the others were). I will not go into the details because seeing them being resolved during the narrative would make more sense.


The writing was simple, and the dialogues were often repeated verbatim with whatever language the situation drove the people to use. There is graphic detail but not to the extent that would put one off from the book.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review was entirely based on my own reading experience.

I love Mark Bowden and this book didn't disappoint. I did skip two of the stories that I had seen on true crime tv. Really enjoyed the anthology and felt it was well written.

The Case of the Vanishing Blonde is a fine example of true crime including six different stories that suck the reader in. Mark Bowden is a wonderful author who explains each story with great detail and really makes the reader understand each case. This book is a great read for lovers of true crime and those looking to branch out to new genres.

This book was a collection of true crime short stories. The stories were very interesting and really concentrated on the investigation side. I like the way this author writes and tells each story. very well. He has been a reporter for most of his career, so I was not surprised that he was able to write well. I did enjoy this book and those who like true crime will like it.

Award-winning journalist and author Mark Bowden has struck again with this anthology of cases he's written about throughout his career. Some of the stories are Pennsylvania based, which for me is exciting, being that I live where some of these cases have taken place. Some are long forgotten, some are more recent, such as the titular story. With Bowden's incredible prose, the stories take on a new life, and bring to light the inner workings of police and criminals alike.

I think former journalists are often the best crime writers as they translate their experience into novel form. That said, this was not a novel but so well written I hope we will see a novel from the author sometime in the future. A collection of cases, this book offered enough detail without getting bogged down in itself. Really interesting and accessible to read.

This is a collection of six long-form journalistic pieces Mark Bowden wrote for Vanity Fair. Six true crime cases, each of them different in their own ways, not so much for their shock value but for the fact that they caused seismic shifts in the way certain types of crimes are examined.

Incident at Alpha Tau Omega tells the story of a girl who got drunk and/or high, and was raped by a number of brothers at a frat house at Penn State. The incident and its aftermath definitely changed the way consent in such cases are discussed. Bowman tries to present the facts of the case without bias, but his implicit distaste for the failure of the fraternity brothers to not only take responsibility, but even comprehend the wrongness of their actions does come over somewhat.

why don’t u tell me wht ur into raises some intriguing questions about entrapment. A cyber detective phishes for paedophiles by posing as a mother with two young girls. The fish she hooks seems more interested in her than the girls, but she insists they are a package deal. Arranging to meet her, planning to have sex with her before the girls get home from school, the man is arrested. Having never seen the girls, in possession of no child pornography, is he guilty? And of what?

The Case of the Vanishing Blonde is the first of three stories centring on the investigative skills of PI Ken Brennan. Leading to the capture of a serial rapist, it’s really a commentary on the police failing to do the investigative work to close the case.

… A Million Years Ago is told as an interview between two detectives looking into a cold-case homicide and a fellow police officer, the highly decorated and respected Stephanie Lazarus, who turns out to have killed her ex-boyfriend’s new wife. It seems apparent that Lazarus conspired to destroy evidence in the case which could have pointed in her direction and that other police officers aided and abetted her, although an investigation cleared them. Bowden makes no comment about this, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions.

The Body in Room 348 is a case which only came about because the medical examiner performing an autopsy missed a bullet wound which was the actual cause of death. It turns out to be an accidental shooting - a drunken fool messing around with a gun - but it takes super PI Ken Brennan to figure it out and bring closure to his family.

Who Killed Euhommie Bond? once again features Ken Brennan, this time investigating the shooting of a police officer outside the bar he and his wife owned during a scuffle. It’s probably particularly relevant at the present time due to Bowman’s rather pointed observations about the failures of the Jackson police to properly investigate the killing of a fellow police officer… because Euhommie Bond was Black.

The articles are a little bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality; in the first one I was annoyed by Bowman’s constant switching between present and past tense, and I’d also have very much liked to see that particular one followed up to see what the principal players are doing in the modern day, even if their names are still kept anonymous. Because the articles are reproduced in full from their original format, Ken Brennan gets introduced three times, which definitely seems overblown by the third time.

These are interesting, groundbreaking cases; I’d honestly never heard of any of them before reading this book. However, to reproduce them without revisiting any of them, following up with any of the major players in the present day, feels like something of a lazy cash grab, which is a little disappointing. Definitely worth a read if you’re not familiar with these cases because of their thought-provoking nature, though. I’ll give it four stars.

An anthology of six true crime articles, the pieces range from cases of apparent entrapment by a shady detective to a puzzling death in a hotel room, with a variety of cases in between. All of them are interesting and well-written. Six cases was not nearly enough!

3.5 stars. A decent collection of true crime stories. My favorites from this book were Incident at Alpha Tau Omega and the stories involving the relentless PI Ken Brennan. The other stories were alright but they could all be based on personal preference.

I'm an avid consumer of anything true crime, and this collection of articles was definitely up my alley! Each article was unique and fast-paced, and made me want to do more research into the cases. The most interesting case by far was the mysterious death of Greg Fleniken, a man who died alone in his hotel room, seemingly of natural causes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for my free e-copy.

Journalist Mark Bowden pulls articles he has written over the years for newspapers and magazines to create The Case of the Vanishing Blonde and Other True Crime Stories. Most of the stories are from the last fifteen years; one was originally published in 1983. I inhaled these stories on Sunday afternoon, pleased by Bowden’s humanizing touches to a series of complicated cases that involve murder, rape, and some very puzzling deaths that are only solved by the careful work of private investigator Ken Brennan.

The book opens with the oldest story, “The Incident at Alpha Tau Omega.” Because this one was published in 1983, I was initially worried how this rape case would be depicted. Feminism was growing but it was well before #MeToo. But my concerns disappeared within a few pages. Bowden presents a variety of perspectives on the case. He talks to a young woman who helped bring the case of a gang rape to the attention of administrators at Penn State University. The victim of the rape was high on a large dose of LSD and quite drunk. Anyone who saw her should have known that she wasn’t capable of consenting to sex, but several young men at the Alpha Tau Omega house near campus took advantage of her. The case, sadly, shows a lot of similarities to the way that rape cases are investigated and prosecuted now. The ATO brothers allege that they are the victims of a feminist witch hunt and that, besides, she seduced them. Thankfully, the victim is believed and there are real consequences for the perpetrators.

Another case in this collection that really grabbed my attention was Bowden’s exploration of the way that potential child molesters are entrapped by undercover police in online chat rooms in “why don’t u tell me wht ur into.” Entrapment is a touchy subject in criminal justice. On the one hand, no one wants sexual predators hurting anyone, especially children. On the other, is it ethical and just to trick people into committing a crime? Bowden uses a transcript between an undercover officer and a potential criminal to reveal how good intentions can mix with hysteria to send innocent people to prison for crimes that never really happened.

The other cases presented in The Case of the Vanishing Blonde feature Ken Brennan, a private investigator who is called in when the police have run out of leads. Brennan has a brilliant mind and I loved his blunt way of speaking.I don’t want to say anything about these other cases because they are so intricate that they could have come out of the pages of Golden Age detective novels. The way that Brennan figures these cases out made me think of a more profane Sherlock Holmes.

The Case of the Vanishing Blonde is a perfect collection of stories for true crime fans who need something to tide them over until the next episode of My Favorite Murder or Cold Case Files drops.

The Case of the Vanishing Blonde: And Other True Crime Stories by journalist Mark Bowden is a collection of six true crime articles that he had published in various publications in his career. Me being a sucker for the genre, combined with the fast-paced writing style which kept the reader in me hooked throughout, makes this book a must read in my opinion.

One character that stands out is Ken Brennan, the private investigator who is featured in half the stories published in this book. His style of working is impressive, and the way he tackles the almost impossible-looking cases is applause worthy. I'd love to read his biography. Come on Mark, do your thing and make this happen.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for the ARC.

Verdict: Must read if you are into true crime genre.

Mark Bowden has written a superb read with The Case of the Vanishing Blonde. Well worth the time and a true page turner!