Update: On April 25, 2018 it was announced in the Washington Post that the serial-killer -rapist known as the “Golden State Killer” was identified by DNA evidence and arrested – a former police officer.
“More than 40 years after the so-called “Golden State Killer” began terrorizing California, raping dozens of women and killing at least 12, authorities announced Wednesday that they had arrested 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo in the case….”
“The trail ultimately led authorities to DeAngelo, a former police officer living in Citrus Heights, Calif., a city outside Sacramento.”
For more info see either the above link or: http://abc7.com/golden-state-killer-arrested-in-northern-california/3390636/
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I remember just a wee bit of this California serial murderer because I moved from California to Oklahoma in January of 1977 and didn’t return until 1980. Those were the years the “Golden State Stalker” was active but then again for a wee bit in 1986. I was living in the Bay Area when the Visalia Ransacker was running amok between 1974 and 1975. That said, I’m very familiar with all the cities named – Visalia particularly, but all the others, too.
Also, as background, I’m an old True Crime fan back to the days of my divorce (lol) so this book was right up my alley. I especially enjoy the books based on the procedural and psychological make-up elements in the crime. And not too much focus on the graphic details, please. Beware – I’ll Be Gone in the Dark does get somewhat graphic but it’s basically the procedural outline of a “cold case.” The thing is it was almost ready for publication when the author died suddenly in 2016.
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I’ll Be Gone In the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
by Michelle McNamara
2018 / 352 pages
read by Gabra Zackman, Gillian Flynn, Patton Oswalt/ 9h 45m
rating 9 / true crime-memoir
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So the idea behind the actual final editing and publication is excellent. The author, Michelle McNamara, died leaving a decade of her life’s work behind. The book she’d written was left mostly alone and published anyway with an introduction by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl – 2015) and a post script by Patton McNamara, Michelle’s husband. There are some editorial comments from time to time -for instance about the Ventura section which was never completed, or a couple of section taken from a piece published in a magazine prior.
The book is as McNamara wrote it and she writes very nicely with Gabra Zackman narrating it for max impact. My only complaint is that it is a bit overly padded – there’s rather too much background on Michelle’s life, the lives of the cops and the lives of the victims. It gets pretty graphic when the actual crimes are described. That said, it’s a page-turner.
Becky's Books - 
It sounds gripping. It is interesting that editors chose to publish the book pretty much as it was left (un)written at the time of the author’s death.
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The fact it was published without being quite “finished” was made quite clear toward the middle and later. The author had so much of it ready for publication and I’d say only a few weeks left of work unless she was going to tie up some more ends or something. It worked really well.
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Yes, I think that was part of the overall impact. Wonderful book and thanks for your comment!
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