The Staircase: The Murder of Kathleen Peterson

Great supplementary book to the Diane Fanning and Aphrodite Jones books on the Michael Peterson/Kathleen Peterson case of 12/9/2001 Durham, NC. I got a kick out of the ending when the author discussed "other theories" RE: the murder (because let's face it...one either sees Michael Peterson as the killer (with only circumstantial evidence, some of it paired with a rather flimsy motive) or NOT as the killer...but what a nightmare to go through, if not!) and stated that some see the surname PETERSON as cursed. LOL, maybe...we have Michael Peterson 12/9/2001-Durham, NC, Scott Peterson 12/24/2002-Modesto, CA and Drew Peterson 2/29/2004 & 10/28/2007-Bolingbrook, IL..with a murdered ex-wife with the same name as Michael's slaughtered wife (Kathleen Peterson) and his STILL missing 4th wife Stacy Peterson (gone almost 11 years now...). Funny how no one lumped these 3 Peterson family murders together in the early 2000's...so much in common...so much not seen...

This is one of the most puzzling cases I have read about. The pictures speak loudly, but the evidence is confusing.When Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the foot of the stairs, Michael Peterson told police that she had fallen down the stairs. However, the position of her body was suspicious and there was too much blood. The wounds on her head were not consistent with a tumble down the stairs.Then a theory arose which had Kathleen being attacked by an angry owl. I am not privy to the thought processes of owls, but any self-respecting owl would surely realize that Kathleen was more than he could carry off.The trial(s) were less than enlightening. The prosecution focused on a prior similar staircase death, Michael's sex life, insurance money, and other motives but could not identify the murder weapon, if there was one.The bonus story, Abducted: The Minivan Murders, covers the crimes of James Daveggio and Michele Michaud. The story is quite graphic. Read it if you dare.

Doesn't go into the trial much. In fact, you know the outcome at the beginning so there's really no reason to read the book if that's all you want to know.Most true crime aficionados are into it for the psychology behind the crime, and it doesn't go into that much either. A chapter heading claims to, but really doesn't...just repeats what was already said about their common childhoods earlier in the book.Book really needs the X-Ray feature, as there are a lot of characters to keep track of.I'd only read if you can get it free. Too repetitive. One of the other books written about this couple is much better.

I have followed this very interesting case since it happened on 12/09/2001. Kathleen Peterson, wife of novelist Michael Peterson, was found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their North Carolina home. Michael Peterson claimed it must have been an accident but blood splatter evidence, along with blood on Michael's clothing, suggested it was murder. Michael Peterson was convicted of first-degree and sentenced to life in prison. Due to perjury of one of the witnesses during the trial, Peterson was released. In his new trial, they tried to blame her death on being attacked by an owl. There was a lot of information about this fascinating case brought out in this book by Author RJ Parker that I was not aware of. I enjoyed this book very much and I highly recommend it.

This book is about the death of Kathleen Peterson in Durham, North Carolina. There has been much dispute as to whether her death was the result of a horrible accident, (as her husband Michael claimed)? Or is a case of a brutal homicide??You might already be somewhat familiar with this case, if you have watched the documentary on Netflix, but I felt this book gave some other points of interest that were left out in the documentary!Author RJ Parker tells the story in an easy to understand way and gives an unbiased view to the story. It also gives a more detailed look into all of the people involved in this True Crime mystery! I would definitely recommend this book.

I purchased this book for two reasons: 1) I am researching the true crime nonfiction genre for a project and 2) the new HBO Max dramatic series intrigued me to learn more.This work is, in a word, terrible. It is written as though English is the authors third or fourth language; it is riddled with typos and just plain wrong information, for example...pag 22 states "Michael Peterson married Kathleen and beagin living in Cedar Street Home in Norwalk, California USA." What?!?!?This book is nothing more than a bad regurgitation of secondary source material found, written from the author's bizarre point-of-view, which any nonfiction writer knows is not the role one plays when narrating facts.Do not recommend.

Kathleen Peterson was found dead on the staircase of her Durham mansion. Six moths after her death her husband Michael Peterson claims her 401K pension and savings plan of $347,000. There is also the life insurance of $1.4 million. There was a theory that Kathleen's fall could have been from an owl who attacked her and while she attempted to protect herself she fell and hit her head on the treads of the steps. When Kathleen was found she had a sliver from a tree and an owl feather in her hand. Was it an Owl or her Husband Michael Peterson?

If you've got Kindle Unlimited and want to check it out, go for it; but, otherwise, I'd say, save your money. I wish I did. This book is very poorly written, and any information found within can easily be found in other locations (websites, books, etc). It jumps around in the timeline. And, the facts don't seem to be always right? Just one example: The writer mentions that Michael Peterson has one brother, Jack; but, if you watched the Staircase, you see his brother Bill multiple times, and I've seen other information indicating that he also has a sister, Ann.

Disliked the fact that it was not the story. Just court reporting

It's sometimes difficult to know what you're buying on Kindle, but in the main, most of the books I have bought have been very good and almost always a very reasonable price. Because of this, I don't assume that because a book is cheap it is not necessarily very good. However, this was a mistake. Firstly it is self-published which is usually a red flag, but I didn't notice this at the time of purchase. As well as careless mistakes with names and events, and many others, his English is appalling. Apparently he has a PhD and several qualifications related to Criminology. I would have to wonder which academic institution saw fit to confer a PhD on this man if this "book" is an indication of his ability to marshal facts and produce a coherent narrative with original thought. This book is also advertised as just over 200 pages, which, in the context of the Peterson case would have constituted a fairly thin volume, but about half of those pages are given over to a "preview" of another of his books, which has also, unsurprisingly, been self-published, I didn't even waste my valuable time reading it. Life's too short. If I could have given this no stars I would have. there are other better written books about this case available.

I read some other books about this case, also I did quite a lot of research about this case. This book is not accurate at all, some of the facts are totally wrong. A waste of money and time, I cannot understand how this writer wrote this book and keep it on selling when his information is very poorly and not according with the basic accuracy of the case. Some of us looking into the case know more than the writer. I would NOT recommended at all. Very disappointed.

Dont waste your money buying this book it starts badly and ends badly and the bit in the middle is just rubbish. The front and back covers make you think its all about the staircase murder when in fact it only takes up half the book. There is a totally different crime story filling the rest of this book which i didnt read as the first half of the book was painful enough. Badly researched and badly written. Not recommended at all

I was excited to receive my copy of The Staircase - The Murder of Kathleen Peterson.Having watched the Netflix documentary series I was really interested in reading the opinion of another. The book didn’t disappoint, it was easy to read and covered everything from the documentary and more. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in this case.