Murder Beyond the Grave (ID True Crime, 3) (2024)

During a recent binge of James Patterson’s BookShots, I came across his newest series of short stories, non-fiction with a criminal twist. Murder is Forever—now apparently a television program—shows off some real-life crimes that have been committed by dumb criminals and rolls them into bite-sized reads. In this third volume, Patterson teams up with Aaron Bourelle and Christopher Charles to bring two more tales where murder plays a central role in the final outcome of the criminal experience. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Murder Beyond the Grave (with Aaron Bourelle)
Danny Edwards is a low-level drug dealer who cannot do much of anything right. After being busted for large quantity possession, he turned on his supplier in a sting operation, but even then could not wait for the cocaine to appear before uttering the code word. Down on his luck and money, Danny has a plan; kidnap the local millionaire and keep him for ransom. In order to ensure that Stephen Small does not foil his own kidnaping, Edwards constructs a coffin of sorts to bury him, but provides an oxygen source to ensure that no one will find Small until the money’s been provided, but he is sure to stay alive. Using his unknowing girlfriend—Nancy Rish—to take him to and from the scene of the burial, Edwards places phone calls from pay phones that summer of 1987, hoping to get the Small family to pay up. Edwards thinks he is so smart, alternating pay phones, but does not realise that they can be traced. Soon Edwards and Rish are both apprehended and the police use some tactics to strong-arm Danny into admitting what he’s done and where to find Stephen Small. It is only then that things take a terrible turn for the worse.

Murder in Paradise (with Christopher Charles)
When Jim and Bonnie Hood came upon a potential fixer-upper property in the hills of California, they had differing views. Where Jim saw a cesspool of wasted money, Bonnie saw some potential and set about to make it a wonderful getaway. However, the more time and money she spent there, the more anonymous threats that she received. After a clash with some local loggers at the saloon, Bonnie thought she might have to take some drastic action and made some thinly veiled threats. When, after a tryst with one of her employees, their cabin was attacked by an intruder, Bonnie was left dead, leaving Jim to break the news to his children. After locating a suspect and going to trial, Bruce Beauchamp was found not guilty, forcing the Hoods to fear that he might seek retribution. What came next was truly the twist in the story, which shows that justice does not always follow the most obvious path.

These are two more stories that show the criminal element cannot always get away with a crime that seems almost foolproof at the start. Patterson has a knack for finding some interesting cases and presenting them in an intriguing short story format, which keeps the reader curious and wanted to forge onwards until the end. Using two well-seasoned collaborators, Patterson strengthens the storytelling and keeps the reader wanting more, which is sure to come in the next instalment of the Murder is Forever series. For now, those readers with the option can tune in to see Patterson’s television program on a weekly basis.

Kudos, Messrs. Patterson, Bourelle, and Charles, as you recount these interesting tales. I like the style and the succinct nature used to present these stories and cannot wait to see what other cases make their way into the print version of this series.

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A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

I've been on a run lately of reading a lot of James Patterson's work. These books are no exception, and they are a shorter book than many.

Murder Beyond the Grave: Stephen Small has it all--a fancy Ferrari, fancy home, wonderful and loving wife, and three sons. The only thing he needs right now is enough air to keep on breathing. Kidnapped, buried in a box, and held for ransom. He has forty-eight (48) Hours of oxygen, and the clock is ticking.....Small was Born:1947 and raised in Kankakee, Illinois. His parents, Burrell and Reva Small, owned and operated a media conglomerate called Mid America Media; the Small family also owned the controlling interest in United Press International; and this is where Small himself worked. His great grandfather was Illinois governor Len Small. Stephen Small had received his education at Lake Forest Academy, the University of Denver and Mark Hopkins College. In 1969, he married Nancy Pedersen, with whom he had three sons.

Around 12:30 a.m. on September 2, 1987, someone claiming to be a Kankakee police officer called the Small home and told Stephen Small that a burglary had occurred at the Bradly House, a property that Small owned and was in the process of renovating. Small got dressed and left his home. Around 3:30 that morning someone called the Small residence and told Stephen's wife, Nancy, "We have your husband." Nancy then heard her husband say that he had been handcuffed inside a box underground. Small told his wife to obtain $1 million in cash. The caller directed Mrs. Small not to report the matter to the police. The matter was reported to the authorities, however, and devices were connected to the Smalls' telephone line to record incoming calls and to determine their origins. At 5:03 that afternoon, the same person called again, asking Mrs. Small how much money had been collected. This call was placed from a telephone located at a Phillips 66 gas station in Aroma Park. Edwards was seen there at that time, in the company of a blonde-haired woman. At 5:40 p.m., Jean Alice Small, Stephen Small's aunt, telephoned the Small residence to tell them of a call she had just received. Jean said that the caller had told her that he knew that Nancy Small's telephone was tapped. After telling Jean that the victim was buried, the caller threatened to kill Jean's husband. Nancy Small received another telephone call from the kidnapper at 11:28 that night. This call originated from a telephone at a Sunoco station in Aroma Park, where an FBI agent saw a white male at a telephone, and a blonde-haired woman in a car that was later identified as belonging to Nancy Rish, Edwards' girlfriend; Rish had blonde hair. The caller played a tape recording of Stephen Small's voice. On the tape, Stephen provided instructions for delivering the ransom. After audio enhancement, a voice in the background could be heard threatening Small.

Nancy Small received one more telephone call from the kidnapper, at 11:46 that night. The call was placed from a Marathon service station in Kankakee. The caller accused Nancy of having notified the police and refused her offer of the ransom. Minutes later, at 11:50 p.m., an Illinois State Police officer saw Rish's car, with its trunk partly open, driving from Kankakee toward Aroma Park. Law enforcement officers then placed Edwards' home under surveillance. They saw a dark-colored Buick, with its trunk partly open, arrive at the house in Bourbonnais where Edwards and Rish lived. Edwards and a white woman with blonde hair left the car and went inside. Officers carried out a search of the residence later that morning, on September 3, Rish and Edwards were arrested at that time. Later that day, Edwards led law enforcement officers to the site where the victim was buried. There, officers dug up a wooden box and found the victim's body inside. The box measured about six feet long and three feet wide, and was constructed of plywood. It contained a light connected to an automotive battery, a one gallon jug of water, candy bars, gum, and a flashlight. A medical examiner later determined that the victim died of asphyxiation caused by suffocation. The medical examiner believed that the victim would not have survived more than three or four hours inside the enclosed box. The medical examiner noted that the pipe extending from the box into the open air was too long for its diameter to serve as an adequate air-exchange system.

The State presented other evidence connecting Edwards to these offenses. On the night of the victim's disappearance, around midnight, a neighbor of Edwards heard Edwards say, "Let's go, let's hit it," get into his car, and drive off. Also, two neighbors of the Small family saw Edwards' van, or one similar to it, parked in their neighborhood after midnight on September 2. One neighbor also noticed a mid-sized car at that time, heard two car doors slam, and saw the car and Edwards' van drive away with their lights off. Several witnesses saw Edwards constructing a wooden box in his garage during summer 1987, preceding the offenses here. Edwards gave various explanations for the project, saying that it would be used for a lemonade stand, or by his brother for transporting things, or at his brother's pool in Florida. A neighbor of the Smalls had seen a white van similar to Edwards' van driving through an alley next to the Small's home about 10 times that summer. While Edwards and Rish were visiting a boat store that summer, Edwards saw Stephen Small leaving the store in a sports car; Edwards was heard to say, "Boy, it sure would be nice to afford stuff like that." The search of Edwards's residence at the time of his arrest turned up a Kankakee telephone book with the name "Small" circled. Edwards' boots were found behind a washer and dryer at the residence, and soil on the boots matched a sample from the location where the box was buried. Soil in Edwards' van also matched the sample. White caulking material on gloves found in Edwards' trash had the same chemical composition as the caulking material used to fill in the seams of the wooden box in which the victim had been buried. Edwards' fingerprints were found on PVC pipe and duct tape recovered from the box. A person who owed Edwards money had had a pair of handcuffs stolen from him, and the same pair was later discovered on the victim. Another person who owed Edwards money had had a gun stolen, and it was found by investigators in the countryside near Aroma Park. Edwards purchased a battery that was found in the wooden box. Bolt cutters belonging to a company owned by Edwards' brother were found at a point between where the box was uncovered and where the victim's car was found, and they could have been the implement used to cut the chain connecting the handcuffs on the victim's wrists.

Murder in Paradise: High in the Sierra Nevada mountains, developers Jim and Bonnie Hood excitedly tour Camp Nelson Lodge. They intend to buy and modernize this beautiful rustic property, but the locals don't like rich outsiders changing their way of life. After a grisly shooting, everybody will discover just how you can make a killing in real estate.....

Murder Beyond the Grave is two short stories based on true crimes.

Murder Beyond the Grave is written from the perspective of Daniel Edwards, the murderer of Stephen Small. Edwards, a drug dealer trying to go straight, comes up with a botched kidnapping plot of a wealthy man which turns out badly. I found the most interesting part of this story relating to Nancy Rish, Edward's girlfriend. In this interpretation of the events, she was not an active participant but a naïve single mom who picked the wrong boyfriend. By researching this case afterwards, I saw she was also convicted and charged in the crime. 3/5

Murder in Paradise follows the murder of Bonnie Hood, a married mother of two who was restoring and running Camp Nelson Lodge, a place she loved as a child. Bonnie lived at the Lodge during the week and only saw her husband and kids on the weekends. I was really fascinated with this story and found myself researching everything about the crime after finishing this. 5/5

Grade: 4/5

Not quite what I expect from a book with James Patterson's name attached.
There are two, true, short stories about murders that occurred in the United States.

Patterson has changed the names of those involved, in fact the introduction reminded me of the introduction to the old FBI television series.

I understand dramatic license, and I understand fact; based on fact could use a bit more dramatic license then what was used in either of these stories.

The first story: "Murder Beyond the Grave" is about a kidnapped man, buried in a box with 48 hours of oxygen and the criminal who thought up the scheme.

The second story: "Murder in Paradise" tells the story of a land developing husband and wife team who find their plans to modernize a rustic property thwarted by locals who despise wealthy outsiders who want to change their lives. The locals will go to any extent to stop the couple, including murder.

This is my 2nd true crime novel by James Patterson and it defintely did not disappoint. The book is broken into two different true crimes.

The first story is about Stephen Small, who you find when you first start reading that this poor man is alive, but buried in a makeshift coffin underground. There is a PVC breathing tube, some water and candy bars. He has apparently 48 hours to live in that box, according to the man who kidnaps him. This is truly a nightmare come true.

The second story is about Jim and Bonnie Hood. She decides that she wants to purchase an old campground area, that has a bar (which is still open for locals) and a bunch of cabins. Her husband stays at home to take care of their two children and visits her on the weekend. One day he gets a phone call that his wife is dead, AND that she was found dead with the hired-hand whom she has been having an affair with. Wait til the end, because there is a plot twist that no one saw coming.

These Murder is Forever books by James Patterson have been fun to read, they’re quick, easy to read and feature enthralling true-crime stories that I probably otherwise would never know about. This one I noticed was co-written though which was a bit of a letdown for me, the other 2 were solely written by Patterson and I really appreciated that, oh well, it is what it is.

For people just getting into reading true-crime these books would be a great starting point, they’re very accessible for a new reader.