cover image Confessions Amer. Black Widow

Confessions Amer. Black Widow

Gregg M. Olsen. St. Martin's Press, $6.5 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-312-96503-7

True-crime author Olsen (Salt of the Earth) tells how Sharon Nelson, a Colorado woman, had her lover Gary Adams murder two of her three husbands, one in 1983 and one in 1988. But more interesting than the crime itself is Olsen's portrait of Nelson as a brash, trashy, manipulative sexpot who believed that she was entitled to--and got--everything and everyone she wanted: even her confession, given freely to police in a Pizza Hut in 1988, was anything but contrite. Moreover, Olsen records the recollections of many community members who saw Nelson for what she was, yet seemed oblivious to the adultery, theft and murder under their noses. The narrative does skip around a little, which can be confusing, but watching Nelson as she almost gets away with murder will fascinate long after the last page. Photos not seen by PW. (June)