Dressed to Kill

In 1969, Marlene Steele, wife of municipal court judge Robert Steele in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid, was murdered in her sleep. The community assumed the Steele marriage was ideal, but the investigation disclosed that the judge had been having a long affair and that he was considering a divorce. The case remained unsolved until FBI field agent Ressler was assigned to Cleveland in 1971. Here, with the aid of Shachtman ( The Day America Crashed ), he relates his successful investigation; Steele had arranged his wife's murder through his client Owen Kilbane, a pimp, and Owen's brother Martin. The actual shooter was one Rickey Robbins, who turned state's evidence, whereupon Steele and the Kilbanes were found guilty in 1977 and sentenced to life. Appeals and a failed attempt to get the governor to commute Steele's sentence went on until 1987, and political pressure to parole Steele continues. The book is a tribute to dogged police work but not an exciting read. (Sept.)