Poison Mind: The True Story of the Mensa Murderer and the Policewoman Who Risked Her Life To...

Creepily absorbing, this book briskly recounts an unusual murder case. Peggy Carr, a middle-aged waitress in the Florida town of Alturas, fell into a coma in October 1988 after complaining of ``burning'' pains; a son and stepson complained of the same pains. Four months later she was dead, though the boys had recovered. By then police had discovered that Coca-Cola in the family home had been laced with the poison thallium and had begun to suspect neighbor George Trepal, a quirky homebody whose doctor wife had clashed with Peggy and whose passive personality fit the FBI profile of a poisoner. To gather information on Trepal, special agent Susan Goreck, collaborating here with St. Petersburg Times staffer Jeffrey Good in a third-person narrative, went undercover, meeting Trepal at a Murder Mystery weekend sponsored by the high-IQ group Mensa and insinuating herself into his life. It was a dicey, frustrating process, as Goreck found herself feeling sorry for her prey and was distrusted by her superiors. Finally a test at Trepal's house turned up thallium, and Trepal was convicted of murder on circumstantial evidence and sent to death row. He never testified, and the source of his troubled psyche--which included a taste for drugs and sexual deviance--remains murky. Photos not seen by PW. Television movie and feature film rights to HBO. (Sept.)