Cleveland Plain Dealer
"A riveting and deeply disturbing chronicle of true crime. Olsen has done a superior job..."


Review
"A searingly tragic look behind the headlines that broke America's heart. Brilliantly researched, wonderfully written."--Anne Rule"A riveting and deeply disturbing chronicle of true crime. Olsen has done a superior job."--Cleveland Plain Dealer"Among the top true crime books published. Once picked up, it's hard to put down."--New Philadelphia Times Reporter"A superior true crime account that should not be missed."--Jack Olsen, author of Doc and I: The Creation of a Serial Killer"A tough new voice rises in the ranks of true-crime writers. Even the reigning giants of the genre are taking notice and offering praise."--Seattle Post-Intelligencer


Review
"A searingly tragic look behind the headlines that broke America's heart. Brilliantly researched, wonderfully written."--Anne Rule

"A riveting and deeply disturbing chronicle of true crime. Olsen has done a superior job."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Among the top true crime books published. Once picked up, it's hard to put down."--New Philadelphia Times Reporter

"A superior true crime account that should not be missed."--Jack Olsen, author of Doc and I: The Creation of a Serial Killer

"A tough new voice rises in the ranks of true-crime writers. Even the reigning giants of the genre are taking notice and offering praise."--Seattle Post-Intelligencer



Book Description
On Christmas Eve in 1985, a hunter found a young boy's body along an icy corn field in Nebraska. The residents of Chester, Nebraska buried him as "Little Boy Blue," unclaimed and unidentified-- until a phone call from Ohio two years later led authorities to Eli Stutzman, the boy's father.

Eli Stutzman, the son of an Amish bishop, was by all appearances a dedicated farmer and family man in the country's strictest religious sect. But behind his quiet façade was a man involved with pornography, sadomasochism, and drugs. After the suspicious death of his pregnant wife, Stutzman took his preschool-age son, Danny, and hit the road on a sexual odyssey ending with his conviction for murder. But the mystery of Eli Stutzman and the fate of his son didn't end on the barren Nebraska plains. It was just beginning. . .



From the Inside Flap
"A tough new voice rises in the ranks of true-crime writers. Even the reigning giants of the genre are taking notice and offering praise ." -Seattle Post-IntelligencerAcclaim for the True-Crime Classics of Gregg Olsen Abandoned Prayers"An absorbing, sobering, disturbing book."--Omaha World-HeraldBitter Almonds"Absolutely fascinating...One of the most devious female minds in crime history. Stella Nickell has won her dubious spot in the annals of crime-thanks to Gregg Olsen's research and reporting."--Ann Rule"[A] truly remarkable book. The trailer park babes of Bitter Almonds leap off the page, fingernails sharpened and aimed for your eyes...meticulous reporting and engrossing, vivid detail plunges the reader into a world of schemes and dreams. This is one of the best true crime books of the '90s."-Jack Olsen, author of Son: A Psychopath and His Victims and "I": The Creation of a Serial Killer"A real page-turner...a compelling and fascinating tale of family psychopathology taken to the extreme."--Jonathan Kellerman"Masterfully written...a tale of intricate suspense."-Rod Colvin, author of Evil HarvestConfessions of an American Black Widow"More interesting than the crime itself is Olsen's portrait of Nelson as a brash, trashy, manipulative sexpot...watching Nelson as she almost gets away with murder will fascinate long after the last page." -Publishers Weekly"This time Gregg Olsen has given us a very sexy book that is as disturbing as it is seductive. One reads it compulsively and wonders afterwards 'Why did I like this so much?' as if one had not so much read it as had a very destructive affair with it. A dangerous and informative book, as irresistible as its painfully, wonderfully vicious heroine-or villain, whichever she is. This book might make some moralists more humble." -Darcy O'Brien, bestselling author of Two of a cf0Kind: The Hillside Stranglers and Murder in Little Egypt"Gregg Olsen's standing as one of America's finest crime journalists will rise even higher with The Confessions of an American Black Widow. Here are all the ingredients of a great crime story-murder, infidelity, greed, nymphomania. But the main element is Olsen's skill at describing and explicating human misbehavior. A must read!" -Jack Olsen, bestselling author of Doc and Predator"What a combination! God, Mammon, carnality, all rendered vividly under Olsen's assured touch." -Stephen Michand, bestselling author of The Only Living Witness and Murderers Among Us"Gregg Olsen introduces the reader to a character so mesmerizing, so frightening and so evil that one has to keep reminding himself that this amazing fast-paced story is true."--Carlton Stowers, bestselling author of Careless Whispers"This brilliant true crime story deserves acclaim and thunderous applause." -Elizabeth Loftus, co-author, The Myth of Repressed Memory and 1998 President of American Psychological Society"That rare book that is at once a page-turner and an important chronicle of true crime. An enlightening and devastating read." -Steve A. Eggar, PhD., author of Killers Among Us: An Examination of Serial Murder and Its Investigation"This is probably Gregg's best work yet. Sharon Lynn is the kind of woman-and this is the kind of book-that people will talk about. Gregg Olsen shows us just how chilling it is to realize what might be going on in the house next door." -Clark Howard, bestselling author of Love's BloodIf Loving You is Wrong"Gregg Olsen's If Loving You is Wrong is a wonderfully researched book that makes the tabloid stories about Mary Kay Letourneau and her forbidden love sound like comic book stuff. Everyone who wants to understand the back-story of the child-woman and her overwhelming passion for a man-child must read If Loving You Is Wrong. Olsen's books is both gossipy and sympathetic, searing and brilliant. If Mary Kay is the Humbert Humbert of the female sex-and she is-this book is her Lolita. A must-read for both true crime aficionados and students of abnormal psychology! I read until 3 a.m.!" -Ann Rule, author of Bitter Harvest and A Rage to Kill


From the Back Cover
"A riveting and deeply disturbing chronicle of true crime. Olsen has done a superior job." -Cleveland Plain DealerOn Christmas Eve in 1985, a hunter found a young boy's body along an icy corn field in Nebraska. The residents of Chester, Nebraska buried him as "Little Boy Blue," unclaimed and unidentified-until a phone call from Ohio two years later led authorities to Eli Stutzman, the boy's father.Eli Stutzman, the son of an Amish bishop, was by all appearances a dedicated farmer and family man in the country's strictest religious sect. But behind his quiet fa�ade was a man involved with pornography, sadomasochism, and drugs. After the suspicious death of his pregnant wife, Stutzman took his preschool-age son, Danny, and hit the road on a sexual odyssey ending with his conviction for murder. But the mystery of Eli Stutzman and the fate of his son didn't end on the barren Nebraska plains. It was just beginning..."Among the top true crime books published. Once picked up, it's hard to put down." --New Philadelphia Times Reporter"A superior true crime account that should not be missed." --Jack Olsen, author of Doc and I: The Creation of a Serial Killer


About the Author
Gregg Olsen has been a journalist and investigative author for more than twenty years. He is the recipient of numerous writing, editing, and photojournalism awards, including citations of excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists (Sigma Delta Chi), the International Association of Business Communicators, Washington Press Association, Society of Technical Communication, and the Public Relations Society of America.A resident of Washington state, Olsen has been a guest on dozens of national and local television shows, including educational programs for the History Channel, Learning Channel, and the Discovery Channel. Olsen also appeared several times on CBS's 48 Hours, MSNBC's Special Edition, Entertainment Tonight, Sally Jesse Raphael, Inside Edition, and Extra. He has been featured in USA Today, Salon Magazine, Seattle Times, and the New York Post.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

On Christmas Eve in 1985, a hunter found a young boy's body along an icy corn field in Nebraska. The residents of Chester, Nebraska buried him as "Little Boy Blue," unclaimed and unidentified-until a phone call from Ohio two years later led authorities to Eli Stutzman, the boy's father.

Eli Stutzman, the son of an Amish bishop, was by all appearances a dedicated farmer and family man in the country's strictest religious sect. But behind his quiet façade was a man involved with pornography, sadomasochism, and drugs. After the suspicious death of his pregnant wife, Stutzman took his preschool-age son, Danny, and hit the road on a sexual odyssey ending with his conviction for murder. But the mystery of Eli Stutzman and the fate of his son didn't end on the barren Nebraska plains. It was just beginning...

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

A riveting and deeply disturbing chronicle of true crime. Olsen has done a superior job. — Cleveland Plain Dealer