Cathy was the lively one--the bleached-blonde star of the nurses' aides' lunchroom--the one who enjoyed scripting an ever-changing soap opera from the lives of the nursing-home staff. Gwen was the pug-nosed newcomer with a little girl's dependency and desire to please: she doted on Cathy, and was honored to be chosen as her lover. They turned a respected Michigan nursing home into their playground for frivolous games and practical jokes. Then Cathy got worried that Gwen was cheating on her, so she suggested a love pact that would bind them together "forever and five days." Gwen carried out her wishes, and smothered five patients in their beds. It's a story with a large cast of characters--the employees of the nursing home, the individual patients and their loving families, the outsiders who wondered and worried. Lowell Cauffiel does a good job of letting us into their lives, and into the world of make-believe that allowed these murders to go unnoticed for so long.


From Publishers Weekly
Ex- Detroit News writer Cauffiel makes an auspicious debut in the true-crime genre with this sensitive and searching story of the murders of at least six nursing home patients in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1987. The killers were two aides at the home: Cathy Wood, a divorced mother who had turned to lesbianism, and Gwen Graham, long gay. Wood was a brilliant, manipulative individual who enjoyed stirring up trouble; Graham was a harder, more physical woman, capable of violence. They told others about the slayings but were not believed, principally because Wood was known as a congenital liar who delighted in "mind games." She finally convinced her ex-husband of the murders, telling him that she and Graham had killed for fun and excitement. The authorities apprehended Wood first and she turned state's evidence. Graham got five life terms and Wood a sentence of 20 to 40 years. What makes this study noteworthy is Cauffiel's discreet handling of the killers' homosexuality (a restraint not shown by media at the trial) and the excellent concluding section of analyses by a number of psychotherapists which help explain what motivated the crimes. Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
An account of how two nursing home aides murdered six patients. The drama and intrigue that led up to the murders reached a fever pitch with lesbian affairs, threesomes, partner cheating, drunkenness, drugs, and wild, violent parties. One woman, Cathy Wood, seemed to be at the center of this orgy of excess, apparently masterminding the murders and manipulating her lover, Gwen Graham, into carrying them out. However, courtoom testimony over who was in control remains unclear. Cauffiel has dug deeply and presents a penetrating look into the lives of the accused. He also paints a harsh picture of an indifferent nursing home administration that ignored complaints about the insubordination of the two women by a supervisor who tried to have them assigned to different shifts. An even sadder portrait emerges of patients trying vainly to warn the staff that they were being assaulted and threatened. In a final twist, the question lingers whether any murders were actually committed or whether this was a mind game being played out by a severely disturbed individual. Recommended for larger true crime collections.- Lois Walker, formerly with Winthrop Coll. Lib., Rock Hill, S.C.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
A torpid retelling by Cauffiel (Masquerade, 1988) of a Grand Rapids serial-murder case that received extensive media attention and stimulated debate about nursing-home care for the aged. In the closing months of 1986, Cathy Wood and Gail Graham both worked as nurse's aides at the Alpine Manor nursing home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The two became lovers, their relationship marked by violence, jealousy, infidelity, sadomasochism, drink, and drugs. Wood seemed to be calling the shots in the affair, manipulating those around her with threats, lies, and physical assaults-- although the author fails to explain her behavior satisfactorily. Then, in January 1987, one of the pair's elderly charges died, apparently of natural causes. Over the next few months, though, five more Alpine Manor patients passed away suddenly. The relationship between the two women fell apart--and soon both were bragging about having smothered six people. Wood's ex-husband eventually went to the police, and the bodies of some of the deceased were exhumed. There were indications of foul play; Wood and Graham were arrested. When the details of the murders came to light, gay activists were quick to disassociate themselves from the case, concerned that the violence might be ascribed to the pair's sexual orientation. During the trials, in fact, both the prosecution and the defense stated that the murders of which the two women were accused were not prompted by their lesbianism. Eventually, Wood plea-bargained her way into a reduced sentence, claiming that it was Graham who planned and carried out the killings. Cauffiel is skeptical of Wood's version. In any event, the two were found guilty and are now in prison. A potentially controversial narrative marred by excessive detailing that occasionally stalls the story and by superficial analysis of the psychology of the principals. (Sixteen pages of photographs--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Here is the dramatic story of Catherine Wood, a suburban wife and mother, and Gwendolyn Graham, her lesbian lover, two nurse's aides at the Alpine Manor nursing home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who smothered five helpless patients to death. Photo insert.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Cauffiel makes an auspicious debut in the true-crime genre with this sensitive and searching story of the murders of nursing home patients by aides at a home in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1987. Photos. (July)

Library Journal