Book Description

From R. Barri Flowers, award-winning criminologist and bestselling author of Murder of the Horse Trainer’s Rival, Murderess on the Loose, Murder at the Pencil Factory, Murder of the Doctor’s Wife, and Murder During the Chicago World’s Fair, comes the thought-provoking historical true crime short, Killer of Her Husband’s Secretary: The 1935 Love Triangle Ire of Etta Reisman. On the morning of August 14, 1935, Virginia Seigh, an attractive twenty-three-year-old secretary, was shot and killed as she stood in the driveway of a home in Queens, New York. Her murderer was Mrs. Etta Reisman, the thirty-five-year-old wife of Arthur Reisman, a forty-two-year-old well-to-do owner of a beauty salon chain. The previous day, Reisman had confessed to his wife that he had fallen in love with Miss Seigh--his secretary, who had resided with the Reismans for seven years--and wanted a separation. This did not set well with Etta, who felt totally betrayed by her husband and their house guest, causing her to snap and go on a shooting frenzy. Along with Reisman himself, also witnessing the shocking homicide was his daughter from an earlier marriage, Annette Reisman. The twenty-three-year-old was injured when she attempted to take the gun from the unhinged shooter. Etta Reisman was arrested and charged with murder in this classic case of a love triangle that ended tragically for all parties concerned. The embittered wife turned vengeful killer was convicted of the crime of violence, resulting in a stunning and controversial action the judge set in motion. The heartbreaking tale of Etta Reisman has endured through the decades as, sadly, many others have followed the same path of jealous rage as an often impulsive and deadly response to being wronged and paying an even greater price themselves in the final analysis. Bonus material includes a chapter from the author’s bestselling true crime book, Serial Killer Couples: Bonded by Sexual Depravity, Abduction, and Murder. Also included are excerpts from the author’s true crime anthologies, Murder and Menace: Riveting True Crime Tales, and Murder Chronicles: A Collection of Chilling True Crime Tales.