Playing with Fire - by John Glatt (Paperback)

About the Book

The author of "Secrets in the Cellar" reveals the true story of Michelle Michael, a nurse who had been convicted of first-degree murder and first-degree arson for giving her husband a deadly dose of a paralyzing drug and then setting a fire to destroy the evidence. Original.

Book Synopsis

A beautiful nurse. A lethal injection. A gruesomely charred corpse. Nothing could have shocked the sleepy community of Morgantown, West Virginia, more than the lurid details that surfaced after a house fire claimed the life of Shelly Michael's husband Jimmy. Local authorities suspected possible arson. Then they discovered that Jimmy had been dead before the fire even started-paralyzed by a fatal dose of muscle relaxant...

Did Shelly Michael, a respected nurse and mother, kill her second husband and torch her own home? Were the rumors true that she'd had an affair with her husband's employee only two weeks before the murder? Or did she kill Jimmy simply for the insurance money? Charged with first-degree murder and first-degree arson, Shelly would never stop claiming her innocence-even to this day

From the Back Cover

SHE PARALYZED HER PREY

A beautiful nurse. A lethal injection. A gruesomely charred corpse. Nothing could have shocked the sleepy community of Morgantown, West Virginia, more than the lurid details that surfaced after a house fire claimed the life of Shelly Michael's husband Jimmy. Local authorities suspected possible arson. Then they discovered that Jimmy had been dead before the fire even started--paralyzed by a fatal dose of muscle relaxant

BUT SHE WAS PLAYING WITH FIRE.

Did Shelly Michael, a respected nurse and mother, kill her second husband and torch her own home? Were the rumors true that she'd had an affair with her husband's employee only two weeks before the murder? Or did she kill Jimmy simply for the insurance money? Charged with first-degree murder and first-degree arson, Shelly would never stop claiming her innocence--even to this day

"John Glatt is one of the finest true crime craftsmen writing today."

--Howard Goldberg, VH1.com

With 8 pages of startling photos!"

Review Quotes

"John Glatt is one of the finest true crime craftsmen writing today."--Howard Goldberg, VH1.com


“John Glatt is one of the finest true crime craftsmen writing today.”—Howard Goldberg, VH1.com

About the Author

English-born John Glatt is the author of Lost and Found, Secrets in the Cellar, and many other bestselling books of true crime. He has more than 30 years of experience as an investigative journalist in England and America. Glatt left school at 16 and worked a variety of jobs-including tea boy and messenger-before joining a small weekly newspaper. He freelanced at several English newspapers, then in 1981 moved to New York, where he joined the staff for News Limited and freelanced for publications including Newsweek and the New York Post. His first book, a biography of Billy Graham, was published in 1981, and he published For I Have Sinned, his first book of true crime, in 1998. He has appeared on television and radio programs all over the world, including Dateline NBC, Fox News, A Current Affair, BBC World News, and A&E Biography. He and his wife Gail divide their time between New York City, the Catskill Mountains and London.