American Mother

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell comes the absolutely unputdownable and chilling true-crime story of Stella Nickell-a mother and wife who did the unthinkable... and the unforgivable.

At 5.02 pm on June 5, 1986, an emergency call came into the local sheriff''s office in the small town of Auburn, Washington State. A distressed housewife, Stella Nickell, said her husband Bruce was having a seizure. Officers rushed to the Nickell''s mobile home, to find Stella standing frozen at the door... Bruce was on the floor fighting for his life.

As Stella became the beneficiary of over $175,000 in a life insurance pay-out, forensics discovered that Bruce had consumed painkillers laced with cyanide.

A week later, fifteen-year-old Hayley was getting ready for another school day. Her mom, Sue, called out ''I love you'' before heading into the bathroom and moments later collapsed on the floor. Sue never regained consciousness, and the aut