Dangerous Women - True Crime Stories

Stella Nickell, a mother and wife, did the unthinkable and the unforgivable. This is the chilling true-crime story of her actions, as revealed by the number-one New York Times best-selling author of If You Tell.

On June 5, 1986, at 5:02 p.m., an emergency call was placed to the local sheriff's office in the small town of Auburn, Washington State. A distressed housewife, Stella Nickell, reported that her husband, Bruce, was having a seizure. Officers rushed to the Nickells' mobile home to find Stella standing frozen at the door, while Bruce was on the floor, fighting for his life.

As forensics investigated, they discovered that Bruce had consumed painkillers laced with cyanide. Tragically, Stella became the beneficiary of over $175,000 in a life insurance payout.

A week later, 15-year-old Hayley was preparing for another school day when her mother, Sue, called out "I love you" before heading into the bathroom. Moments later, Sue collapsed on the floor and never regained consciousness. The autopsy revealed that she had been poisoned by cyanide-tainted headache pills, just like Bruce.

While a daughter grieved the sudden and devastating loss of her mother, a young woman, Cindy, was contemplating her own mother, Stella. Cindy thought about the years of neglect and abuse, and the tangled web of secrets Stella had shared with her. Cindy began to consider turning her mother in to the FBI.

This gripping and heartbreaking tale, as unraveled by Gregg Olsen, delves into the complex mother-daughter relationship rooted in mistrust and deception. It is the journey of a sweet, curly-haired little girl from Oregon whose fierce ambition to live the American dream led her to make the ultimate betrayal.

The book, originally published as Bitter Almonds, is a sensational real-life mystery that will captivate those fascinated by true-crime stories like The Staircase and Making of a Murderer. Olsen's unputdownable and chilling account of Stella Nickell's actions leaves readers with a profound sense of shock and disbelief.

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