Although this purports to be a study of crimes of passion, that serves as a flimsey excuse to string together a series of sordid, lurid, though admittedly juicy, tales of murder. These stories are highly anecdotal with great emphasis on the scandalous side of life. There is no real attempt to collect or analyze data regarding crimes of passion. Instead we are merely presented with a handful of gossipy cases. These may be interesting to read but they are of little use in a serious study of the issue. ( )

Written like the rough draft of a master's thesis: poor editing, inconsistent logic, and unclear statements (did the woman actually die or didn't she? Just say it!!! You have no idea how many times such a simple fact wasn't clear, and there was at least one case where, if I didn't know the facts outside of this book, I would have assumed that the victim was never even touched). Engel fights for his premise taking every liberty possible with the truth, all the while gleefully deriding his colleagues. ( )