American Mother cover art

American Mother

Dangerous Women - True Crime Stories

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American Mother

By: Gregg Olsen
Narrated by: Karen Peakes
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About this listen

From the number-one New York Times best-selling 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 p.m. 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 Nickells' 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 payout, forensics discovered that Bruce had consumed painkillers laced with cyanide.

A week later, 15-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 autopsy revealed 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 thinking about her own mom, Stella. She thought about the years of neglect and abuse, the tangled web of secrets Stella had shared with her, and Cindy contemplated turning her mom in to the FBI….

Gripping and heartbreaking, Gregg Olsen uncovers the shocking true story of a troubled family. He delves into a complex mother-daughter relationship rooted in mistrust and deception, and the journey of the sweet curly haired little girl from Oregon whose fierce ambition to live the American dream led her to make the ultimate betrayal.

A sensational real-life mystery, American Mother will hook those fascinated by The Staircase and Making of a Murderer.

This book was originally published as Bitter Almonds.

©1993, 2002, 2022 Gregg Olsen (P)2022 Bookouture, an imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Con Artists, Hoaxes & Deceptions Murder True Crime Marriage Crime

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Most relevant  
What do you say about true crime? You can’t call it entertaining or enjoyable. It never ceases to amaze me the depths that one human will stoop to against another.

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Story bit too dragged out. Voice was irritating hi Low pitch impersonations off putting

Narrator Spoils Story

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Recommendable. Narrator is super. Love the impersonating. Also the dialog between the author and the narroter at the end

This was great

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This is written as if it is not factual, too much drama which is made so much worse by the awful dramatic narration.

The story is 'all over the place' and the narrator seems to think she has to add drama to the tale, I cannot go any further!

I'm giving up on this!

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