I'd never gone to an Author! Author! lecture before . . .

last night.

My favorite type of book is true crime. I love a well-written story about crazy psychos. I really don't know why I am so fascinated by the dark side of the human soul but I am.

I was working as a nurse at St. Vincent in 1980 when Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was found murdered at Mercy Hospital and I remember it well. Of course, we all thought she was the victim of some drug-crazed thug. So when a priest was arrested 24 years later, I was hooked on the story.

I followed the proceedings on Court TV (the tapes are around my house somewhere - someday I'll find them) and hoped a book would be forthcoming. I must have totally forgotten that a Blade editor wrote Sin, Shame, Secrets which was published shortly after the trial ended. (He told a very interesting story last night about how he had been contacted by a New York publisher who had read some of Yonke's work about the crime and the priest's arrest in The Blade. His wife convinced him that someone was going to write the book and it might as well be him).

The large room last night was full but my husband and I snagged first-row seats. The lecture was fascinating. David Yonke is very bright and articulate and held the crowd's attention for over an hour. I expected there to be some 'wackos' and I wasn't disappointed. The open-mike question and answer session was very entertaining.

I got the book today and bet I'll have it read within a few days (right, Sandy, in what spare moment?).

The most interesting part of the lecture was when David was asked if he felt Robinson was

guilty and if the crime had the pattern of a Satanic ritual. I loved that he didn't waffle at all - with detailed knowledge of all the evidence as well as historical background, there is no doubt in his mind that the right person was convicted and that there were too many elements of a Satanic ritual to be a coincidence.

Fascinating stuff. Thank you, David Yonke.

So what are your thoughts on this disturbing subject?