Local female murderers spotlighted in David Kulczyk’s book

David Kulczyk, author of “California’s Deadliest Women: Dangerous Dames and Murderous Moms” (Craven Street Books, $14.95) will be at the Fig Garden Regional Library, 3071 W. Bullard Ave., at 2 p.m. Saturday. His new book looks at 28 female murderers from California, including several from Fresno and Clovis.

The book will be available for purchased for signing by the author.

The Sacramento-based writer has written several books dealing with crime and punishment in California, including “California Justice,” “Death in California” and “California Fruits, Flakes and Nuts.”

Locals featured in the book include:

Larissa Schuster, Clovis: She was convicted in 2008 for the 2003 murder of her estranged husband, Timothy Schuster. She conspired with her employee, James Fagone, to seal her husband in a barrel of acid. Schuster was given the name “the Acid Queen.”

Alice Richards, Fresno: The 14-year-old killed her twin sister, Sally, in 1950.

Anna Guild, Fresno: She murdered her husband, Charles Guild, in Kings Canyon National Park in 1955.

Ada Peters Hansen, Sonora: Hansen murdered her husband, Otto Hansen, in 1948.

Murderers from outside the area featured in the book include: Brynn Hartman, who killed her husband, comedian Phil Hartman, in 1998; Los Angeles police detective Stephanie Ilene Lazarus, who murdered a romantic rival in 1986; and Omaima Aree Nelson, who killed, cooked and ate her husband in 1991.

If you can’t attend the event, the book is available at bookstores, online and by calling Craven Street Books at 800-345-4447.

Murder, she wrote

Former Fresno resident Lise Risenthal has written a detective novel, “A Stitch in Crime” (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, $9.95).

“As a Fresno ex-pat who feels that Fresno has not had a kind word said about it since Saroyan died, I have taken it on myself to remedy that situation with a series of detective novels that take place in Fresno,” Risenthal says.

In “A Stitch in Crime,” an abortionist is found dead in his clinic in the Tower District. A cloisonné rose in his lapel has a stem that curls around to spell the word “Life.”

Pro-life detective Katie Kelly and her partner, Isaac Flores, are chosen to lead the investigation. For Kelly, that means juggling her duties with her personal feelings.

The book can be purchased at amazon.com.

To the top

Journalist and former Fresno State student Danielle Nadler has released her first book, “Without a Trace: The Life of Sierra Phantom” (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, $11.99).

It’s the true story of a man who lived a half-century in the Sierra Nevada wilderness.

Nadler had never planned to write a book, but after hearing the man’s story, she was inspired to tell it.

“After our first conversation, I was hooked. His life was like a novel waiting to be written,” she says.

The author’s background includes working for the Tracy Press and the Las Vegas Review Journal. Nadler and her husband now live in northern Virginia, where she serves as managing editor of Loudoun Now, a community newspaper.

“Without a Trace” is available at book stores and at amazon.com.

Horsing around

“Ponyville Confidential” (McFarland, $19.99) is the new work from Edison High graduate Sherilyn Connelly, now based in San Francisco. Connelly takes a look at the sometimes controversial history of “My Little Pony.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2017 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Local female murderers spotlighted in David Kulczyk’s book."