Last Dance, Last Chance, Ann Rule
Last Dance, Last Chance, Ann Rule
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Last Dance, Last Chance
And Other True Cases

Author: Ann Rule

Narrator: Laural Merlington

Unabridged: 14 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/23/2013


Synopsis

“America’s best true-crime writer” (Kirkus Reviews), Ann Rule presents her 8th collection of crime stories drawn from her private files—and featuring the riveting case of a fraudulent doctor whose lifelong deceptions had deadly consequences.Dr. Anthony Pignataro was a cosmetic surgeon and a famed medical researcher whose flashy red Lamborghini and flamboyant lifestyle in western New York State suggested a highly successful career. But appearances, as this shocking insider account of Pignataro’s tailspin from physician to prisoner proves, can be deceiving—and, for the doctor’s wife, very nearly deadly. No one was safe if they got in his way. With scalpel, drugs, and arsenic, he betrayed every oath a physician makes—until his own schemes backfired. Now, the motivations of the classic sociopath are plumbed with chilling accuracy by Ann Rule. Along with other shocking true cases, this worldwide headline-making case will have you listening in disbelief that a trusted medical professional could sink to the depths of greed, manipulation, and self-aggrandizement where even slow, deliberate murder is not seen for what it truly is: pure evil.

About Ann Rule

Ann Rae Stackhouse was born in Lowell, MI in 1931. Her mother taught school, specializing in developmentally disabled children, and her father was a coach. Ann was in law enforcement in her young adult years, as was many in her family. She received various degrees from different colleges and universities, including studying creative writing, criminology, and psychology at University of Washington.

Ann's marriage, and eventual divorce changed her last name to Rule, which she keeps as her author name. Her extensive education and experience as a police woman gave her the perfect credentials to become regarded by many as the foremost true crime writer in America, setting the standards for the genre. For example, while she was volunteering at a suicide hotline center in Seattle in 1971, she met a work study student by the name of Ted Bundy, not realizing until a few years later that it was the same Bundy responsible for a series of murders. To her, he was kind, solicitous, and empathetic. She wrote her first book about him, considered one of the definitive biographies of Bundy.......The Stranger Beside Me (written under her own name, rather than the previously used pen name).

Rule has been a full-time crime writer since 1969, and has published 33 books and 1400 articles, mostly on criminal cases.

Today, she teaches seminars to law enforcement groups, a certified instructor in many subjects such as: Serial Murder, Sadistic Sociopaths, Women Who Kill, and High Profile Offenders. She has consulted with the FBI at their headquarters in Quantico, VA tracking a system to help identify and trap serial killers. She testimonies twice before the Senate Judiciary Sub-committee on victim's rights and the danger of serial killers.

Simon and Schuster currently have Rule under contract. Eight of her books have been made into TV movies, and more are in the works. Ann is in active support groups for victims of violent crimes and their families, in programs to help battered and abused women, and support group.


Reviews

Goodreads review by jv on February 05, 2019

At the end of the first story, I noticed the criminal was up for parole in 2019. Based on what Ms. Rule has taught me, I expected he'd gotten out earlier and was curious, so I googled his name. Yes, he did get out early and yes, he's already been found to have committed the exact same crime in at le......more

Goodreads review by Katherine on January 01, 2017

*"Last Dance, Last Chance": Buffalo NY 1999: Anthony Pignataro capped off a long and despicable history of medical malfeasance by attempting to murder his wife as part of a convoluted plot to clear himself of culpability in the death of a woman who came to him for breast-augmentation surgery. Despit......more

Goodreads review by Bren fall in love with the sea. on July 21, 2023

Just recently read this one. All I can think is: damn, I miss Rule. She sure can tell a story. For those who don't know, Rule (RIP) was a crime writer and I've been reading her books for many years. This one is not about any one crime. It's about a bunch of them. Rule often did that. In addition to si......more

Goodreads review by J.H. on April 19, 2019

Good, solid Ann Rule classic of true crime cases. This volume has one story that takes up about half the book, and then several shorter stories. Though I'm sure she didn't have a choice in the matter, one thing I don't understand is why the convicted criminals' names were changed to protect their ide......more

Goodreads review by Jim on July 07, 2017

Rule hits another one out of the park!......more