Okay, I admit that I was already a little skeptical about this book when I saw the authors’ photos in the back. (They’re shown in what they might think looks like pulp detective gear - him in a fedora and raincoat, her in a weird hat with face netting.) But the lure of “twelve tales of fiendish schemes that came off without a hitch - almost” got me and I bought it.

Unless you don’t read much true crime, leave this one on the shelf - it’s not very good.

The authors present a dozen cases, ranging from 1955 to 1991 (the book came out in ‘95), and feature crimes in which the perp nearly pulled off the perfect crime. I’m still trying to figure out why someone would write a book like this… I mean, isn’t any crime technically perfect until the bad guy is caught?

Let me tell you about some of the cases they chose.

The Lone Wolf: Kazuyoshi Miura, a Japanese entrepreneur, decided to do away with his wife while on a shopping trip in Los Angeles, allowing him to collect on a substantial life insurance policy and return to his playboy single life. (...)

Chop Chop Man: This is the story of Jeffrey Dahmer. I’m not convinced Dahmer pulled off any perfect crimes; it was the ineptitude of the Milwaukee police that allowed him to get away with the 17 murders he eventually confessed to. There are several books out there about Dahmer that explore his case in detail.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips: When flight attendant Helle Crafts disappeared without a trace, her friends were worried that her husband, Richard, killed her. Crafts stated he last saw his wife on November 19, 1986. (...)This is likely the “true story” that the Cohen brothers based Fargo on.

The stories are generally decent, but the writing isn’t great — and you’d expect with two authors, it would be sharp. I know I’m not alone when I find a writer less credible because of typos or misrepresentations. It could be the fault of a copy editor somewhere, but I couldn’t help rolling my eyes when I saw the word “pursuaded” twice on the same page.

You can find most of these cases in other books, and I recommend you pick those up instead.

Perfect Crimes are very rarely commited, and this time is no exception. All the cold hearted killers such as Jefferey Dahmer had an infatuation with murder. He killed his first male victim over his homosexual rage that drove him to the edge, and made him want 2 kill again only to satisfy his thirst for gore. I find this book quite interesting. Every chapter brings a new crime to life with descriptive narrative techniques. Although they had a few typos here and there, there is nothing to remove credit from the two writers. If crime novels aren't what you are looking for this might be a bit different. The book will keep you tuned like a soap opera to see what happens next. Anther story that came to my attention in this book is the story of Kazuyoshi Miura. He stood out in his native country of Japan, Partial to lizard skin cowboy boots and porsche sunglasses. He enjoyed Japan's entertainment district with his pretty women at his side., Miura was what Japanese hate most about westerners. Miura had a talent for making money, and a lust for leading trusting young women like lambs to slaugther.
The story of Miura caught my attention because the Japanese culture is known for being well-mannered and for him to do this was out of the ordinary. Over all I recommend this book to those crime fiction fans., You never know what to expect from the next spine chilling story of crime and murder.