Getting away with murder
MOVIES | Crime writer: 'If you get a bad woman, she's really rotten'
Ann Rule has become the gold standard of true crime writing for a generation that would say, "Truman Capote who?" It's understandable, considering he merely wrote In Cold Blood, while Rule has gotten inside the heads of killers in 31 books.
Now two of them have been adapted for the Lifetime Movie Network -- Lifetime's sister channel -- and the titles confirm that she is officially a brand name. "Ann Rule's Too Late to Say Goodbye" airs Saturday at 7 p.m. and stars Rob Lowe as a dentist whose exes conveniently commit suicide. Lauren Holly plays his sister-in-law who grows suspicious that her sister's death was a setup.
On Nov. 14, Gina Gershon vamps it up in "Ann Rule's Everything She Ever Wanted" as Pat Allanson, a Scarlett O'Hara wannabe with a bad habit of poisoning her loved ones. On Nov. 15, both movies will air, along with Mark Harmon in the 2001 adaptation of Rule's And Never Let Her Go.
Rule could be the patron saint of LMN, which appeals to women who expect the worst. Even though men are more commonly killers, Rule is an equal-opportunity journalist. "I have found that my female readers are more interested in women killers than men," she says. Three percent of all males are sociopaths or antisocial personalities, says Rule, while only 1 percent of women get the same diagnosis.
"Women kill for love, very broadly defined," says Rule. "Jealousy or lust or revenge, or for money, and women plan their murders far more carefully than men. They also they tend to kill people who are close to them -- even children."
The Farrah Fawcett movie "Small Sacrifices," in which she shoots her kids in order to appeal to a boyfriend, was based on Rule's 1987 book.
"We're paper dolls to these people," says Rule. "They want what they want, and they'll do whatever is necessary to get it. There are more bad men than bad women out there, but if you get a bad woman, she's really rotten."
Rule, a former Seattle police officer, jumped into the deep end with her first book, The Stranger Beside Me, which was published in 1980. After landing a book contract about a series of area murders, Rule learned that the main suspect was a friend of hers; she and Ted Bundy used to both volunteer at a suicide hotline.
"After he was executed I had to change my number, because a lot of young girls were enamored with Ted," says Rule. "They would call me in the middle of the night sobbing about poor Ted Bundy. I'd say to them, 'Doesn't it occur to you that you'd be a prime target for him?' Human emotions are strange."
The Stranger Beside Me was made into a 2003 USA Network movie starring Billy Campbell -- Rule says he's the best Bundy she's ever seen -- and Barbara Hershey as the writer herself. "Barbara Hershey doesn't really have my personality, but she's thinner than I am," says Rule.
Who would she have cast in her place? "Let's just go with Angie Dickinson," says Rule.
She averages one hardcover and one paperback collection a year, and gets at least 5,000 suggestions each year about possible subjects.
But Rule prefers to write about less publicized cases. Don't expect a book about Laci and Scott Peterson. Or the BTK killer. And definitely not Drew Peterson.
"He had his publicist call me and ask me to write a book about his innocence," says Rule. "I thought, no, I don't think so. How could I possibly write a book about his innocence? I think he's guilty."