Not a Very Good Murderer

5.0/5

Critic Rating

Kidnapping plots, arson, jewel heists, attempted murder–just another day in Paradise...Valley, Arizona.In this wild, genre-bending audio documentary, New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Ronan Farrow dives deep into the strange and storied life of high-society socialite and former Miss Arizona Celia (Cece) Doane.As a well-to-do ex-beauty queen in the 1970s, Cece had no trouble attracting husbands. She did appear to have some trouble getting rid of them, though. Under seemingly perpetual investigation for attempted murder plots against two of her spouses, she has been a “person of interest” to Arizona law enforcement for decades but never arrested. Did she actually conspire to have her husbands killed? And if so, how has she managed to elude detectives for so many years?Through countless hours of interviews and painstaking investigative legwork, Farrow examines Cece’s checkered past, exposing a web of half-truths and omissions that shed new light on this shocking and confounding case. But what happens when he realizes that his most important source may also be his most unreliable?Part true crime thriller, part captivating character study, Not a Very Good Murderer is a fascinating exploration of what it takes to uncover the truth and what it means to keep it buried.©2025 Ronan Farrow (P)2025 Audible Originals, LLC.


Critic Reviews

Score: 5

Rebecca Lavoie, Kevin Flynn, Lara Bricker & Toby Ball • Crime Writers On May 22, 2025

"...wild plot elements and eccentric characters. Kevin says Farrow excels at the journalism procedural genre and here provides an memorable character study about the ways we can sabotage our own lives."

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