Playing With Fire: The True Story of a Nurse, Her Husband, and a Marriage Turned Fatal

I enjoyed this book very much. One of the best true crime books I've read. The book was well written and difficult to put down. I found the excellent investigative work of the police and fire officials very interesting and suspenseful. Shelly Michael is a true sociopath. It is almost unbelievable that she would have been drawn to nursing as a profession. It is frightening that someone with no conscience would be working with pediatric patients. The author provides an excellent history of the main characters and offers an explanation as to why Shelly Michael would have killed her husband. When you finish reading this book you won't have any question of the guilt of Shelly Michael.

Playing with Fire: The True Story of a Nurse, Her Husband and a Marriage Turned Fatal is one of my true crime book favorites. I have read many of John Glatt's stories, but this is one of the most most compelling crimes. I do not remember reading about this horrific story when it happened and John Glatt's descriptions of the people and the area really brought this whole story to life. I have no sympathy whatsoever for Michelle Michael. She is an evil, chilling killer who thought she would fool the system with all of her lies and cover-ups. This book kept me interested from beginning to end and I did not want to put it down. If you like true crime, this is one I would definitely recommend.

which makes a nice change, as so many are horribly written with terrible grammar, etc...and the story is well-told as well. There is a lot more to the story than was seen in 48 Hrs or other such shows. Adultry, divorce, child beating, pre-marital pregnancies...and these just refer to the victim and the convicted killer. Jimmy Michaels is portrayed as a religious zealot, which is apparently the norm in W. Va.; yet he marries Michelle after cheating on his wife (who he married when she became pregnant) after leaving his wife and children...and Michelle does the same, leaving her husband. So lots of hypocrisy in this tale, though Jimmy is certainly an innocent victim as Michelle plots to be rid of him when his new business isn't generating the kind of money/lifestyle she had anticipated and when her new lover, a friend of her husband, is more exciting than her overweight hubby. She is constantly touted as having an uncommonly high IQ, yet she never thought that a large hospital would have security cameras to pick her out as she fled for home to restart the fire; didn't think that an autopsy might be done, and lied and lied to police. One thing about this town (Morgantown, W. VA) if the author is telling it accurately is that it seems nearly every citizen could not wait to rush to police HQ to tell their tales of Shelly Michaels, what a horrible person she is, how terrible the marraige was, etc...friends, family and strangers seemed to make a beeline to get their two cents in. Even if she was innocent I think she would have been convicted. And every other person in town was related to chief of police or mayor or fire chief, etc...would hate to get in trouble in this town where everyone claims to know your business and can't wait to tell it. But that said, very hard to have any sympathy for Michelle Michael. Usual claim of abuse as a child that we always hear once someone is in trouble. But really, she is simply mercenary, did not want to work although she wanted to be seen as highly educated and was. But working in a job required having to deal with someone telling you what to do and this she could not endure.

John Glatt has written another intriguing true crime book. Shelly Michael is possibly the most calculating killer that I've ever read about and she almost got away with it! This excellent page turner kept me up several nights as I followed the riveting investigation by arson detectives that finally lead to her downfall. I highly recommend this book.

For those who like John Glatt's previous work you'll like this one too as it's one of his best. I couldn't put it down...a great read!