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Playing with Fire

The True Story of a Nurse, Her Husband, and a Marriage Turned Fatal

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Playing with Fire

Written by: John Glatt
Narrated by: Shaun Grindell
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About this listen

A beautiful nurse. A lethal injection. A gruesomely charred corpse.

Nothing could have shocked the sleepy community of Morgantown, West Virginia, more than the lurid details that surfaced after a house fire claimed the life of Shelly Michael's husband, Jimmy. Local authorities suspected possible arson. Then they discovered that Jimmy had been dead before the fire even started - paralyzed by a fatal dose of muscle relaxant....

Did Shelly Michael, a respected nurse and mother, kill her second husband and torch her own home? Were the rumors true that she'd had an affair with her husband's employee only two weeks before the murder? Or did she kill Jimmy simply for the insurance money? Charged with first-degree murder and first-degree arson, Shelly would never stop claiming her innocence - even to this day.

©2010 John Glatt (P)2020 Tantor Crime Murder True Crime Marriage True Crime Nurse
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I found the story fascinating and felt it portrayed a fair and clear view from both sides. Listening to the narration however, I found it flat and dull. Though I did like the accent, he was unable to change the pronunciation from The British accent to an American one, where the crime took place.

Well written, poorly narrated

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the story is great, the narration could be a bit better. I would listen to this again!

fascinating case, poor narration

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To be honest, I found the circumstances surrounding this horrible incident (the murder of a father of four) confusing.
Author John Glatt does a truly praiseworthy job introducing the psychology of the individuals involved, developing the circumstances leading up to the crime, and authenticating the narrative with courtroom transcripts of testimony & extensive interviews (fire/police investigators, witnesses, perpetrators, etc). Less fortunately, the motives driving Shelley Michael to paralyze and immolate her husband are inconceivable (usually A leads to B leads to C. In this case, A leads to B leads to F, for some reason). I was left wondering why Glatt chose this obviously delusional murderess with enigmatic motives as a subject for a book.

A solid *Plus* for audiobook afficianados, however: this is the best work that I have heard from Shaun Grindell. He displays a mildly annoying sing-song cadence.. but genuinely unsurpassed diction, timbre, and tone. If given the option between a text version of the book or this recorded iteration, choose this one every time.

Altogether, I rate 'Playing With Fire' worthy of 8.5 stars out of 10. Even for a Credit, it would be a worthy investment.. if you can get it included with your membership, Do Not Hesitate.

Head-Scratcher Of A Case

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