WIDOW'S WEB - Hardcover

Lyons, Gene

3.6

77 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671641859 ISBN 13: 9780671641856

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1993

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The true saga of Arkansas beauty Mary Lee Orsini details the shooting of her husband, the defense lawyer whose wife she arranged to have murdered, the prosecutor whose career she ruined, and other crimes.

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From Kirkus Reviews:

Entertainment Weekly book critic Lyons (The Higher Illiteracy, 1988--not reviewed)--winner of a National Magazine Award--gets caught up in a bizarre but boring tale of conspiracy, murder, lies, publicity, lust, politics, and mayhem in early 80's Little Rock. The amazingly complicated story begins on March morning in 1981, when 35-year-old brunette bombshell Mary Lee Orsini reports that she's just found her husband--modest air-conditioning mechanic Ron--shot dead in their suburban bedroom. The cops--at first inclined to rule the killing a suicide--soon find themselves scouring the county, trying to disprove Mary Lee's increasingly wild tales of Ron's former drug and Mafia connections, disappearing bags of cash, and threats to her own and her daughter's life. Meanwhile, another murder occurs: that of Alice McArthur--wife of Mary Lee's lawyer, Bill McArthur--shot dead and stuffed in a closet, apparently by a ``salt-and-pepper'' team of hit men. When captured, the killers--two local drug addicts--implicate Bill McArthur, who, however, is clearly innocent--and who suspects Mary Lee of the crime. But why would Mary Lee want to kill Alice--or her own husband, for that matter? There's no time to find out because the county sheriff, Tommy Robinson--later elected to the US House of Representatives--becomes Mary Lee's advocate and co-conspirator, launching a witch hunt, a turf struggle among the cops, and a newspaper war the likes of which Little Rock has never seen. By the time author Lyons wraps up his presentation, McArthur is vindicated, Mary Lee is convicted, and a cast of thousands is quickly shuffled off stage and forgotten--all without the reader's having gleaned much insight into either the pathology of Mary Lee or the political forces that drove what basically seems to have been a farcical near-miscarriage of justice. A tangled web--but an empty one. (Eight pages of b&w photographs--not seen) -- Copyright �1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

Little Rock, Ark., businessman Ron Orsini was fatally shot on March 12, 1981. His blood-soaked body was found by Mary Lee Orsini, his wife of five years. The police immediately suspected her, for the evidence of a break-in looked feigned and her tears contrived. In this taut and gripping story, former Newsweek reporter Lyons covers the case. Although a grand jury initially did not indict her, in 1983 Mary Lee was convicted of murdering her husband. The conviction was overturned, but she was then convicted of murdering her defense attorney's wife, Alice McArthur. The "McArthur Case" emerged as the most notorious murder trial in Arkansas history. Lyons provides ample regional flavor. And he shows how feverishly Mary Lee manipulated her attorney, neighbors, friends, the public and Tommy Robinson, a local Sheriff who is now a member of Congress. Mary Lee is serving a life without parole sentence. Photos not seen by PW. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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