I'm a big fan of Rule too -- I love it when her books are released as audiobooks so I can listen while I clean
I try to read her blog and any interviews she gives. From what I've read, she's become more firm in her stance against writing about high-profile cases. She also said she wouldn't write another book about a serial sexual sadist again because the Gary Ridgeway case was so difficult to write about.
Rule explains her position re: Caylee's case in this excerpt from her
blog. (and gives a little update on Diane Downs...)
I've been flooded in another way--with requests to write about Caylee and Casey Anthony. This is one of those cases that the media grabbed and has held onto, printing and showing every possible clue, theory, photo, and bit of gossip that they can dig up. I truly believe that there will be absolutely nothing new to write a book about when the case is finally over. This is a case very much like the story of Diane Downs who I wrote about in Small Sacrifices. It is the story of a mother who thinks only of herself, is a histrionic, narcisstic, sex-driven, sociopath. Only Diane shot THREE children, and her lies were a little different. Those of you who know me understand that I'm always looking for cases that have NOT been wrung dry in the media.I want to preserve a little mystery, some suspense, something to discuss with your friends and your sisters and mothers. Poor little Caylee has ended up being BIG NEWS and everyone has taken as many pieces of her memory and her tragedy as they can get. Unless someone should approach me with entirely new news, I won't consider writing about the Anthonys. I would appreciate it if any of you see suggestions on the guestbook about my writing this case, please refer the writers to this blog? Diane Downs came up for parole on December 6th after 25 years in prison, and she hasn't changed at all--except to get crazier-sounding. Now, she claims to have married an FBI agent in 1981, to have found the answers to her daughter Cheryl's murder in a book on angels, and, like O.J., she wants to get out of prison to find the person who shot Christie, Cheryl, and Danny. But Diane shot them. Just as Casey killed Caylee. Murderous mothers are so difficult for normal mothers to understand, but they are out there. Susan Smith is another one--and she drowned her two little boys 10 years after Diane shot her children. I don't blame truly psychotic mothers--they aren't aware that what they are doing is wrong. But mothers like Casey and Diane believe that the rules, laws, ethics, the rest of us live by don't apply to them. BECAUSE THEY ARE SPECIAL AND DESERVE TO HAVE WHAT THEY WANT, NO MATTER WHO GETS HURT... Frankly, as the mother of five, I don't think I could bear to write the story of Caylee's death....
