Perfect Murder, Perfect Town

Perfect Murder, Perfect Town is a book about the Ramsey investigation by journalist Lawrence Schiller.

Journalistic Style
Schiller is not a traditional author or writer. He’s a book producer-packager--something along the lines of a P.T. Barnum of publishing. Each of his books, invariably centered on a headline-scorching event, is typically produced with a co-writer, assistants and often paid sources. Schiller then orchestrates a massively hyped marketing and media campaign, working both the mainstream and tabloid markets

Defense of OJ Simpson
Lawrence Schiller wrote a book on the OJ Simpson trial.

A lifelong friend of Simpson's defense lawyer Robert Kardashian

Schiller

Contents
text

Criticism
Schiller has no theory, no suspects, no bombshell revelations and very little evidence that we haven’t heard or read before.

like a host fearful of offending any guests, Schiller has something for everyone and dangles just enough suggestive hints to satisfy devotees of the “intruder school"--those hard-core believers who cannot countenance that such good Christian, affluent folks, like the Ramseys, could be involved in such a murder.

there are many errors in the text, which has prompted a small furor in Boulder. Several Ramsey associates have publicly complained in the local papers and on talk radio--with one former friend claiming 17 mistakes. In fact, the brief section that refers to my Vanity Fair story on JonBenet (October 1997) had 15 errors, some minor, some misleading. Contradictions abound. For example, on Page 16, Schiller tells us that a police detective “moved JonBenet’s body. . . [to] the foot of the Christmas tree” stating it as fact, but on Page 317, he blasts journalists for reporting exactly the same story, as if it were untrue. To its credit, HarperCollins made some corrections in subsequent editions, prompted perhaps by one New York critic who quipped that even the enclosed errata slip has errata.

While this chronicle is often entertaining and on occasion riveting, had he taken the time to eliminate extraneous data and dubious sources and done basic fact checking and created an index, he could have had a terrific book.

Schiller is particularly kind to those who cooperated with him, like deputy district attorney Pete Hofstrom. For instance, Schiller repeats the story of Hofstrom’s stunning special arrangement to fingerprint the Ramseys at his home and not at police headquarters, like all other potential murder suspects, without any comment or judgment. Likewise, Schiller affords some of the most notorious creatures in the tabloid demimonde with courtesy and respect. Those who refused him interviews, such as former Ramsey best friend Fleet White and Eller--the rare few who have not sought to profit from this case--fare less well.