Death Benefit

Death Benefit unfolds like a well thought out work of fiction rather than a dry narrative of "just the facts Ma'am." Heilbroner's book captures your attention and refuses to let it go until you have read the last page.

One of the more interesting aspects of this case is that the person who first uncovers the crime is an attorney (Steve Keeney) not a member of law enforcement as one would expect. Keeney, who besides working for a law firm that could have sprung from the pages of a John Grisham novel, is a corporate attorney. Keeney agrees to help (pro bono) a fellow church parishoner. The woman's daughter was accidentally killed falling from the cliffs at Big Sur in California. The Monterey coroner's office has not listed a cause of death and the insurance company will not pay the mother's claim until they receive the death certificate.

Keeney expects fully that at most he needs only clear up a bureacratic oversight instead he unravels a previously undiscovered diabolical trail of arson, fraud and murder, that will make your hair stand on end, dating back to the 1950's. And all perpetrated by the rarest of killers - the female serial killer.

The murderess, Virginia McGinnis(superficially a seemingly normal wife and mother) and her brood of children are perhaps some of the most evil people you will ever run across in print.