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Love and Death in the Sunshine State
Love and Death in the Sunshine State: The Story of a Crime | Cutter Wood
13 posts | 10 read | 9 to read
Sometimes the facts aren't the only truth. When a stolen car is recovered on the Gulf Coast of Florida, it sets off a search for a missing woman, local motel owner Sabine Musil-Buehler. Three men are named persons of interesther husband, her boyfriend, and the man who stole the carand the residents of Anna Maria Island, with few facts to fuel their speculation, begin to fear the worst. Then, with the days passing quickly, her motel is set on fire, her boyfriend flees the county, and detectives begin digging on the beach. Cutter Wood was a guest at Musil-Buehlers motel as the search for the missing woman gained momentum, and he found himself drawn steadily deeper into the case. Driven by his own need to understand how a relationship could spin to pieces in such a fatal fashion, he began to meet with the eccentric inhabitants of Anna Maria Island, with the earnest but stymied detectives, and with the affable man soon presumed to be her murderer. But there is only so much that interviews and records can reveal; in trying to understand why we hurt those we love, this book, like Truman Capotes classic In Cold Blood, tells a story that exists outside of documentary evidence. Wood carries the investigation beyond the facts of the case and into his own life, crafting a tale of misguided love, writerly naivet, and the dark and often humorous conflicts at the heart of every relationship.
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review
Mitch
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Panpan

Part way through this book - a journalist asks the author - “what's your angle?“ and don't think we ever get to find out the answer to this. Wood begins to delve into a case of a woman's disappearance in Florida - but he gets sidetracked into is own story, his family, his love affairs and his graduate school assignments. I found the book confusingly fictional, frustrated at Woods flowery language and the distance he maintains from the story.

Chelsea.Poole Yikes. This was on my tbr list at one time but I have heard similar comments you made here so I've avoided so far. 5y
Hooked_on_books Good to know. I definitely won‘t give this one a try. 5y
Mitch @Chelsea.Poole it really wasn‘t for me! 5y
Mitch @Hooked_on_books sadly - not a good one! 5y
81 likes4 comments
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jenniferw88
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Mehso-so

#truecrime completed for #NFNov @rsteve388 @Clwojick

4 🌟

10pts +5 for completion of book = 15 +1 for participation = 16pts in total

rsteve388 Awesome thanks for the count! 16 pts is right 5y
68 likes1 comment
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jenniferw88
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#squirrelquote @squirrelbrain lots of mentions of squirrels in the second chapter of this book! 🤣🤣🤣

Also another point for #NFNov @Clwojick @rsteve388 so that takes me to 10!

squirrelbrain Oh yes, us squirrels certainly get ‘a look‘ in our eyes from time to time! 🤣😁🐿 5y
rsteve388 1 pt! 5y
59 likes2 comments
blurb
jenniferw88
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Book: tagged (thanks @Ddzmini !)
TV: Teletubbies
Songs: You Are My Sunshine/Bring Me Sunshine

#manicmonday @JoScho

JoScho 🌞💙🌞 5y
Ddzmini Thank you 😋📖 5y
52 likes2 comments
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saguarosally
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I never realized Alexa will totally read your books to you. #kindle #ebook #alexa #echodot

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BookishMarginalia
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Hey, Dear Littens! It‘s been too long!

LiteraryinPA Hi, Gloria! How‘s your school year going? 6y
DGRachel 👋🏻😍 6y
BookishMarginalia @LiteraryinLititz Hi, Allison! It‘s going well, just wish I were reading more and posting more! How‘s your year shaping up? 6y
See All 19 Comments
MicheleinPhilly 👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼I hope you guys have fully settled into your new home and are doing well! 6y
BookishMarginalia @DGRachel Hi right back! 💜 6y
BookishMarginalia @MicheleinPhilly We‘re still waiting for our boxes of books that we shipped to be delivered, but otherwise we‘re all settled in. Still getting used to the new routines! 6y
MicheleinPhilly Excellent! Hope the boxes come soon. 6y
BookishMarginalia @MicheleinPhilly Me too — it‘s been 10 weeks already! 6y
JSW Hi there! Good to see you. Hope you‘re well. 😘❤️ 6y
CouronneDhiver Good to see you! 🤩 6y
riversong153 You‘re sitting perfectly! 6y
TheWordJar Hellooooo! Good to see you again! 6y
Lola Ah....I was JUST thinking about you this morning and wondering how you‘ve been. So glad to see you! Xo 6y
Leftcoastzen 😀👋📚 6y
LeahBergen Hello!!! 😘😘 6y
Centique Good to see you! Hope your books turn up soon and everything goes well at the new school 🤞😊 6y
Bookzombie Hi!! 6y
gradcat I remember this case! Didn‘t realize there was a book written about it, though. 6y
174 likes1 stack add19 comments
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KoriBReadin
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“I stood looking down toward the city and imagined myself, acclaimed yet charming, almost heroically, humble.” 🙄-

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Biensoul
Mehso-so

Meh. I was hoping to get my #summeroftruecrime off to a great start after seeing this in the NYT Book Review summer picks section, but feel that for the most part, this is way overdone on the writing to the point where I‘m reading some guy‘s senior writing thesis, and not at all interested in the real crime or the people surrounding it.

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Biensoul
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I hearby declare 2018 as the SUMMER OF TRUE CRIME! #summeroftruecrime #murderino

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Reviewsbylola
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Bailedbailed

This was such a promising book. Written as a true crime memoir, I was super into it initially. The author had just visited a small hotel in FL when the owner went missing. The hotel was set on fire 10 days later. His interest instantly piqued, Wood drove back to the area and began digging to get to the story of what really happened. Unfortunately he inserted way too much of his personal life into it. Once he spent half a chapter writing about ⤵️

Reviewsbylola An out of state booty call, I was done. I went ahead and googled Sabine‘s name, found out what happened to her, and now I‘m moving on. 👍🏻 7y
Reviewsbylola @kaye you were right to bail. 7y
Kaye I‘m glad I didn‘t stick with it. Some books just don‘t start out with a zing or an interest for me, so I toss them. The older I get, the more I toss. I don‘t have time to Read cruddy books. Thanks for the tag ✨✨✨ 7y
See All 6 Comments
Mdargusch That‘s a shame. 7y
emilyhaldi Lol, sometimes you just want to share the details on your latest booty call! 7y
82 likes1 stack add6 comments
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TheFunkyBookworm
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Day 9: State in the Title
Looking forward to reading this true crime story of a murder on beautiful Anna Maria Island. Also excited to attend a book signing/reading by the author (Cutter Wood- what a name!) at an independent bookstore here in Tampa! ☀️📖🔪
#ReadingResolutions @Jess7

62 likes3 stack adds
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ptkpepe98
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Bailedbailed

It is rare for me to give up on a book. I just couldn't continue this, though. If you read the synopsis, it does indicate you'll read about the author's personal journey as well as the crime. Yet, I just flipped through 15 pages to see if the crime was mentioned again. It wasn't, and I didn't sign up to read a memoir. It's not for me. So this is a DNF and my unbiased review of the eARC.

#NetGalley #LoveandDeathintheSunshineState