Books by Fred Rosen

The shocking expose of a carny's murder arranged by his wifeand the daughter who threatened the author to keep the truth from getting out. In his account of the sensational life and murder of Grady Stiles Jr., also known as the legendary carnival ';freak' Lobster Boy, author Fred Rosen explains how Stiles's death was engineered by his wife, Mary Teresa, the carny known as the Electrified Girl. Rosen describes how Mary Teresa arranged for her husband's murder after years of physical and emotional abuse. The narrative is full of appearances from the couple's colorful acquaintances, including the World's Only Living Half Girl, Midget Man, and the Human Blockhead. During Mary Teresa's dramatic trial, Rosen becomes a character in his own book. When both he and the prosecution are threatened by Mary Teresa's daughter, who Rosen believes was a co-conspirator although she was never indicted, the writer risks his life in pursuit of the truth and the evidence that leads to Mary Teresa's conviction.

Baptist deacon, family man, pillar of his Florida community ... and serial killer of prostitutes: chilling true crime from the author of Lobster Boy. By day, Sam Smithers was the deacon of his Baptist church in Plant City, Florida, a respected neighbor to many, and a devoted husband and father. But after the sun set, he became something else: a violent attackerand killerof prostitutes. Smithers's twisted double life came to light when a local woman who had hired him to take care of her property found him in her garage, cleaning an axand then discovered a puddle of blood. Through exclusive interviews with Smithers's wife, who described her spouse as nothing but a doting husband and father, author Fred Rosen learned why this man of God, raised in an intensely religious Tennessee home, was the last person anyone would suspect of committing these savage crimes. Rosen reveals the details behind the deaths of Christy Cowan and Denise Roach after Smithers picked them up in Tampaand the fate of a man who seemed holier than thou, but was actually guilty as sin.