The Millionaire's Wife
 | |
| Author | Cathy Scott |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | True crime, Biography |
| Publisher | St. Martin's Press |
Publication date | March 27, 2012 |
Published in English | March 2012 |
| Media type | Print (paperback), eBook |
| Pages | 256 pp (Paperback ed) |
| ISBN | 978-0-312-59435 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: length |
THE MILLIONAIRE'S WIFE: The True Story of a Real Estate Tycoon, his Beautiful Young Mistress, and a Marriage that Ended in Murder, by author and journalist Cathy Scott, is a true crime account of the 1990 contract murder of George Kogan on an Upper East Side Manhattan street in broad daylight. The book is scheduled for mass-market release by St. Martin's Press True Crime Library in March 2012.[1]
Synopsis
Twenty years after George Kogan's murder, in July 2010, his estranged wife Barbara admitted to hiring a hit man to have her husband gunned down. She was sentenced to 12 to 36 years in prison.[2]
The son of Holocaust survivors, 49-year-old George Kogan grew up in Puerto Rico before making his way to New York City, where he enjoyed success as an antiques and art dealer—until one morning in 1990 when George was approached on the street by an unidentified gunman and was killed in cold blood.
Just before the shooting, George had been on the way to his girlfriends’s apartment. Mary-Louise Hawkins was 29 years old and had once worked as George’s publicist. But after they became lovers, George’s estranged wife, Barbara, was consumed with bitterness. As she and George hashed out a divorce, Barbara fueled her anger into greed—especially after a judge turned down her request for $5,000 a week in alimony.[3]
Barbara, who stood to collect $4.3 million in life insurance,[4] was immediately suspected in George’s death. But it would take authorities nearly 20 years to uncover a link between her lawyer, Manuel Martinez, who was convicted of hiring a hitman to kill George. In 2008, Martinez was convicted in the murder of George, and in 2010, Barbara pleaded guilty to grand larceny, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder in the first degree.
Reception
The book has remained on Amazon's Top 100 bestseller list in the category of true crime as well as murder and mayhem during its pre-release sales.[5][6]
True Crime Book Reviews described The Millionaire's Wife as "a love triangle and a hit-for-hire."[7]
In July 2011, the author appeared on the "Susan Murphy-Milano Show" to talk about the Kogan case.[8] In March 2012, Investigation Discovery is scheduled to air a documentary about the Kogan case in its "Behind Mansion Walls" series with an interview of the author.[9]
The author covered the book in the Forbes.com blog "Crime, She Writes," saying that "the goal with The Millionaire’s Wife was to tell it like it is and get to the bottom of the story."[10]
References
- ^ Forbes.com, "They Negotiate at Jezebel," January 2012 (scroll down to announcement of book launch)
- ^ New York Times "City Room," "Woman Sentenced for Having Husband Killed," June 4, 2010
- ^ Huffington Post, "George Kogan Murder: Barbara Kogan Faces Sentencing In Real Estate Tycoon Husband's 1990 Hit Job," June 4, 2010
- ^ New York Post, "Rich Widow's 'Slay Broker' Called to Testify in Mysterious '90 Case," March 23, 2008
- ^ Amazon.com, Best Sellers in True Crime
- ^ Amazon.com, Best Sellers in Murder and Mayhem
- ^ True Crime Book Reviews, "The Millionaire's Wife" (scroll down), Aug. 12, 2011
- ^ "The Susan Miurpny Milano Show Welcomes Author Cathy Scott," July 2011
- ^ Investigation Discovery's "Behind Mansion Walls"
- ^ Forbes.com, "Crime And Misdemeanors -- And The Millionaire's Wife," Jan. 22, 2012