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Winter of Frozen Dreams
Winter of Frozen Dreams: The Shocking True Story of Seduction, Suspicion, and Murder in Madison | Karl Harter
1 post | 1 read | 2 to read
The true story of Barbara Hoffman is a tale of money, men, and the Madison, Wisconsin, massage parlor where a biochemistry major turned into a murderer. On a freezing Christmas morning, a distraught young man named Gerald Davies led Madison police to Tomahawk Ridge, where they found the body of Harold Berge, naked, bloody, and beaten. Davies insisted that he hadnt killed the man, but that he and his fiance had simply buried the corpse in a snowbank. The investigation confirmed that the victim had died in the apartment of Barbara Hoffmana young woman who had dropped out of the University of Wisconsin and had worked at Jans Health Studio, a local massage parlor. She and Davies, whom she met at Jans, had recently become engaged. The circumstances were suspicious already. But when the police discovered that Berge was Hoffmans ex-lover, that he had signed over his house and an insurance policy to herand that Davies had also made her his beneficiarythey began to suspect that Davies might also be in danger . . . The police kept him under watch, but eventually had to stop surveillance. Soon after, Davies turned up dead in his bathtub, a Valium bottle nearby, in an apparent suicide. But, an accomplished student of chemistry, Hoffman knew how tricky it could be to detect cyanide poisoning. It would take a dedicated effort by detectives to sort out the truth about the highly intelligent masseuse, her work in the shadowy local sex trade, and the real circumstances that led two of her clients to their deaths. Winter of Frozen Dreams is the full story of the case that would become a sensational televised trial and inspire a film of the same name starring Thora Birch. Its a snappy read by an author with a talent for sleuthy description and psychological insight (Kirkus Reviews).
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review
cathysaid
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Mehso-so

If I based this review on writing quality, it would be a “pan.” But since the case is fascinating to me, I‘m giving it a so-so based solely on the info. In the 70‘s, Barbara Hoffman of Madison, WI, an employee of a “massage parlor,” allegedly killed two men by cyanide poisoning in order to get their insurance money...though nothing about this case is so cut and dried. Top right is Hoffman at an early hearing & bottom right is verdict. #truecrime