The JonBenet Ramsey murder case is truly perplexing. Not only is evidence as to perpetrator and motive extremely scarce, but the specific circumstances of its occurrence (including the leaving of a bizarre, rambling "ransom note", when the girl's body lay in the basement) make no sense whatsoever. Unfortunately, the case remains an unsolved mystery with too many discrepancies, conflicting stories, and unresolved issues.

In "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town", Lawrence Schiller offers an exhaustive account of the case's investigation, with a particular focus on the incompetence of the Boulder police force and the DA's office (which had little experience with homicide investigations) and the conflicts between them. At 600+ pages, the book is excessively long with an enormous cast of minor characters, yet it reveals little that is new. What's more, the author purposefully ends the book before the grand jury has made its judgment -- meaning that any reader will know more than the author himself about the upshot of the case.

Nevertheless a 60 page segment towards the end of the book (that outlines the grand jury evidence), helps make the case more clear. For this reader at least, it makes it seem likely that the murder (and cover-up) had to be done by members of the Ramsey family. Few other possibilities explain why a protracted ransom note was written and left *after* the girl's death, given that her body lay hidden in the basement; not to mention the elaborate "staging" of the crime scene. Little else explains why the father, John Ramsey, was seeking to fly his family out of Boulder within 35 minutes of discovering the ransom note -- when a real victim of a kidnapping would be frantic to find his daughter and torn over meeting the demands of the ransom note. Nor is it easy to explain why the demanded money -- the peculiar figure of $118,000 -- happened to be the exact amount Ramsey was receiving as a employee bonus. Then there is the question of how a supposed intruder could make his way silently through this enormous maze of a house without turning on lights, and while carrying the child, managed to find a hidden wine cellar in the recesses of the basement -- there to murder her, before proceeding upstairs to write a long ransom note. And finally, there's the fact that the family dog was absent -- it had been sent to another house to spend the night. Coincidence?

Given the weight of evidence, the author's epilogue is very odd. He opines that neither John nor Patsy Ramsey ever asked the other whether they had caused the death of the little girl. Such a notion is utterly impossible to believe. That question is the first that any parent would want answered, unless of course they were both present at the scene. One can understand the author's reluctance to jump on the bandwagon of Ramsey accusers, but he obscures matters by inventing a scenario that is far less plausible that any of the alternatives.

Given its length, exhaustive detail, and lack of closure, I came away from this book unsatisfied, and regretting that I spent so much time with it. I suspect that most other readers will do so as well. ( )

This was a very detailed account of the murder of JonBenet Ramsey and the investigation following. In addition to the details of the murder, there was extensive detail of the conflicts among the police detectives and management on the handling of the case. The district attorney and his staff also played a big role and had many conflicts with the police on how to handle the case. I liked this book but with all the detail it might only appeal to those who are very interested in the entire investigation. ( )

As interested as I am in the true crime genre, and as fascinated as I was by the unsolved (and perhaps unsolvable) nature of this case... I just couldn't finish the book. It's exhaustive in its objectiveness, which may have been the problem--several hundred pages in (it's a very thick book with very small print), I finally gave up after I realized I'd invested all this time in a book that didn't--couldn't--have an ending. ( )