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THE BOOK:
This Night Wounds Time, the first book devoted to the Madison/Smalley case, is the product of six months of original research conducted in 2009 by author Shawn Sutherland who, as book reviewer Dan Marvin describes it, "talked to virtually everyone associated with the case that would talk to him. This included parents, friends, police detectives, and even the most likely suspect."
In this regard, Anne Rice, author of Angel Time and Interview with the Vampire, says, "[T]he story here is a compelling one, and the author's dedication is inspiring."
The Carrollton Police Department credits Sutherland's independent research and This Night Wounds Time with revitalizing its own investigation into the events of March 20, 1988. (In July 2010, Sgt. Joel Payne, the detective currently assigned to the Madison/Smalley case, told The Dallas Morning News, "What this book did was push the full reset button. We threw out all the assumptions, and we started from scratch." Sgt. Payne would also tell The Carrollton Leader, "In talking to the author and looking back over everything I began to make different connections that were not there before.") Consequently, following the publication of This Night Wounds Time in November 2009, Sutherland was invited by the Carrollton Police Department to serve as a pro bono consultant on the Madison/Smalley case.
The book, which is being sold at cost (no markup whatsoever) in order to raise awareness regarding this cold case, features original landscape illustrations by photographer Laura Marie Jimenez and examines the intertwined stories of:
* The lives of Stacie Madison and Susan Smalley, as recalled by family and friends;
* The history of Carrollton, Texas, the town Stacie and Susan called home;
* What it meant to cruise Forest Lane between 1960 and 1990, and the ways in which the discovery of Stacie Madison's Ford Mustang on Forest Lane inadvertently dictated the Carrollton Police Department's initial handling of the case;
* Long standing allegations that - by releasing Stacie Madison's car to her parents without fingerprinting it, rebuffing the probability of foul play for nearly a month, and dismissing a suspect who confessed to murdering the girls based solely on the results of a polygraph test - the Carrollton Police Department was negligent in 1988;
* What is known about the fateful night on which these two young ladies disappeared;
* The bizarre theories and outrageous speculation regarding the girls' final fates that has been offered in the years since their disappearance;
* The person of interest whom the Madison and Smalley families, as well as original case investigators David W. Bock and Ohlen L. Sapp, believe the Carrollton Police Department should reconsider; and
* The haunting impact Stacie Madison's and Susan Smalley's mysterious disappearance still has on the Carrollton/Farmers Branch community today.
Of This Night Wounds Time, Rich Smalley, Susan Smalley's brother, has observed, "I never thought this book would do more than just get the story back out there in the public eye again, but I am beginning to believe otherwise. This book has a great chance of bringing closure to the story."
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BUYING THE BOOK:
* This Night Wounds Time is available online via Amazon and the publisher.
* Autographed copies of the book are available at The Vintage House, 1101 Belt Line Road, Carrollton, Texas 75006. Call 972-242-5616 for details.
* The book may also be borrowed from:
University of Texas Library, Austin, Texas;
Carrollton Public Library, Carrollton, Texas;
Newman Smith High School Library, Carrollton, Texas;
Ted Polk Middle School Library, Carrollton, Texas;
R.L. Turner High School Library, Carrollton, Texas;
The Colony Public Library, The Colony, Texas;
Farmers Branch Manske Library, Farmers Branch, Texas;
Richardson Public Library, Richardson, Texas; and
Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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