Outside Valetine; Marilyn Monroe

"Outside Valentine" by Liza Ward came out several years ago, and I was really excited to read it, because it was about the serial killer Charlie Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate. About 14 years ago there was a made for TV movie about them called "Murder in the Heartland" that I really liked and ever since I have tried to read more about them. I had forgotten about this book and ran across it the other day looking for another book. I must admit, I was a little disappointed. Ward is actually the granddaughter of two of the real life murder victims (which I learned online and not from this book, she doesn't mention it). She fictionalized a lot of things that are common knowledge, like the names of Starkweather's victims, which seemed pointless to me. She wove in the story of two of the murder victims' son (her father) and how he met his wife (her mother?) because of the murders. I don't know, I just didn't feel like the characters were all that believable, even the ones that I knew for sure were real. I suppose it's a very difficult thing to write about something so close to you."Marilyn Monroe" by Barbara Leaming was a book I had bought years ago and hadn't got around to reading yet. After reading "Blonde" by Joyce Carol Oates, I wanted to see how much of her book was fiction and how much was fact. While this book was very well written and easy to read, and very well researched, I liked "Blonde" better. Oates's book was more sympathetic. Leaming writes about how truly self-destructive Monroe really was, and it was frustrating for me. You have a woman, who had such potential, and she threw it all away. And for what? I hate that.I realize that the last half dozen books I've read I haven't liked that well. I need to read something really good, soon!