Witch: The True Story of Las Vegas Most Notorious Female Killer by Glenn Puit

Witch: The True Story of Las Vegas' Most Notorious Female Killer by Glenn Puit
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 4 days

Pages - 352

Publisher -

Source - Bought (in Vegas)

Blurb from Goodreads

Drawing on extensive interviews with the accused herself, here is the sordid, twisted, and surprising story of Brookey Lee West—a successful technical writer from Silicon Valley who became Las Vegas’ most notorious female serial killer.

In February, 2001, police uncovered the decomposed remains of Christine Smith bagged like garbage in a Las Vegas storage unit. She’d been dead for years. Next to the makeshift tomb were books on witchcraft and Satanism. It didn’t take long for authorities to discover that the owner of the foul Canyon Gate Unit #317 was Christine’s own daughter, Brookey Lee West. Further investigation revealed something even more shocking—a one-woman crime spree that spanned two decades, stretched from Nevada to California, and may have counted among its victims Brookey’s own husband and brother....



My Review

So I hadn't heard of this one, I have read/seen a lot of true crime but never heard of this case. We effectively open with the finding of a body in a storage unit, the police trying to find the owner of said storage unit. We then get a back history of the deceased person Christine Smith and her daughter and owner of the unit, Brookey Lee West. Christine's early life, upbringing, how she met her husband and their life. The beginning of Brookey Lee's life, the suspected murders and glimpses of who she was or presented to those who were in her life.

This book is different is that we get more of the victims past and lives than really we do of Brookey Lee West. I feel like I don't know a whole lot more of her than I did before I started the book, absolute I know more of her mum, dad, husband and some of the ways she interacted with them but otherwise I don't think we know her much at all. Most books on killers you get quite in depth of who they are/were but this leaves you, well it did me, with a lot more questions.

Interesting read and I would read other books on her, see what information and takes other authors manage to pull together, 3.5/5.

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Vegas themed giveaway

As you guys know we recently went to Las Vegas, I love Las Vegas, think that was our 6th or 7th trip. I brought a few wee goodies back with me specifically for a wee giveaway.




Up for grabs, as pictured, is a big reg totebag, x1 mardi gras beads, x1 sleep mask and a Las Vegas beer cooler holder. Or if like, for your WKD bottle and it stops all the condensation soaking your hand.




Do not disturb mask.




Beads blue x1.




Drinks holder x1 with the Last Vegas strip on it, so pretty at night.

To enter, just use the Rafflecopter below, open to all, good luck.



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Hiya from America

We travelled down to Manchester and overnight stayed in the Radisson Blu hotel, right next to the airport and a lot less faffing about. Technically away 13 nights I think it works out, think I have enough books?





Guys the internet here has been pretty shocking, I can get on Insta/Twitter but uploading takes ages and this post has been in progress since we arrived here 12 days ago now! It may even be we are home in Scotland by the time this thing goes live!



We are in one of my fav places, Las Vegas, this is our 7th trip here I think. I love the shows, people are so happy, the tacky tourists shops and a wee Mike's Hard Lemonade, not to mention the buildings and props..



The weather was pretty harsh when we arrived, 42 degrees, my Scottish skin was melting, timeline took ages to settle and we went chasing the sunrise at 5am on our second day here I think it was.



I love this place, the city that never sleeps not matter what time you get up or go to bed there are always folk still around, drinking, gambling, gabbing.



We always go to shows when we come here, we went to see Cher, omg she is a legend, 73 and could out dance a lot of artists. I have uploaded tons of piccys from our time on our instagram, it is an open account. We normally go to one show a day but this time we have been exhausted so just played it by ear. Went to a few comedy shows, we seen Def Leppard live, David Copperfield (fantastic, emotional and I totally recommend going seeing him, we saw him 7 ago and he has just gotten better!), we seen Penn & Tellar and for my birthday o/h took me to a drag queen brunch show. It even rained one night, second time we have been here we brought the Scottish weather.

Honey I'm home

If you follow the blog on Fb, Instagram and or Twitter you will know we have been away on vacation, we took a trip across some of America, I love America! We started heading to Manchester by train, then flew to San Francisco, drove to Santa Barbara & then drove to our last destination Las Vegas.




We visited Alcatraz and despite not having my camera, I managed to get some great photos. I spotted the bookstore before the boat even docked, I bought two wee thin booklets with some of the prisons history.





There was so many birds and wildlife on Alcatraz, I got a wee video of these beauties, posted to Instagram @always_reading





We stayed in a great hotel in San Francisco, it had sea life style throughout all the floors and I am a sucker for themes. IT was also right next to the beach front and they gave us a wee anniversary card, gotta love the little touches.





This was right next to reception on the wall, they had a huge bird made from metal nuts and bolts and chairs from large signs, I took over 900 photos in total and can't post them all here.





As we drove across two locations we saw some stunning scenery, I honestly love America, from the sights to the food! I also bought some books along the way, surprise surprise.














Every where else had been my first visits, Las Vegas was either 5th or 6th time, I do love it. From the shows, to the super friendly people, the food & drink and just all the shops & bright lights I love love love it. I also got a new bookmark hurrah, between books and bookmarks you really cannot have too many. I will say, the huge change in cost since we first went is huge, you used to get so much and realtively cheap. Now a lot of the things are cheaper to buy at home and take over.





We generally stay at what I call the top end of the strip and take a walk down, o/h was unwell so between pushing him in a chair & the heat we didn't make it far the first few days.





The city that never actually sleeps!





The laugh factor has different locations, if you like comedy and haven't been you should check them out. We saw the Whose Line Is It Anyway folk live, one of my fav shows to date. We also went to Michael Jackson One, Fantasy and down to the old strip where they have zip slides and free concerts on the street.





And after three weeks with no camera, no laptop, no email access, very limited internet I am home, jetlagged, tons of post to sort, parcels to send out (I haven't forgotten) and reviews to catch up on. But first, Princess demands attention! I hope everyone is well and I will be stopping by and catching up properly in the next few days.

Las Vegas themed giveaway

Returning from Las Vegas I have brought some goodies home with me for a wee additional giveaway. A wee red totebag, a chip keyring and a Las Vegas pen as shown in the pictures. Apologies the pictures are showing on their side, I cannot for the life of me get them to upload the correct way.

This competition will run just past 2 weeks from the day of listing, as the items are small and light I am opening this up worldwide. As always, please use the Rafflecopter to enter, the more entries you complete the more chances you have of winning. Please feel free to share on the usual sites and good luck to all entering.









a Rafflecopter giveaway