At any cost A father's betrayal, a wife's murder, and a ten-year war for justice

A successful finance executive, Shele Danishefsky was eager to focus on her personal life when she met Rod Covlin; they quickly married and started a family. But things turned ugly as Covlin grifted, lied, and cheated on her. Danishefsky wanted to avoid divorce due to her Orthodox Jewish faith, but ultimately saw no other option. As the divorce and custody battles raged, Covlin made wild accusations and Danishefsky began to fear for her life. Days before a meeting to ensure Covlin didn't receive a dime of her money, Danishefsky was found dead in her bathroom. Police dismissed it as an accident, but as the Danishefsky family warred with Covlin over custody and Danishefsky's inheritance, suspicions remained. Nine years later, in 2018, Covlin was charged with Danishefsky's murder. New York Post reporters Rosenberg and Algar clearly lay out Rod's motive and despicable character in the book's first half, leaving little doubt of Covlin's guilt. The second half is a detailed retelling of the trial. True-crime fans may be disappointed, but courtroom drama buffs will relish this.

Journalists Rosenberg and Algar take a chilling plunge into the mind of a psychopath in this riveting account. On New Year's Eve, 2009, Shele Covlin, a wealth manager at a New York City bank, was found floating in the bathtub of her Upper West Side apartment by her nine-year-old daughter and three-year-old son. The children called their father, Rod Covlin, Shele's estranged husband, to tell him what had happened. Rod later told the police Shele fell in the bathtub and drowned. The medical examiner ruled the death an accident, and the family refused an autopsy on religious grounds, but that didn't stop family and cops from digging. Rod, 11 years younger than Shele, was an abusive, philandering freeloader. After his wife's death, Rod bragged that he would get the kids and $5 million in insurance money. Years of legal wrangling stripped Rod of his children and the money and drove him to devise plans to kill his parents, have his then 14-year-old daughter accuse her grandfather of rape, and frame the daughter for Shele's murder. He was arrested in 2015 for Shele's murder, and in 2019 was convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life. Vivid prose bolsters this tale of justice delayed but finally triumphant. True crime fans will be enthralled. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Apr.)

New York Post journalists Rosenberg and Algar provide a detailed account of the long road to justice for Shele Danishefsky Covlin, a Manhattan wealth manager who in 2009 was strangled by her abusive husband, Rod Covlin; a decade later, Covlin was convicted of the murder. From the moment the police entered Danishefsky Covlin's apartment, they made mistakes that would long delay the trial and conviction, such as readily accepting Covlin's claim that his estranged wife had fallen in the bathtub and drowned. The investigation was further stymied when a rabbi advised the devout Danishefsky family against an autopsy. Rosenberg and Algar deftly humanize Danishefsky Covlin, covering her childhood, friendships, and career. The book reveals how patterns of an abusive relationship may seem obvious, but repeated calls for forgiveness from the abuser and family considerations can prevent many from leaving their abusers. At times, the narrative suffers from an awkwardly verbose style--perhaps a shortcoming of dual authorship, as the writing becomes more fluid in later chapters. VERDICT A vivid portrait of the complications that family dynamics, religious considerations, and investigative errors produced to obfuscate justice, and the depths to which an abusive master manipulator is willing to go to continue that obfuscation. True crime fans will be satisfied.--Bart Everts, Rutgers Univ.-Camden Lib., NJ