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In Light of All Darkness: Inside the Polly Klaas Kidnapping and the Search for America's Child

by Kim Cross

A kidnapping case and its investigative aftermath

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Paperback New English

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A kidnapping case and its investigative aftermath

Kim Cross examines the 1993 abduction of Polly Klaas from her home in Petaluma, California, and the extensive search that followed. Drawing on case files, crime-scene photographs, and other source material identified in the description, the book traces how investigators assembled evidence leading to the kidnapper’s arrest and conviction. It also considers how the case affected the FBI’s approach to solving crimes, placing the investigation within a broader account of a tragedy that drew national attention. The focus is both on the sequence of the case and on the investigative work behind its resolution.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in documented kidnapping and missing-person cases.
  • Readers seeking accounts of criminal investigations and the use of evidence.
  • Readers interested in the history of FBI investigative practices.

Themes

Kidnapping and missing personsCriminal investigation and evidenceThe FBI and changes in investigative practicePublic attention to crime

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Paced like a thriller and full of insider information, this book embeds readers in one of the most famous true-crime stories of our generation--the kidnapping of Polly Klaas.

"Riveting ... reported with empathy and Cross's signature combination of unflinching detail and gut-punching revelations." ―Beth Macy author of Dopesick and Raising Lazarus


On October 1, 1993, a 12-year-old girl was kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom in Petaluma, California, during a sleepover with two friends, while her mother slept soundly in the room next door. This rarest of all kidnappings--a stranger abduction from the home--triggered one of the largest manhunts in FBI history.

New York Times bestselling author Kim Cross has written the first comprehensive account of what happened on that fateful night in October, as well as how the case forever transformed the Bureau's approach to solving crimes. With unprecedented access to case files, crime scene photos, a videotaped murder confession, and inside sources, In Light of All Darkness follows the investigators who pieced together the evidence that led to the arrest and conviction of the kidnapper--and made the victim a household name and a girl who will never be forgotten.

"A terrifying story told with compassion, empathy, and insight." --Kathryn Miles, author of Trailed: One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders
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