ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — First comes love. Then comes murder.

In his new book, Murder, American Style, renowned true crime writer David J. Krajicek tells 50 unforgettable stories of relationship murders, from conniving gold-diggers to classic love triangles to reprehensible parents who kill their own children for revenge or financial gain.

“The killers profiled in Murder, American Style are typically motivated by lust and greed,” Krajicek says. “In many of these cases, a spouse finds a new love but cannot fathom a future fettered by the debts that a divorce might incur. So they choose murder instead. More often than not, as these true crime fables make clear, the killers do not live happily ever after.”

Krajicek, a New Yorker and longtime winter resident of the Gulf Coast, will appear at a signing and release party for Murder, American Style on Thursday, Feb. 10, in Baldwin County, Ala. The event will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at Beach Cite Studios, in the SanRoc Cay plaza, 27267 Perdido Beach Blvd. in Orange Beach.

It is open to the public, with hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. Copies of the book will be on sale at the event for $15. Krajicek will read from the book at 7 p.m.

Murder, American Style (www.MurderAmericanStyle.com), published by News Ink Books of New York, is available at several local independent book retailers, including Just Books, 1545 Gulf Shores Parkway in Gulf Shores,and Turn the Page, 9105 Gulf Beach Highway in Pensacola. It is also available on the book website as well as at Amazon.com.

The stories featured in the book are drawn from “The Justice Story,” a true crime feature that Krajicek has written since 1999 for the Sunday New York Daily News. Several Alabama and Florida crimes are included. “The Justice Story” is American journalism’s longest-running true crime feature, having debuted in 1923.

“Each murder case has a unique backstory, but there are certain themes that crop up again and again in the book,” Krajicek says. “Arrogance is one of them. Many of these killers believe they are smarter than the rest of us and can’t possibly be caught. Most are proven wrong.”

Krajicek has been telling true crime stories for more than 30 years. He is a longtime newspaperman and a former Columbia University journalism professor. His other books include "Scooped! Media Miss Real Story on Crime While Chasing Sex, Sleaze and Celebrities" and the forthcoming "True Crime: Missouri, The State’s Most Notorious Criminal Cases," due for release later this year by Stackpole Books.Krajicek, a native of Omaha, Neb., splits his time between the Catskill Mountains of New York and the Alabama and northwest Florida Gulf Coast, which he has been visiting for nearly 20 years.

“I came down here for the first time to golf,” he says. “It quickly became my favorite place to work and play in the winter—and, occasionally, the spring, fall and summer.”

Krajicek has written for dozens of publications, including the New York Times, the Guardian, Mother Jones, the Village Voice, the Omaha World-Herald and the Council Bluffs (Iowa) Nonpareil, where he began his career.

A former contributor to Court TV, he appears frequently on television as a true crime expert.

　Praise for Murder, American Style: “Krajicek wrote the book on murder.”—Patricia Breakey, Daily Star

"Engaging and entertaining…A must-read for spousal murderers, and those who love to read about them."—Paul

LaRosa, CBS News producer and　author of Seven Days of Rage: The Deadly Crime Spree of the Craigslist Killer

"Truth is stranger than fiction. David Krajicek has captured the sordid underbelly of love gone wrong.

'Murder, American Style' exposes 50 true cases about how lust and greed often overshadow the love of spouse

and family—with horrific results."—Carl Brizzi, WIBC Radio, Indianapolis