claudia paperback

Unveiling Claudia: A True Story of Serial Murder

Published by Bantam Books (1986)

Nominated by The Mystery Writers of America for the "Edgar Award" in the Best True Crime Category.

Columbus, Ohio: An icy winter night exploded with a triple homicide. Mickey McCann, owner of Mickey's Eldorado Club, the go-go dancer who lived with him, and McCann's elderly mother--all three were found shot to death inside McCann's luxurious home.

Who committed the crimes and why remained mysteries for a full month. Until a beautiful woman approached two off-duty police officers. Within days, she confessed to the shootings in vivid, explicit, and convincing detail. Claudia Elaine Yasko was arrested for murder. If convicted, she would be sentenced to die. But the case against her fell apart, as the killings continued even while Claudia remained in jail.

How could she possibly have known such intimate details about the first three of ten killings that the press later dubbed the ".22-caliber Murders" unless she had been at the scene of the triple homicide? Moreover, what prompted her confession in the face of a possible death penalty.

The detective in charge of the case said: "Before I go to my grave, I'd like to know how Claudia knew the murder scene and what really happened that night." In the end Keyes solved the mystery and that detective bought the first copy of Unveiling Claudia in order to find out.

Reviews of Unveiling Claudia

"A masterfully told, absorbing story."

-- Library Journal

"a fascinating multi-murder case...and a spellbinding story."

-- Kirkus Reviews

"...The fascinating, relentless peeling away of the fact and fiction separating a frightened young woman from the truth about herself and about a series of murders taking place in central Ohio in the late 1970's... The author succeeds in revealing... "the heart of her secret. " A fine piece of literary detection, it reads like the crackling novel it might have been."

--American Way

"...an unusual book, full of surprises. By any measure, fiction or nonfiction, it is a riveting detective story."

--Northwest Magazine (The Oregonian)

"In talking to detectives, drug pushers, judges and street people, he [Keyes] uncovered a reign of terror with a climax as tragic as it is shocking."

--The Daily Reporter

Back to Homepage

Webpage created by
SpiderHill Design