The Stranger in My Bed

The True Story of Marriage, Murder, and the Body in the Box

By: Michael Fleeman

Narrated by: Kate Zane

He found new brides to love him.

All Diane Bertalan really knew of her new husband, John, was that he was a widower, he lavished her with gifts, and he preferred to keep his past a secret. What she didn't know was that the FBI had been watching him for years. In the fall of 2000, she found out why - it was a crime that had been haunting authorities for decades. They called it the mystery of the Lady in the Box.

Fifteen years later, police found the remains....

A decaying body that had been left along an Indiana roadside ditch in 1980 had finally been identified as Janice Hartman. In 1974, the Ohio woman had been reported missing by her estranged husband...John David Smith. The gruesome discovery was only the beginning of Diane Smith's brutal awakening - for Hartman was only the first of Smith's wives to have vanished off the face of the earth.

The Stranger in My Bed is the chilling true story of one woman who escaped the deadly hold of the killer she loved and married, and of the grieving families of his victims who banded together after nearly 30 years to prove that justice never forgets. Or forgives.

©2003 Michael Fleeman (P)2021 Tantor

What a creep

Very interesting story if a bit dry in the presentation. Narrator gives it the proper somber tone but I did wish she’d vary her tone more, which got dreary at times. Overall this history of a murderous creep is interesting enough to keep he listener engaged in spite of these issues.

Mispronounced Names

As an Ohio girl, born and raised, names of a few key places were mispronounced. Aside from this, I found this book to be fascinating. Very well told…

Excellent Book

This is a story I had not heard before told with such intrigue that I could not stop listening. I put the narration speed up a little and found that listening was much better. This is totally worth the credit.

Narration

Unfortunately, the narrator was quite monotone and was a bit difficult to finish the book.

Good story

It was a great story, however it did tend to skip around a lot into different time periods. I like books that go forward, not a little forward, then backwards, then forwards again and then further backwards. Also the narrator needs to just stop reading as “a man voice” that’s just stupid.