Serial killer Bobby Joe Long, the subject of my book, BOUND TO DIE, was executed at Florida State Prison on May 23, 2019 at 6:22 pm. I arrived at the prison on that day and was directed to a field across from the prison where police were heavily monitoring an anti-death penalty demonstration. It was being conducted like an old time religious revival meeting with singing and speeches that included remarks by priests and Long's son and daughter. She maintained cell phone contact with their mother, who was inside the prison waiting for Long to receive the lethal injection after 34 years on Death Row. Other witnesses in the prison included surviving family members of those murdered by Long and victim Lisa McVey, who had been allowed to live. When his death was announced, I did not have the expected sense of closure, but since I had been involved in researching, writing and speaking about this case for 24 years, I was relieved and thankful that justice had finally been served.
Anna Flowers

Books

Click on covers for for more information about each.

 

Vengeance at Meeting Street

 

 This story is so intriguing, riveting and unpredictable that I could not put it down until I finished reading the entire book.  Well-researched and well-developed characters made it an engrossing and memorable account of a true story.  The main character, Sue, had redeeming qualities as well as an independent self-serving attitude toward life.  The history of this time period brought the story alive for me.  It was amazing how the politics of the time was weaved through the story in such a easy and entertaining way.  Bravo!  Hope this book makes it to the big screen.
—Amazon.com Book Review

 Vengeance at Meeting Street (S.C.)..."is reminiscent in many ways of Faulkner’s ground-breaking novel, Sanctuary, one of the very first hard-boiled crime novels…it is the tale of another judge, a man that only the most uninformed citizen of this republic is not acquainted with, Strom Thurmond. Most of us know him as the longest-serving U.S. Senator, but Thurmond’s influence—in all manner of public offices—is felt like a lodestone throughout this book. Anna Flowers has produced a historical true crime book that is Southern Gothic in tenor and content. It is the sort of thing that Poe as well as a long line of Southern writers would look on with favor. Good going.”
— Reviewer Steve Glassman for The Midwest Book Review

 Anna Flowers is at the top of her game in the true crime genre. This case history of murder, which made headlines in the 1940s, has it all—
human intrigue, wanton sex and an ending that will hit the reader with the impact of a bullet. The attention to historical detail, coupled with the
skill to tell a compelling fast-paced story, make Flowers’ account of murder and mayhem read like a novel.
—Maynard Allington, Author of critically acclaimed The Court of Blue Shadows\

Paperback: 228 pages
CopyRight: January 14, 2016
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1522740295
ISBN-13: 978-1522740292
Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.5 x 8 inches
Also available from these vendors:
Amazon Books, Barnes and Noble
Bound to Die

 

The revised trade paperback edition is available from Amazon.com and the Florida Historical Society book store in Cocoa Village, FL.

Description:   Bound to Die is the true crime story of Florida serial killer Bobby Joe Long, who was convicted of the heinous killings of nine women in 1984 in the Tampa Bay area. The first body of 19-year-old disco dancer Lana Long was found in a field on Mother’s Day with her legs grotesquely ripped apart. Six months later, the bloody rampage ended when the ninth victim was discovered. All had been tortured with ropes and savagely beaten and raped. The killer’s confession of his crimes is haunting. The vividly rendered results of his trials and appeals are equally shocking.

First published by Kensington, NY in 1995, Bound to Die was internationally recognized. It received seven mass media printings and was issued in hardback as a Doubleday Mystery Guild Book Club selection. This second edition features a new foreword on a capital case which is still considered a definitive example of excellent police detection before DNA.

Four major television presentations have been made featuring this case, with author participation.  Shortly after first publication of BOUND TO DIE, the case was featured on a segment of "Medical Detective," which has been aired sporadically for years. In 2012, Flowers was interviewed for the pilot show of "Killer Profile," aired on the Biography channel, and later that year for "Surviving Evil," in an episode called, "Nobody's Victim".  On July 1, 2014, she was filmed at her Florida home by a British production company for the show "Born to Kill?" aka "Twister" - for showing internationally on Investigative Discovery.

This is a classic Florida serial killer case involving excellent police detection before DNA, and a formidable Task Force that worked together for the first time, to apprehend the murderer.

The original book, published by Kensington, NY, (1995) was introduced at Bouchercon in Nottingham, England.  It received seven mass media printings and was a Mystery Guild Book Club selection in hard back.
Also available from these vendors:
Florida Historical Society, Amazon
Wanton Woman

This is the story of Sue Logue, one of the late Senator Strom Thurmond's early lovers, and the first woman to be executed in South Carolina's electric chair. The case received wide coverage in the Southern press in the 1940s, owing, perhaps, to its salacious aspect.

Paperback, $15.95:i ISBN 978-0-595-47445-2
Hardback, $25.95: ISBN 978-0-595-091-1

 
Also available from these vendors:
Florida Books & Gifts - (FHS), Amazon Books, Barnes and Nobles
Murder At Wayside Antiques

A story about a double homicide north of Ocala, FL. Louis Wesley Barnes, world class thief fenced treasures in Las Vegas while Marion County FL detectives continued for three years to track him down. Colorful characters, intriguing story.
Also available from these vendors:
Wayside Antiques Shop, I-75 north of Ocala, Florida Books & Gifts - (FHS), Amazon Books
Blind Fury

Here is the shocking true story of Gerald Eugene Stano--one of America's most prolific serial killers. Written by retired investigative journalist Anna Flowers, and based upon ten years of exhaustive research, Blind Fury is the first true crime account of the gruesome career and twisted psyche of this killer. Includes chilling excerpts from Stano's confession. 12 pages of never-before-published photos.

This book is presently Out of Print but used copies are available on amazon.
Also available from these vendors:
Amazon Books