In  Tailspin: The Strange Case of Major Call , best-selling author Bernard F. Conners presents the story of Major James Arlon Call, a heroic airman whose passion for excitement propelled him into a horrifying life of crime. As a young man, Major James Call had it all - a brilliant mind, devoted wife, dashing good looks, and an illustrious career as a decorated flyer. But Major Call also had a dark side - a penchant for speed, danger, life on the edge and survival at any cost. Haunted by the death of his young wife, Call volunteered for wartime combat "suicide missions," then for further diversions, turned to gambling and crime. What follows is the captivating story of brazen burglaries, a shootout with the police, and a 106-day manhunt. An unlikely criminal, Call was never charged with many of the crimes he committed including one of the most notorious unsolved murders of the 20th Century -the Sam Sheppard murder case. Conners, a former FBI agent, employs a dramatized, yet factual, narrative to present a gripping account of his charming but deadly protagonist. Tailspin is based on extraordinary research conducted over a period of decades, and contains over 80 pages of stunning evidence, photographs and exhibits to support the narrative. Major Call had it all: he was a war hero with a beautiful wife, a new baby, and a promising aviation career ahead of him. But when his wife died in 1954, Call's life went into a tailspin. Always a gambler and a risk taker, he went AWOL and began a crime spree that would end in the murder of a policeman in Lake Placid, NY. But novelist and former FBI agent Conners thinks that Call was involved in another murder and shows evidence that he was the "bushy-haired stranger" in the notorious Sheppard murder in Bay Village, OH. The book is split rather awkwardly into two parts, the first narrating Call's life from 1949 (when he met his wife) to his death in 1974 and the second offering circumstantial evidence that links him to Marilyn Sheppard's murder. Possibly, this should have been two books. But Call's life is interesting even without the speculation about the Sheppard case, and this should be considered for regional libraries and large true-crime collections. Deirdre Bray Root, Middletown P.L., OH Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Nearly half a century ago, in a case that still grabs headlines, Dr. Sam Sheppard was convicted of killing his wife, Marilyn. Sheppard steadfastly proclaimed his innocence, but even after his conviction was reversed (in 1966), the mystery lingered on: Who really killed Marilyn Sheppard? Last year, in The Wrong Man, journalist James Neff claimed to have fingered the culprit, the Sheppards' window washer, who, Neff claimed, nearly confessed to the crime while serving time for another homicide. Now comes this detailed, well-presented book by novelist and former FBI agent Conners, who points his finger at an entirely different fellow: Major James Call, the air force up-and-comer who, after his wife's death and a series of gambling losses, went AWOL, embarked on a life of crime, and--or so Conners suggests--murdered Mrs. Sheppard. Conners' case is every bit as well argued as Neff's. He amasses a persuasive array of documentary and anecdotal evidence (key reports and photographs are reproduced at the conclusion of the book), and by the end of the story, he has us thoroughly convinced. Scholarly and exciting, told with dramatic flair, this story of a good man who apparently made a conscious decision to turn bad is downright mesmerizing. Continuing interest in the Sheppard case, and ongoing debate over the Neff book, should guarantee that this latest version of a crime we can't seem to forget will be much discussed and much requested. A must for true-crime fans. David Pitt Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved " Tailspin is an intriguing mix of fictional method and dazzling fact, a key perhaps- a coda most certainly- to one of America's most publicized murders of the 20th century. Bernard Conners again brings his FBI sleuthing expertise to bear on the did-he-or-didn't-he story of James Call, an Air Force major, a career criminal, a Jekyll and Hyde charmer, and the result is a true crime non-fiction novel of high order." - William Kennedy, Pulitzer-Prize Winning Author "Bernie's books bind! They lock you in and say, 'Don't you dare put me down until the very last word of the very last page.' You are guaranteed a compelling read." - Robert Danzing, Former Vice President & General Manager of Hearst Newspapers "Well written, with a central character no fiction writer could come up with...the True Crime book of the year." - Aunt Agatha's Book Reviews , August 13, 2003 "A well-written and researched book, Tailspin reads with the excitement and detail of a fast-moving case." - Louis J. Freeh, Former Director, FBI, December 18, 2001 "Conners is telling the story of an actual person, Major James Call,