Love’s Blood

The Shocking True Story of a Teenager Who Would Do Anything for the Older Man She Loved - Even Kill Her Whole Family

By: Clark Howard

Narrated by: David Colacci

"[This] deeply engaging tale of a teenager who may - or may not - have helped kill her parents [is] a model of evenhanded true-crime writing." (Kirkus Reviews)

Sixteen-year-old Patricia Columbo began working for pharmacist Frank DeLuca, a married father of five, in the 1970s, and the two soon entered into a sexual relationship. Against her father's wishes, Patricia and Frank moved in together. Then, in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, Patricia's father was brutally murdered, along with her mother and 13-year-old brother.

Police were suspicious of Patricia's strange behavior after the bodies were discovered, and following their investigation, they arrested both Patricia and Frank. The details revealed during their trial would horrify the residents of Chicago's middle-class suburbs. This book - informed by extensive interviews with Patricia Columbo in prison - tells the haunting story.

Contains mature themes.

©1993 Clark Howard (P)2021 Tantor

A story I did not know

Growing up in Illinois around this same time, I do not remember anything about this crime. Communication was not what it is today. Throughout the book, it was hard to determine fact from fiction. Having first hand experience of the Illinois court system, it could go either way. I enjoyed listening, and I think this is going to stay with me awhile.

Love’s Blood

A pragmatic telling of the story of Patricia Columbo, a young woman who participated in the brutal killings of her entire family. Some of it is indeed difficult to hear, however the people stating that this was just too terrible because of the content, should probably not be reading this genre, keeping to Nancy Drew Mysteries. I’m not sure if this re-telling of the events that led up to this horrific crime was supposed to make the reader feel sympathy for Patricia, but in my case, it did not. This young woman was loved and adored by the family she ultimately murdered, and had no reason to have done this. The narration was a bit dry, however I’m not sure how else it could have been done. Well researched and presented.

GREAT LISTEN

It was awesome. One of the best true crime novels I’ve ever listen to or read. The narrator was incredible, the 16 hours seemed like 2 hours it was that good.

Just drug on entirely too long.

The main characters were such unsavory and un relatable. I listened to the whole book but it really took an effort. Terrible crime. 🥲

Very In-Depth

Deep dive into a troubling crime. Terrific narration. Going to look for more from author and reader!

A compelling story not for everyone

Kids shouldn’t be reading true crime anyway and people with Pollyanna stories don’t end up with life sentences. It’s a story that’s gritty, dark and replete with uncomfortable sexual themes. As usual there are tons of unanswered questions and frustrating ineptitude by law enforcement and prosecution officials. The 19 year old, clearly troubled daughter was held more responsible than the multiple full grown adults that surrounded her. I recommend the book to any True Crime fan that can deal with the somewhat graphic child sexual abuse depictions.

Too much time line “weaving”

This is a compelling true crime story, and has all of the “feels” to keep it interesting. However, the constant going back and forth in time — the 1970’s and then the 1990’s — in nearly every chapter was disruptive to the story. It took away from the flow.

Also, many true crime audiobooks open with the details of the crime scene to catch the listener’s attention right away, as did this one, but I wish the author would have saved that for later on. Narration was good enough, but not great for the true crime genre.

Great story. Very well written and narrated.

The detailed narration of this woman’s life with such convincing eloquence makes you want to slap her, and at the same time, you can’t help but feel sorry for her.

Well researched, too graphic

Really, the molestation scenes and the statutory rape scenes are just too much. They’re just too much in your face confrontation with ugliness that I already knew existed and didn’t need to be convinced existed

So Intriguing

First off, I enjoyed the narrator’s voice and I believe, the author did a fantastic job of laying out the case and remaining objective. However, this is where I raise the question, “Can a nonfiction author be too objective?” Considering my library genre is 95% true crime, I think the answer is…yes. The facts of the case were clearly provided and we received a lot of information about the main people involved. But, in comparison to other notable authors, there isn’t much depth or passion.

For Patricia, there was certainly plenty of room to display that integral part of her personality. Considering the crime was familicide and one of the motives was to protect her lover, I feel the book could have withstood a presentation of such depth.
As I do read and listen to an abundance of true crime genre, this book was still difficult to listen to. It wasn’t just simply the murderous act, it was the very scum of humanity involved yet never held responsible, the callousness of Frank and/or Patricia, depending on what you believe and the fact that the crime was so called “solved and prosecuted” yet there are still so many unanswered questions. It’s uncomfortable, tragic, and the trial was for want of a better word-unbelievable! Had the trial happened more recently, I’ve no doubt it would have been declared a mistrial. The Judge was obviously biased and I literally found myself yelling at the defense attorneys. These were some of THE MOST inept defense attorneys I ever heard!

Truly, what Patricia went through and the choices she made as a result were truly depraved and tragic. Although Patricia physically aged, she seemed to make choices from a 15 year old mindset. Perhaps that same 15 year old girl who initially thought Frank was the end all, be all, everything you’d ever want in a man, type of guy.

I truly believe Patricia is innocent of committing the physical act of murder. If you do choose to listen to this audiobook, it’s certainly a question you’ll have to answer for yourself because it’s never going to be answered within the pages of this book.