Deadly Greed

Deadly Greed reveals the horrifying truth behind one of the most vicious and intriguing murders of the 1980s as the author of Death Sentence tells the true story of how Charles Stuart murdered his pregnant wife and blamed it on a fictitious Black killer.

In October of 1989, businessman Charles Stuart called 911 reporting that his pregnant wife, Carol, had been robbed and shot by a Black male in the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston. When the police arrived, Carol was already dead, with the baby gone soon after, leading to an attack that incited fear and anger during a time of high racial tensions.

When the truth of the murder came out, while the injuries Carol suffered were real, the story of the Black male that shot her was a fictitious cover up told by her husband. Charles Stuart shot his wife, killing her and the baby she was carrying, convinced she was the only thing standing between him and everything he wanted.

Though the police eventually unraveled the truth of the case, it did not prevent the conviction of an innocent man that was lined up to take the fall by Charles himself. But as the truth was revealed, the police were able to piece together the puzzle that led to the murder of a wife by her own husband, including distress over the pregnancy, romantic interest in a coworker, and life insurance fraud.

Jon Sharkey shares “a picture of a man consumed by naked ambition, unwilling to let anyone or anything get in his way” in this shocking and terrifying account of murder (Library Journal).

Joe Sharkey was a New York Times columnist for nineteen years, an editor at The Wall Street Journal, and a reporter and columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is now the author of numerous true crime books including Lady Gold and Death Sentence. He lives with his wife, Nancy, in Tucson.