Deadly Angel: The Bizarre True Story of Alaska’s Killer Stripper by Fred Rosen (June 2009)

Straight From the Strip Joint
Review by Kim Cantrell

Mechele Hughes moved to the small town of Wasilla, Alaska searching for a new, and fortune-filled life as an exotic dancer. While the earnings was great as a stripper, the rewards she gained by having three fiances were greater.

Until Kent “T.T.” Leppink, one of the three, uncovered her dirty little secret and was ready to call it quits. But Mechelle couldn’t let a man simply walk away from her.  Although she never really intended to marry Kent, she did want to enforce the marriage vow of “till death do we part.”

Of course, Mechelle would never do the dirty work herself. She might have earned a living with her body, but she was a smart one; getting a second fiance to do her dirty work of killing for her.

It would take police ten years after Leppink was found murdered in a desolate Alaskan woods to link Mechelle and fiance number two, John Carlin III, to the crime despite Kent’s ingenious pre-mortem planning.

As they say:  better late than never.

Fred Rosen’s 2009 true crime book Deadly Angel profiles Alaska’s most notorious femme fatale, her simultaneous engagements with three men, and her life a decade later that left many saying, “There’s no way she would ever do this.”

Honestly, this is only a mediocre case; with the interesting points being that ONE woman was able to sucker THREE men into proposing – although not a very uncommon concept in this day and time. And, of course, it is Alaska where men greatly outnumber women.

And when you combine a clearly second-rate story with a random writing style, speckled with lame and completely unnecessary author comments, you make it one of the worst true crime books ever written.

There is an excessive amount of fluff in Deadly Angel:  from background on Sarah Palin – former vice presidential candidate – that is only minorly relevant to a short lesson on Endometriosis. Who cares?  I buy the book for the crime not extraneous trivia that contributes nothing to the book.

And, I swear, Fred Rosen never even left the strip club to write this book. It seemed as if every other line was discussing The Great Alaskan Bush Company. Ugh.

I hate it when I can’t recommend a true crime book.  After all, it’s not like fans of this genre have the selection of fiction fans; but that’s where I stand on this book. Instead I would recommend watching the Oxygen channel’s show Snapped (Season 7, Episode 4) or try Seduced By Evil by Michael Fleeman.

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UPDATES FROM THIS BOOK:

In February 2010, the Alaska Court of Appeals overturned Mechele’s conviction. In May 2010, she was released on bond with heavy restrictions (including that she cannot leave the state of Alaska). At present, her new trial is scheduled to begin in April 2012.