Accurate and Detailed
Review by Kim Cantrell
Audrey Marie Hilley was a black widow of the worst kind.
In 1975, Marie, as she was called, murdered her husband, Frank Hilley, with arsenic. Four years later, her daughter Carol Hilley began experiencing numbness in the extremeties, naseau, and stomach cramping. After spending months in a couple, of hospitals, doctors finally discovered she was suffering from arsenic poisoning.
What would motivate a wife and mother to kill those closest to her? The answer is all too simple: money.
But the story of Marie doesn’t end there.
Police arrested Marie for the murder of her husband and the attempted murder of her daughter, but while out of jail and awaiting trail, Marie fled Alabama for places unknown.
She would surface several years later in New Hampshire under a new name, Teri Martin.
And again, the story doesn’t end there. Not by a long shot!
When police arrested Teri Martin, she admitted to being Audrey Marie Hilley. She also told them, while on the run, she had married a second time to John Homan of Florida under the alias of Lindsey Robbi Honnan – and the fake, deceased twin sister of Teri.
Sadly, even this detailed summary doesn’t provide an eighth of Marie’s story. Author Philip Ginsburg, however, provides a detailed and extremely accurate book about the mysterious, complex Marie in his book Poisoned Blood.
From the very first page until the epilogue, readers of the book will find themselves unable to put it down because it’s hard to imagine a woman so cold, manipulative, and brazen. Yet that’s exactly who Marie Hilley was.
The twists and turns in Marie’s life are reminscent of a roller coaster ride with Cybil at the controls. Up is down, down is up – mindblowing!
I had seen the movie about Marie Hilley titled Wife, Mother, Murderer but I’d never read the book. What a mistake! Poisoned Blood is 100 times better than the movie. If you haven’t read this book yet, get it – now!
Ready to read Poisoned Blood by Philip Ginsburg? Here’s where to get it:
Updates from this book:
On October 18, 1989, John Homan was killed at the Heart of Anniston Inn after trying to break up a fight between two men. Homan’s killer, John Will Truitt, is presently imprisoned at the Bullock Mental Health Facility in Union Springs, Alabama, with a scheduled release date of April 17, 2022.
Carol Hilley maintains a low profile. However, several sources state that she continues to live in Calhoun County, Alabama, although I could find no records to confirm it.
Michael “Mike” Hilley currently lives in Jacksonville, Florida. He and Teri Hilley divorced but maintain a good relationship.
Marie’s grandson, Josh Hilley, is well on his way to being a country music star. He recently recorded his debut single The Sound of Her Leaving and ranked in at #59 on the country music charts during the later weeks of February 2011. He currently lives with his wife and son in Augusta, Georgia.
