An Hour to Kill: A True Story of Love, Murder, and Justice in a Small Southern Town

by Dale Hudson and Billy Hills

Book Overview

A vicious murder. Churchgoer. Family friend. All-American boy. Murderer. Ken Register, much to the shock of the small town of Conway, South Carolina, was all of these things. Clean-cut, polite to a fault, and respectful of elders, Ken was the kind of guy parents wanted their daughters to date. But only months after a seventeen-year-old girl's brutal murder, the residents of Conway were in for another suprise: that the killer was one of their own...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312978359
• ISBN13: 9780312978358
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: St. Martin's True Crime
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.0" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

An hour to kill

Very good read. I paid $20 for a book that had 99cent sticker on it

Best True Crime Book I've Ever Read

I must admit I am not a big fan of this genre. I've tried Ann Rule and the others but most of the stories are usually shallow, repetitive, and boring. My wife first read An Hour To Kill and was so engrossed in the book she finished it in one night. Reading me parts from the book, she peaked my interest. After wrestling the book from her, I told her if it was like all the other true crime books I've read in the past that I would probably stop after the first couple of chapters. What a wonderful surprise An Hour To Kill turned out to be. Finally, a true crime book so well-researched and written that it held my attention from beginning to end. Hudson-Hills did a masterful job of baiting the reader and patiently giving little morsels of information so one could make up his/her own mind based on the evidence. Honestly, I wasn't sure whether Register was guilty or not until the very last chapter when Homicide Detective Bill Knowles laid it all out. Talking about an ending: I had chills all night long after reading the book. I admit it now, after reading An Hour To Kill, there are some good true crime books out there.

Best True Crime Book I've Read In Some Time

I read a review of An Hour To Kill in THE STATE NEWSPAPER, SOUTH CAROLINA, and rushed out to buy a copy. As the reviewer in THE STATE stated, An Hour To Kill was sensational, and he was right on the money. From the first line in the Prologue, this book grabbed me and didn't let go until I had finished the last line of the Epilogue. The authors were superb storytellers; keeping the story moving at such a good pace that I didn't (and couldn't)stop until I finished it. They were not biased and did a marvelous job at presenting both sides. Honestly, I wasn't sure Ken Register was guilty or not up until the last moment (I won't give it away for other readers). The emerging criminal profile of Register throughout the book was what amazed me. As the authors take you through the crime, investigation, trial and aftermath, they slowly unmask the evil side of this deceiving, cold-blooded murderer. Who would have believed he would be Ms. Todd's comforter, even agree to be a pallbearer at Crystal's funeral, and knowing all the time he had been the one to put her there. Ken Register has no conscience at all. To my true crime friends and other readers, this is a must read. Well researched and written, kuddos to Hudson and Hills for telling this story. I am now a devoted fan and anxiously await the release of your next book.

Register-Todd case has finally been put to rest.

I went to school with both Crystal Todd and Ken Register and like all people in Horry County were horrified when Crystal was murdered and Ken was arrested. My friends and I didn't want to believe that one of our very own classmates would do such a thing to Crystal. Ken drove Crystal to school one year when she lost her license and the two of them were the best of friends. She trusted him like a brother. When we went to the trial, we still weren't sure Ken had killed Crystal because he and his mother swore he didn't do it. I sat right there in court everday and listened to the testimonies. At first I believed Ken when he said he didn't kill her and believed his mama when she said he didn't do it and that a mother ought to know if her son was a murderer or not. For six years there were a lot of unanswered questions and we didn't know what to belive, until this book was written. Finally the truth came out about Ken and his background and then it was clear as to why he had killed Crystal. What most people living outside of Horry County probably don't know is that Ken's final appeal was turned down and another second DNA test proved once and for all that he was the killer. All the talk from other from Ken's supporters about Ken being framed by the police and another person had killed her was just talk and nothing else. This case is over and has finally been put to rest for Bonnie Faye Todd, her family, and the people in our community. I'm glad Hudson and Hills wrote this book. It helped me and my friends see the real truth about Ken and why he murdered Crystal. I am sad to see this happen in my hometown but glad to know the truth finally came out and the police were right all the time.

You'll Kill More Than an Hour if You Buy This Book

An Hour to Kill comes out of the gate at a full gallop and never lets up until the last page has been turned. Written in a strong narrative style, reminiscent of the very best true crime writers, the authors prove themselves natural born storytellers. Unfortunately the story they tell is true; a tale of a heinous murder in small town America. Hudson and Hills create an almost palpable sense of time and murder was the exception and not the rule; Crystal Faye Todd, the victim, who by all accounts was a typical, fun-loving teenager deeply devoted to her widowed mother; and Ken Register, the "boy next door," a close friend of the Todd family who became the chief suspect. We get to know intimately the minds and hearts of Crystal's and Ken's parents, of the dogged lawmen who were determined to solve the case, and of the attornies who ultimately brought it to its conclusion in a court of law. It is remarkable that this riveting, beautifully written book was the authors' debut in the true crime genre, and I can barely wait to read their next offering. Buy An Hour to Kill -- you may lose some sleep over it, but you won't regret a single wink.

An Hour to Kill is a must-read!

An Hour to Kill: Love, Murder and Justice in a Small Town, by Dale Hudson and Billy Hills is a must-read for true crime fans. The murder of South Carolina teen, Crystal Faye Todd, in 1991 is a gruesome tale. Authors, Hudson and Hills, are brilliant in the research and telling of this true story which shocked the small community of Conway, S.C. I could not put this book down! The reader can just see the characters and images of the rural South in fact, the book just drips with the South; the authors use just the right amount of dialogue and dialect. The case drew so much attention, with accusations flying from family members of both the victim and the defendant, that author Mickey Spillane and his wife, took up aggressive involvement for the defendant. Sally Jesse Raphael did a show on the murder case. DNA evidence was the scientific highlight of the trial. Definitely, a page-turner, the reader is taken into the lives of regular Southern folks and immersed in an intriguing, heartbreaking story, with some bizzare twists and turns. I put this book in the same class with true crime writers Ann Rule and Jack Olsen.