Bad Blood: A Family Murder in Marin County

by Richard M. Levine

Book Overview

Richard M. Levine's Bad Blood: A Family Murder in Marin County tells of 16-year-old Marlene Olive and 19-year-old Charles "Chuck" David Riley, who casually talked about and then carried out the brutal... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394508874
• ISBN13: 9780394508870
• Release Date: January 1982
• Publisher: Random House
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 1.09 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The book I received is garbage

I knew it wouldn’t be perfect. It was described as good. Missing pages & scribbles. It should have been recycled

One of the best true crime books I ever read

I too bought and read this book after seeing the excerpt in an old issue of Playboy. As someone who prefers to read about the backgrounds of killers and victims and how events led up to a crime, as opposed to a lot of stuff about the trial or investigation, this is one of the best true crime books I ever read. At this point I have read a few hundred true crime books and this one is in the small handful that I have read and re-read many times. It's a shame that Richard M. Levine doesn't seem to have written any other books and, according to the web, his publisher has even lost touch with him. "Bad Blood" is the true story of a teenage couple, Marlene Olive and her boyfriend Chuck, who in the 1970s killed her parents and attempted to dispose of the evidence by cremating the bodies at a local barbecue pit. The "Marin County" part of the title is a little misleading. Although one normally associates Marin with the rich, Marlene and Chuck were from solidly middle-class backgrounds and were basically typical mid-70s California teens who are into records, rock concerts, way-out clothes, and drug experimentation. Most of the book focuses on Marlene's life with her parents and how it led up to the killings, with a little bit about Chuck's life as well. Both of them had problems fitting in, Marlene because she and her family had spent most of her life in the very different culture of South America where her father had previously been an executive, and Chuck because he was obese. Marlene's mother Naomi was a mentally ill alcoholic who because of her own problems was unable to be a proper mother to her daughter and was sometimes abusive. The father Jim was a nice guy, but like a 50's TV daddy in the wrong TV show, he found himself in way over his head with his family's combined economic and emotional problems after he got fired from his executive job in middle age and was forced to move the family to the very different and permissive culture of 1970s Marin County, where he tried to eke out a living as a salesman and business consultant. This was the era before the Betty Ford Clinic and TV talk shows made it more acceptable to publicly air your family's problems with addiction and dysfunction, and counseling was sometimes seen as an admission of failure, so nobody got any help and you can see the trainwreck coming from a long ways off. When Jim forbids his teenage daughter to see her boyfriend Chuck, who by this time has become her major source of emotional support (also providing the drugs she relies on to cope much as her mother turns to the bottle), Marlene instigates the murders and, it is suggested, commits one of them. Unfortunately Chuck ends up being convicted of both killings and sent to death row, and Marlene as a juvenile gets a mere slap on the wrist before embarking on what appears to be an aimless life of petty crime. There is very little of an investigative nature in the book because the kids don't cover their tracks very well

Marin Co Calif and murder-the 70's

The Chuck and Marlene story. Richard M. Levine interviewed many teens/friends at Marlene's school and was told they all had talked about killing their parents with Marlene but it was only talk to them. They had no idea that Marlene would actually go thru with it. When they met Chuck Riley was 20 and Marlene was 16. Chuck was fat, socially backward, a virgin & a drug dealer. Marlene was on her way to becoming a Murderer, druggie, prostitute, witch & a liar. Chuck's family seems normal. Marlene's family was not. Her dad is nice but his wife is mentally ill. All the problems in their house were between Marlene and her mom Naomi. Jim Olive was clueless on how to handle the problems. Counseling was NEVER sought. Even if it was Naomi would not have gone. The description of the killing & the kids detachment during it is chilling. Cold blooded and brutal. Chuck was arrested for both the murders of Jim and Naomi Olive. Chuck shot Jim Olive. But, I personally believe Marlene killed her mom. After they killed them they burned the bodies. Today Chuck is 54 yrs old and Marlene is 50. Chuck is still in prison. He has a college degree and is in good shape at 190lbs. He will never be free. Marlene served 3yrs in the Calif Youth Authority. After that she became a prostitute and drug addict. In 2003 she was sentenced to 9years in the Kern Co. Woman's prison for Poss Stolen Prop,Counterfeit Checks and Poss Drug Para. I believe Marlene is beyond redemption and can never lead a normal life. This is a book you won't read just once. It is what I call a keeper and a re-read. A search on Google brings up no info on author Levine. This seems to be the only book he ever wrote. He did a wonderful job. There were NO pictures in this book. I did see pictures of both of them on the net. Marlene looked very pretty. I had a different impression in my mind of how she actually looked.

An Update on Marlene & Chuck...

Some "Bad Blood" reviewers here have wondered what happened to the principal players in this book: Marlene Olive was in the news again as recently as this month (August 2003) after being convicted of passing a bad check in Bakersfield, Calif. She is facing up to 9 years in prison. Here is part of the August 18, 2003, AP wire story:"On February 6 of this year [2003], [Marlene] Olive was arrested in Bakersfield on suspicion of passing a fictitious check, possession of stolen property, possession of counterfeit checks, using a false driver's license to forge a check, possession of drug paraphernalia and being under the influence of drugs, [Kern Co. Deputy D.A. Jessica] Hartnett said.""Olive pleaded guilty to passing a fictitious check, a charge that ordinarily might carry up to a year in jail. But with her prior record, Olive is facing up to nine years in prison, Hartnett said."The same AP article also mention that Chuck Riley was still in prison and his next chance at parole was in "2004."

one of the best and most shocking books i have read

i first read this book a long time ago after lending it from my local library . It took me a long time to find a copy of my own (i wasn't on the net then) It is one of the best true crime stories ever Marlene Olive was truly manipulating and would have chuck running in circles .Once i pick up this book i'm unable to put it down until i've read it from cover to cover .Ive read it many times and i think you will too ,and like me ,you'll probably be itching to know where Marlene and Chuck are now

Best book I've read in a while!!!

It's funny actually how I came across this book. I was looking for a frame for a school project that was due the following week and i came across a box full of my mothers books. Out of a box of 100 easily this book caught my eye, though it was pretty much sitting there in a stack and not in a great condition the words on the cover captivated me and since I hadn't read a good book in a while and saw that this was indeed a true story, i said to myself, "hmm why not". In reading it I was astonished, for one this was a true story, the author Richard M. Levine worded this so well, he is amazing and i wish i could contact him to say how great a book it was!! Every sentence was like a new door that unfolded even more curiousity. At nights before I went to school it was hard for me to even put the book down, it was just that great! Ok, so I'm only 16, but this book was just so much better then anything I've ever read, and I read alot. I think Richard M. Levine is incredible and I give him 5 stars in a heart beat this book is great, and I recomend it to any one who loves a good book that keeps your intrest 24/7. Great Job!!