| Masquerade |  | Author: Lowell Cauffiel
Publisher: Zebra
Category: Book
List Price: $4.95
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $4.94 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 1592866
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 472
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.3 x 1
ISBN: 0821728334
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1523092
EAN: 9780821728338
ASIN: 0821728334
Publication Date: December 1, 1989
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: With pride from Motor City. All books guaranteed. Best Service, best prices.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 Had to buy it twice... August 29, 2007
I first read this book about 8 years ago. Bought it from a local used book store for about 2 bucks and loaned it out and never got it back. I re-bought it recently because its just one of those kind of storys that you want to read again. I live in the region where this crime happened so it was especially interesting to me, but any true crime reader will enjoy it. Im working my way through the rest of the books by this author and I hope they are just as good.
What Ever Happened To These People??? July 13, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I grew up in the Metro Detroit area and have read this book multiple times since I discovered it. I read it about once a year, actually! I just finished it again recently and I am still left wondering what ever happened to the people involved with this case? There is not much information to be found on ANYone and yet I still find myself wanting, and attempting to look for, more info every time after I finish RE-reading this book. I know someone said John Fry died in prison of hepatitis or something....and I think I did recently find that Dawn ended up in Canton, MI...
I know the people involved probably just wanted to put this whole thing behind them, but I would LOVE to see some sort of follow up "City Confidential" type story on this with interviews from some of the major people in this book like Jan and Cheryl and John and even Dawn if she would do it.
And with all the dumb storied, poorly acted movies floating around out there, isn't a story like THIS even worth at LEAST "based on a true story" Lifetime Movie? I'd love to see it, this story is more interesting than fiction!!
Deception in Detroit July 4, 2007
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Meet Al Canty, respected psychologist, autism specialist, loving husband, and good son. Or so it seemed. What would possess a man who appeared to have the best that life can offer to court a drug-addicted prostitute who loved a violent, sociopathic pimp? Why would a man with a mansion, an educated wife, and a thriving practice pay a prostitute $100 to $200 a pop to do nothing more than sit in a rat-infested Detroit apartment building, read the newspaper, and drink coffee? This is the mystery of Dr. Al Canty.
Dawn Spens was a honor roll high school dropout who left her suburban home to turn tricks along Detroit's Cass Corridor. Nothing short of ordinary and scarred by years of heroine addiction, Spens became the object of Canty's obsessions. Although he often claimed he wanted to help Spens better her life, Canty was only too willing to support her drug habit and was soon shelling out no less than $2000 a week so Spens and her pimp could shoot up almost continually. Even when Spens was hospitalized for liver failure and a severe abscess in a vein near her groin, Canty procured her drugs for her and brought them to the hospital in a gym bag so she could inject the heroine straight through the IV.
"Lucky" Fry, a sociopathic pimp who avoided real work and lived for his next fix of heroine, came to depend on Dr. Canty to support his lifestyle. As Spens demanded more and more money, and as Canty went along with these demands, Fry envisioned himself quite the entrepreneur. Then the money began to dry up. Months behind on his lease for office space at the prestigious Fisher Building, borrowing thousands of dollars from his aged mother, and lying to his wife about it all, Canty finally realized the game was up. After a laughable attempt to assert his independence with Fry after nearly two years of nonstop payments, Canty's skull was cracked with a single swing of a baseball bat. The game was up too late.
After all was said and done, I was left with one question. WHO WAS USING WHOM? Lowell Cauffiel writes a masterful and suspenseful story of obsession and addiction. The story behind each of these fascinating and pathetic characters is told in titillating detail. I read late into the night on several occasions, willing myself to stay awake. Truly, the best True Crime book I have ever read. It is unfortunate that this book is currently out of print and will therefore never come to the attention of the average True Crime fanatic, for it is a Classic.
One more note. Following Canty's death, his wife attempted to sort through the disastrous family finances, especially interested in the royalties from Dr. Canty's book about his breakthrough treatment for childhood autism. Frustrated, Jan Canty finally contacted another specialist in the field, hoping to gain information about her late husband's program royalties. Taken aback, the renowned specialist stated he had never heard of Dr. Alan Canty. MASQUERADE indeed.
Best True Crime Book I've Ever Read December 30, 2006
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have read probably 400 true crime books and this is simply the best I've ever read. I have re-read it 4 times. Unlike many of this genre, "Masquerade" presents, as well as the usual interesting perpetrators, an interesting victim, who, as opposed to many innocents, is to a great extent responsible for his own death. Further, Cauffiel presents a highly detailed and fascinating account of the lives and psychology of the three main characters. And, thank God, the almost always tedious account of court procedings, which I believe are often written by writers who have access to court transcripts while lacking actual investigative ability or insight, are absent. Also, there is none of the inane filler and obvious padding that render too many of these books mediocre or worse. Oustanding writing and a real feel for the characters make "Masquerade" a GREAT book.
Great writing, couldn't put it down. September 11, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have read MANY True Crime books and this one is one of my favorites. I highly recommend it.
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