Forever and Five Days - Softcover

Cathy was the lively one--the bleached-blonde star of the nurses' aides' lunchroom--the one who enjoyed scripting an ever-changing soap opera from the lives of the nursing-home staff. Gwen was the pug-nosed newcomer with a little girl's dependency and desire to please: she doted on Cathy, and was honored to be chosen as her lover. They turned a respected Michigan nursing home into their playground for frivolous games and practical jokes. Then Cathy got worried that Gwen was cheating on her, so she suggested a love pact that would bind them together "forever and five days." Gwen carried out her wishes, and smothered five patients in their beds. It's a story with a large cast of characters--the employees of the nursing home, the individual patients and their loving families, the outsiders who wondered and worried. Lowell Cauffiel does a good job of letting us into their lives, and into the world of make-believe that allowed these murders to go unnoticed for so long.

Lowell Cauffiel is an American true crime author, novelist, screenwriter and film and television producer. Cauffiel began his writing career as a contributor to music magazines, including Rolling Stone and Creem. He went on to become an award-winning reporter with the Detroit News and Detroit Monthly Magazine during the 1970s and 1980s. Cauffiel is the co-founder of Primary Purpose Productions, a non-profit production company that creates short films about addicts and alcoholics in recovery.