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And the Sea Will Tell

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And the Sea Will Tell

By: Vincent Bugliosi, Bruce Henderson - contributor
Narrated by: David Colacci
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About this listen

Alone with her new husband on a tiny Pacific atoll, a young woman, combing the beach, finds an odd aluminum container washed up out of the lagoon, and beside it on the sand something glitters: a gold tooth in a scorched human skull. The investigation that follows uncovers an extraordinarily complex and puzzling true-crime story. Only Vincent Bugliosi, who recounted his successful prosecution of mass murderer Charles Manson in the best seller Helter Skelter, was able to draw together the hundreds of conflicting details of the mystery and reconstruct what really happened when four people found hell in a tropical paradise. And the Sea Will Tell reconstructs the events and subsequent trial of a riveting true murder mystery, and probes into the dark heart of a serpentine scenario of death.

©1991 Vincent Bugliosi and Bruce B. Henderson (P)2019 Tantor Murder True Crime Crime Exciting

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Critic reviews

"Grips you by the throat from beginning to end." (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
All stars
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I have never listened to a book, which should, and could have been outstanding that irritated me so much. The subject matter is rivetting, but I skipped hours of this book due to Bugliosi's interminal self congratulations and verbal diaorrhea. He seems to have a massive ego, and it just goes on, and on, and on....I was also not interested in his further trials and I, personally, believe Stephanie Stearns was guilty. Bugliosi may have won the case, but he did a diservice to Mac and Muff. I only hope he can live with it on his conscience. The whole book is an exercise in self congratulation.

The horror of what happened & Bugliosis self congratulations.

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If you assume that since this book is a new Audible release, then it must also be a new recording, don't sweat it. I made the exact same mistake. The audio is old. It's REALLY old, and couldn't have been great quality when it was first released because it's almost impossible to listen to it for an appreciable length.

After several hours spent with audio mixing software, I managed to get it to a vaguely acceptable state. This involved speeding it up by about ten percent, offsetting the subsequent pitch increase, adjusting the bass and treble levels to draw the narrators voice out of the background, singling out and removing the incessant background noise that echos throughout the entire book and amplifying the resultant product. It was a lot of effort and I wouldn't blame you if you felt it wasn't worth bothering.

The book, however, is excellent. It's long at almost twenty-nine hours, less with the increase in speed, but comprehensive, just the same, and weaves an exciting murder mystery tale about a mysterious pacific island atoll called Palmyra and the tragic and nefarious events that took place there, as well as the subsequent investigations, fortuitous findings and court proceedings that follow.

It's told in such a way as to keep the reader/listener on the edge of their seat through the initial sections, at least, and spawns a deep and ingrained interest in following the outcome of the proceedings. I won't spoil anything, as other commentators have shamefully done, just to say that you will find yourself lurching from one position to another as the events unfold and may even find sympathy for the defendant, having arrived at an entirely different position quite early on.

One thing I will criticize is the author and defense attorney, Vincent Bugliosi's descent into sanctimony and arrogance as the trial progresses is very disappointing. Having arrived at the conclusion that his client is innocent of the charges levied at her and determined to offer the best defense possible, he starts out portraying an objective and fascinating insight into the events that unfold and the tactics and interests of the prosecution, defense attorneys and even the presiding judge, but finally careers into a childish and insufferable dismissal of the opinions of anyone but himself.

"I found it impossible to believe that these supposedly intelligent and reasonable jurors, who held my client's life in their hands, could be swayed by any argument other than mine."

OK. Not an exact quote, in truth, but not a significant exaggeration, and essentially the essence of the final five hours or so of the book. The entire closing argument, which literally takes up over three hours is woefully arrogant and serve only to inflate the ego of Bugliosi, whom I had previously as a fan of his other books, highly respected, both as an author and attorney. The whole book starts out brilliantly and slowly descends in quality to a disappointing climax.

Great book, but you should definitely buy a better copy elsewhere.

Excellent Book. Horrible Audio.

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I really enjoyed the bits about the island and how the bad eggs were caught but when I realised that I’d have too listen to 21 hours of court procedures I lost interest. Would have been better for me if it had been heavily edited…by the way I think she was as guilty as he was…

Too long sadly

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I enjoyed this book so much that I fully intend to listen again. Next time I will listen more carefully to the background of the story, as I am sure I have skirted over and missed important facts. On my first listen I find myself disagreeing with Vincent Bugliosi and feel he was so wrong to defend this woman, I feel he was fooled by her. Let's see if another listen draws me to the same conclusion!!

Thoroughly Interesting!!

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I'll be honest, I was a bit sceptical after reading perhaps the longest audible review review on this book (I marked it helpful just in the time taken to have written it). However, it couldn't be further from the truth. This is a recording made in 2019 and the narration is wonderful.
Perhaps the family behind this book read that review and updated the audio?

Incredible story. Incredibly sad to piece together the murders.

I can't help but feel Jenifer was rather ungrateful towards her lawyers, almost as if she took them (and their hard work) for granted.

Was she really innocent though?

Fabulous

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first section is interesting, second is boring and monotonous. there are no new facts brought out in book 2

great true story. listen to book one then delete.

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This excessively long and involved true crime case is written by a lawyer in the case who loves to hear his own voice! Despite being several hours longer than I would have wanted the story is intriguing and the author brings in some very interesting points, sadly he enjoys telling us how clever and capable he is and that other people think he's clever and in case we doubt it, he quotes them! Despite it's faults a good listen if you have the stamina.

Excessively long but good

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This true story is so incredibly mysterious that after watching the 2 hour movie, and listening to the 26 hour audiobook written on the case, I’m still no closed in my verdict of the guilt or innocent of the defendant. Bugliosi was a phenomenal lawyer who only defended people whom he believed are innocent so I trust his judgment.

This is the third book is listened to from Bugliosi and as usual it is incredibly well researched. This is another case that wouldn’t tire of reading about.

The book itself is in 3 parts:
The journey to Palmyra for each boat
The island experience
The trial as seen from the defence’s perspective

Each section is thoroughly detailed. I feel like at the end there’s a big twist regarding how Jennifer reacted to the verdict with Bugliosi. This for me casts huge doubts on her innocence.

A true murder mystery

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It felt like the 2 books were written by different people. The first was thoroughly interesting and I couldn't stop listening. The second was so dull and was basicslly a very detailed story about the court case. The author comes across as unbelievably arrogant, going on and on about what a great lawyer he is. Plus the reader speaks all the women's voices in what sounds like a Mrs Doubtfire voice - they could havd just paid an actual woman.

first book great second book awful

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Sadly after listening to the whole sorry tail i believe that the defendant was guilty to some degree, I believe an exceptional lawyer got her off.
The defendants behavior after the case speaks volumes about her state of mind.

A fascinating story

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