MAUREEN BOYLE, an award winning journalist, has been a crime reporter in New England for more than 25 years, including at the Standard-Times of New Bedford during this serial murder case. She holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Conn. and a master's degree in criminal justice from Anna Maria College in Paxton, Mass. She is now director of the Journalism Program at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. This is her first book.