Paths of Evil
"A Trail of Deception," by Justin Fenton of The Baltimore Sun, is an nicely written 3-chapter series on the multistate criminal career of Cindy McKay. Near the beginning of chapter 1, Fenton introduces McKay:
The mother of six, McKay was far closer to Ma Barker than the Madonna when it came to the matriarchal - a brazen, often-convicted thief who pilfered hundreds of thousands of dollars from small businesses, from a Catholic seminary, from a charity, from the aged, from lovers, from many who had trusted her. She outlasted two of the men in her life, both victims of unnatural deaths, and was the instigator - at the least - in a homicide that eventually landed two of her sons as well as herself behind bars.
Through it all, she demonstrated the nerves of a sapper coupled with an indifference to the harm she inflicted on others - employers, good Samaritans or her blood kin. Once she even claimed that her father was dead so that she could swipe title to his home. She was moxie married to malevolence.
So wary of her was one prosecutor that he implored a judge not to require her to pay back those from whom she had stolen. That, the prosecutor said, would only give her incentive to steal again.
Note how Fenton engages the reader at the start of each chapter, then ends the chapter with a deft teaser. And check out the interactive map, "On the Trail of Cindy McKay," which provides handrails while it summarizes McKay's career.
baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-cindymckay,0,4610665.storygallery