Deadly Masquerade by Richard T. Pienciak

Deadly Masquerade by Richard T. Pienciak

Diane and Joseph Pikul seemed to have it all, and have it all together - private schools for their two children, expensive clothes, limos, and all the trappings of eighties-style success, from Joe's power position on Wall Street to Diane's high-profile job at Harper's magazine. But what looked like the Money Decade dream was really a nightmare of murder, madness, and despair. For in the wake of the 1987 stock market crash, facing the prospect of a divorce and bitter custody battle, Joe Pikul beat and choked Diane to death at their Hamptons home. This electrifying true-crime chronicle goes beyond the grisly details to reveal a shocking tale of sexual perversion, blackmail, and violence. It is a deeply human portrait of a marriage made in hell, and a telling epitaph for the eighties, when even everything was not enough.