Twisted Triangleis the first complete narrative thriller about the sensational story of Margo Bennett, a married FBI agent, who had a love affair with best-selling author Patricia Cornwell, and whose jealous husband, Gene Bennett, a superstar FBI undercover agent, kidnapped and attempted to murder her. When the case first came to trial, it was reported in Vanity Fair, Newsweek, People,the Washington Postand the New York Times. Most every profile of Cornwell, written in the U.S. and abroad every time she releases a book, mentions this case and her relationship with Margo. Margo also was the inspiration for the heroine in “Hostage Negotiator,” a TV movie that came out in 2001. Now, for the first time, Margo Bennett has given Caitlin Rother complete personal access, sitting for interviews and turning over photographs, documents, records, and private papers. Twisted Triangle has the makings of a major bestseller: including the crazy dynamics of Margo and Gene Bennett’s family, the brilliant FBI undercover career of Margo's husband Gene, the lesbian affair with celebrity author Pat Cornwall, Gene's reactive kidnapping and attempt to kill Margo, Gene’s insanity defense, the trial that validates Margo’s story and shows she was telling the truth all along, and a happy ending to her tale of survival.  Margo Bennett lives with her two daughters in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is a high ranking officer in the University of California police department. Caitlin Rother lives in San Diego. Gene Bennett is incarcerated in Virginia, not far from Washington DC where most of the events of this incredible story took place.

"Though readers might pick up this title hoping to find out more about the private life of bestselling novelist Patricia Cornwell, the real protagonist is FBI agent Margo Bennett, who struck up a brief affair with Cornwell in 1992 after the author visited the training center where Bennett worked. When Margo's husband, also a Bureau agent, finds out about his wife's liaisons, he exacts a horrifying, meticulously plotted revenge, covering his tracks with lies and working the system against her. Though covered in the press, journalist and author Rother (Naked Addiction) presents the full story from Bennett's perspective for the first time. The narrative is engaging if a little slow to start (covering the early years of her marriage), and Rother is a fine interviewer, able to penetrate some of Bennett's most traumatic memories. Rother's prose is not the most graceful, and recreated dialogue can feel forced, but Bennett's tale is gripping, and should appeal to those who want to see a different, darker and more personal side of the lives of FBI agents." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

This book tells the tale of Margo Bennett's kidnapping in 1993, and the events that preceded it. Rother, a journalist and investigative reporter, relates how Bennett's husband, also an FBI agent, discovered his wife's affair with author Patricia Cornwell, and how he kidnapped and tried to murder Margo. The trial that followed and the aftermath are also described. Rother draws from interviews, court records, diaries, letters, and other material. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Twisted Triangle

Twisted Triangle tells the compelling true story of Margo Bennett, a married FBI agent whose jealous, vengeful husband, Gene Bennett, a former undercover FBI agent, kidnapped and attempted to murder her after she had?a secret love affair with best-selling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell.

This series of bizarre events caused a sensation when it made national news a decade ago, but the whole incredible story has never before been told. Only now have Margo Bennett, her friends, and family granted investigative journalist Caitlin Rother exclusive access to personal interviews, previously sealed court records, diaries, letters, and other formerly confidential material. The book details the crazy dynamics of Margo and Gene Bennett's marriage and family, the rise and fall of their FBI careers, and Margo's clandestine lesbian affair with celebrity author Patricia Cornwell. Stranger than fiction, this story describes the makings of Gene's complex plan, his insanity defense, and the trial that ultimately vindicated Margo and sent Gene to prison, where he remains today.

Margo Bennett lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is a captain of the University of California, Berkeley, campus police department. Gene Bennett is incarcerated in Virginia, not far from the Washington DC area, where the events of this fascinating true crime narrative took place.

Praise for Twisted Triangle

"This book will haunt you. It will move you to look at some of the harsh realities of life in a new way. A powerful story—and masterfully written."

—Aphrodite Jones

best-selling author, All She Wanted and Cruel Sacrifice

"A harrowing tale of one woman's struggle to maintain a balance between being a mother, an FBI agent, and dealing with a corrupt husband also an FBI agent. A must-read."

—Joseph D. Pistone

aka Donnie Brasco

"Hitchcock wishes he'd dreamed it up. Capote wishes he'd written it. Rother's mesmerizing narrative chronicles a wife's heroic struggle against great odds to survive her psychopathic husband's elaborate scheme to make her murder the perfect crime. This spellbinding tale offers an added treat—it's true."

—Marcus Stern

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author, The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Saga of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught

"This in-depth account brought back memories of a most bizarre case, proving once again that the truth can be stranger than fiction."

—Paul B. Ebert

Commonwealth's attorney, County of Prince William, Virginia

Caitlin Rother, a Pulitzer Prize–nominated investigative journalist, is the author of Poisoned Love, the true story of the Kristin Rossum murder case, and the thriller Naked Addiction. Rother has written for Cosmopolitan, the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Washington Post and the Boston Globe.

John Hess, a retired FBI supervisory agent and Quantico instructor of 27 years, is the author of Interviewing and Interrogation for Law Enforcement and co-author of Writing for Law Enforcement.