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True Crime Book Club

"The Babysitter" by Liza Rodman

2025-06-16 13:00:00 2025-06-16 14:00:00 America/New_York True Crime Book Club A great way to discover and discuss new and classic true crime writing. We meet on the third Monday of each month. New members are always welcome to join us! Westlake Porter Public Library - Dover Room

Monday, June 16
1:00pm - 2:00pm

Add to Calendar 2025-06-16 13:00:00 2025-06-16 14:00:00 America/New_York True Crime Book Club A great way to discover and discuss new and classic true crime writing. We meet on the third Monday of each month. New members are always welcome to join us! Westlake Porter Public Library - Dover Room

A great way to discover and discuss new and classic true crime writing. We meet on the third Monday of each month. New members are always welcome to join us!

In June we will be reading "The Babysitter: My Summers With a Serial Killer" by Liza Rodman

From Amazon

This chilling true story and “harrowing account of the evil that can lurk around the edges of girlhood” (Carolyn Murnick, author of The Hot One)—reminiscent of Ann Rule’s classic The Stranger Beside Me—follows a little girl longing for love who finds friendship with her charismatic babysitter, unaware that he is a vicious serial killer.

Growing up on Cape Cod in the 1960s, Liza Rodman was a lonely little girl. During the summers, while her mother worked days in a local motel and danced most nights in the Provincetown bars, her babysitter—the kind, handsome handyman at the motel where her mother worked—took her and her sister on adventures in his truck. He bought them popsicles and together, they visited his “secret garden” in the Truro woods. To Liza, he was one of the few kind, understanding, and safe adults in her life.

But there was one thing she didn’t know; their babysitter was a serial killer.

Though Tony Costa’s gruesome case made screaming headlines in 1969 and beyond, Liza never made the connection between her friendly babysitter and the infamous killer of numerous women, including four in Massachusetts, until decades later.

Haunted by nightmares and horrified by what she learned, Liza became obsessed with the case. Now, she and cowriter Jennifer Jordan reveal “a suspenseful portrayal of murderous madness in tandem with a child’s growing loneliness, neglect, and despair, a narrative collision that will haunt” (Sarah Weinman, author of The Real Lolita) you long after you finish it.


A great way to discover and discuss new and classic true crime writing—from murder, to robbery, heists and arson—we touch on every aspect of humanity's darker instincts.

We meet on the third Monday of every month starting in January. View and print the list of books and check out WPPL's Book Discussion page for more book and movie clubs!

AGE GROUP: | Adults |

EVENT TYPE: | Books and Authors |

TAGS: | True Crime | book discussion |

Westlake Porter Public Library

Phone: (440) 871-2600
Fax: (440) 871-6969

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Mon, Mar 09 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Tue, Mar 10 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Wed, Mar 11 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Thu, Mar 12 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Fri, Mar 13 9:00AM to 6:00PM
Sat, Mar 14 9:00AM to 6:00PM
Sun, Mar 15 1:00PM to 5:00PM
Mon, Mar 09 9:00AM to 9:00PM
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Wed, Mar 11 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Thu, Mar 12 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Fri, Mar 13 9:00AM to 6:00PM
Sat, Mar 14 9:00AM to 6:00PM
Sun, Mar 15 1:00PM to 5:00PM

About the branch

Westlake Porter Public Library is an independent public library serving the residents of the city of Westlake, western Cuyahoga County and eastern Lorain County. The library is located at 27333 Center Ridge Road in Westlake, Ohio. Anyone who lives, works, owns property, or goes to school in Ohio can register for a free library card.

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