Featured Book of the Month

A MURDER ON CAMPUS: The Professor, The Cop, And North Carolina's Most Notorious Cold Case

The fascinating story of how two brothers—one an English professor, the other a cop, and as different as night and day—tag team as authors to solve North Carolina’s most notorious cold case …

A MURDER ON CAMPUS: The Professor, The Cop, And North Carolina’s Most Notorious Cold Case by Brian and Cameron Santana is a true crime investigation that unveils the shocking story behind the brutal 1973 murder on campus of 19-year-old Virginia Marie Olson.

On April 15, 1973, two high school students discovered Olson’s body near the campus of the University of North Carolina-Asheville. The cold case that followed would span over 50 years, involving three generations of detectives and the Asheville Police Department and North Carolina SBI as they worked tirelessly to uncover the truth. Olson’s murder was horrifically violent—she had been bound, raped, and stabbed to death, leaving the Asheville community in shock.

The true crime book takes readers through law enforcement’s dramatic efforts to find Olson’s killer, facing numerous obstacles along the way, from the abduction of another UNCA student in 1974 to a rape and murder victim's body discovered near Olson’s crime scene in 1978. Whispers about the killer's identity have circulated for decades, with theories ranging from an escaped mental health patient to one of North Carolina’s most notorious serial killers—until now.

A MURDER ON CAMPUS is the first to tell the gripping story of this unsolved crime and the surprising twists that led to the authors' revelation of the killer’s identity in North Carolina's most notorious cold cases. Written by two brothers, one a cop and the other an English professor, this book offers a unique and fascinating perspective on a case that has haunted Buncombe County for generations.

The Review:

Genre: True Crime

5+ Stars

The process of writing this book shows depth of caring

If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. When first reading this book, A MURDER ON CAMPUS, the reader is introduced to the authors, brothers, and each one writes their backstory and how they came about this case. Individually, they told their story, and what led one Brian, to pull his brother, Cameron into investigating not just the case, but the victim, and what her story was. This is a 51 year old unsolved murder, of a young college girl, Virginia Ginger Olsen, who was murdered at UNCA University of North Carolina-Asheville in 1973, across from the campus. The brothers not just searched for answers, but they wanted to find Ginger. Not just where she was buried, but her life, dreams, and definitely her story. I've read true crime books that are focused on the process of the investigation, the crime itself, and it read like a police report. This is not one of those books. This true crime book shows the authors' need for answers, and to never let the memory of Ginger falter. The book preserves the personal accounts of memories from friends, family and acquaintances. Some may seem insignificant, but to the person talking about their moment with Ginger, it means everything. The book also dives into the investigations that occurred over the years, and those who would be at one time or another, suspects, and then how it went cold. The book also reminds us that technology in crime solving has evolved, and what would be procedure to do, didn't exist in 1973, such as DNA analysis.