A young female reporter gets the story of her career and her lifetime in Yvonne Masons' Brilliant Insanity.
Marion Lewis Reinhart is about to be executed in just a matter of days for the murders of several women. He has chosen Amanda McQuaid, reporter for The Fort Pierce Sentinel to give his final story to, his side of things...things he has never admitted to until now.
Emotions run wild, as he relays every detail of his heinous and unbelievable crimes to this reporter who has her own reasons for even continuing the nightmarish interview. She needs answers herself, regarding her own past which she fears Reinhart has a hand in.
Make sure you have no interruptions for this read, because each page will have you clamoring for more. With an ending that will shock you to your core, Masons' Brilliant Insanity delivers a read guaranteed to keep you turning each page to the mind blowing last sentence

"Brilliant Insanity" is an unprecedented voyage through the demented mind of mass murderer, Marion Lewis Reinhart. Who is Reinhart? What is Reinhart? Yvonne Mason draws you into a world of suspense and harrowing sadism interjecting lucid illustrations and stark, chilling portrayals. However, Mason leaves no stone unturned as she delicately weaves in the budding romance between Mandy and Allen. With her book, "Brilliant Insanity," Mason has proved herself to be an indelible author. - Deborah Simpson, Author of "Chronicles of a Sage: Spiritual Revelations via Canto" -

BRILLIANT INSANITY: A BAD DUDE GETS HIS JUST DESSERTS!

Marion Lewis Reinhart is a bad dude and he’s about to get his just desserts. Reinhart is a lot of things, but he’s never rude. In fact, he rejects that label vehemently, reasoning his mother would not have allowed it. Ever the gentleman, he wined, dined and entertained his victims at restaurants, at his home, or on his yacht--until he killed them. When we meet him after 15 years of imprisonment at Florida’s Raeford Prison, he has exhausted all of his appeals and has just five days left to tell his story.

Reinhart fears not death by lethal injection; he only worries lest he die before the world knows his true reasons for killing eight—no, make that 11--women. He will only tell his story his way and to only one person: Mandy McQuaid, a young reporter at the Fort Pierce Sentinel.

In her novel, BRILLIANT INSANITY, Yvonne Mason spins out the confessions of serial killer Reinhart by using first person POV. When Mandy leaves the prison cell, the author uses omniscient POV when the reporter talks about her reactions to the interviews with Reinhart, or when she interacts with the two cops who chaperone her. At times, this shifting POV caught me by surprise, as I didn’t know who was speaking. While Reinhart takes his place assuredly as the star of this novel, I felt that the Mandy character would have benefitted from being fleshed out a bit more. In addition, the cops, Joe Dobbs and Allen Jones, are faint characters who don’t leave much of an impression.

In describing the murders, Marion Lewis Reinhart, who began life as a female, cleverly uses his “Lewis” or “Louise” voice depending on the mood s/he’s in, or the impression s/he wants to convey to the listener. Reinhart is convinced that the police are bumbling idiots. This is his chance to explain his true motives for the killings and he enjoys every minute of it. The author makes it clear that this is not your average misunderstood guy or gal. In his “brilliant insanity,” Reinhart transgresses into madness. He believes he only righted a wrong done to him years ago. He also believes that his victims’ lives were such that they were better off dead than alive.

The astute reader will get hints early on as to why Reinhart chose Ms. McQuaid in particular to hear his gruesome confessions. When the body count is complete, there’s still another story to be told, one of particular interest to our gal reporter Mandy. Read on, but don’t make any lunch dates with anyone you meet on the Internet!

Brilliant Insanity: Novel by Yvonne Mason

Reviewed by: Fran Lewis


Victim or murderer: Retribution or Revenge: Justified or Not: Is Marian Louise/Lewis Reinhart guilty or is he a victim of circumstances that were beyond his control?

My name is Marian Lewis/Louise Reinhart and I invite you to analyze my life and the reasoning behind my acts of revenge. I will state the facts as I presented them to the reporter that I chose to write my story. You decide whether I should receive that lethal injection or not.

The police took their time in finding me. In fact had I not presented them with the clues to find me I would never have been caught. They claim that I intentionally mutilated, chopped up, and used for fish bait eight women that they claim did not deserve to die plus three more that they now know about because I confessed to their murders to my interviewer. I must confess that I had no choice but to seek revenge on these women for what they had done to me. The first three of the eleven were just practice kills in order to make sure I got the EIGHT I intended to kill done the right way.

Yvonne Mason, a master at her craft, created through me, her main character an exquisite, intricate web of intrigue, deception, murder, and revenge in her acclaimed novel Beautiful Insanity.

Many would say that she portrayed me as a cruel, heartless, and unfeeling person who lured these women into his lair and committed a very heinous crime. However, each of these women played a vital role in what happened to me that fateful night and scarred me for life.

All of these women attended the same High School as I did. All of them mocked, ridiculed, and shunned me for being different. They made me feel that being superior in intelligence, not dressing flashy and not being in their social class made me an inferior person and the object of their ridicule. Most of the time I felt as if I was invisible when in the same room with them and other students in the school.

All I ever wanted from everyone, including my parents, was to be accepted for the person I was. That was not to be. Most people could not accept that I had a superior IQ of 170 and could learn just about anything with no problem at all. However, all of them wanted my help with their homework and did not hesitate to ask.

As a woman trapped in a man’s body, I could not cope with the way I was and I had myself changed into a woman on the inside. No one realized it until that fateful night which led to events that I will not tell because I do not want to give away the author’s secrets.

Mandy, the reporter that I chose to interview me before I receive that injection seemed scared at first and could not handle being in the interview room with me when she first met me. As the interviews continued, she became stronger and pushed to find out the one secret that I would not divulge until the very end. This secret would explain how her mother became one of my victims and a lot more. I even insisted that she was present for my execution or she would never know the truth about her mother or why I had chosen her as the only reporter for this exclusive interview.

Yvonne Mason’s description of Mandy and her reactions are not only creative but also so realistic the reader will feel that he or she is in the room with her as they read my account of each murder. Anyone with any kind of feeling might even feel sorry for these women, but most of them got what they deserved and they were better off for it. You will have to read this amazingly crafted novel to find out whether you agree that they deserved what they got, or you think I was right. After all, they were in unhappy marriages or relationships and really provided nothing tangible to society. So, why not put them out of their misery.

Yvonne Mason, also the author of Silent Scream, which this reviewer cannot wait to read, wrote an outstanding and very descriptive, realistic and heart wrenching story of revenge. She describes the inner thoughts and workings of a multiple-personality man/woman who was not content with his life. Each of the women killed had changed over the years and still craved to be the center of attention to their spouses and family. However, they were not. For a short time he made sure that they were and then he ended their sorry lives.


Although, a genius, he never really felt he belonged anywhere and with any one. Planning these murders was a full time job and he committed them to perfection. He might have felt that he won by killing them but in reality he did not. The lethal injection that he received could not bring back those he killed nor would it fill the void in those left behind.

There is a lesson to be learned in this novel in that people need to learn to accept others for who and what they are and notBrilliant Insanity: Novel by Yvonne Mason

Reviewed by: Fran Lewis


Victim or murderer: Retribution or Revenge: Justified or Not: Is Marian Louise/Lewis Reinhart guilty or is he a victim of circumstances that were beyond his control?

My name is Marian Lewis/Louise Reinhart and I invite you to analyze my life and the reasoning behind my acts of revenge. I will state the facts as I presented them to the reporter that I chose to write my story. You decide whether I should receive that lethal injection or not.

The police took their time in finding me. In fact had I not presented them with the clues to find me I would never have been caught. They claim that I intentionally mutilated, chopped up, and used for fish bait eight women that they claim did not deserve to die plus three more that they now know about because I confessed to their murders to my interviewer. I must confess that I had no choice but to seek revenge on these women for what they had done to me. The first three of the eleven were just practice kills in order to make sure I got the EIGHT I intended to kill done the right way.

Yvonne Mason, a master at her craft, created through me, her main character an exquisite, intricate web of intrigue, deception, murder, and revenge in her acclaimed novel Beautiful Insanity.

Many would say that she portrayed me as a cruel, heartless, and unfeeling person who lured these women into his lair and committed a very heinous crime. However, each of these women played a vital role in what happened to me that fateful night and scarred me for life.

All of these women attended the same High School as I did. All of them mocked, ridiculed, and shunned me for being different. They made me feel that being superior in intelligence, not dressing flashy and not being in their social class made me an inferior person and the object of their ridicule. Most of the time I felt as if I was invisible when in the same room with them and other students in the school.

All I ever wanted from everyone, including my parents, was to be accepted for the person I was. That was not to be. Most people could not accept that I had a superior IQ of 170 and could learn just about anything with no problem at all. However, all of them wanted my help with their homework and did not hesitate to ask.

As a woman trapped in a man’s body, I could not cope with the way I was and I had myself changed into a woman on the inside. No one realized it until that fateful night which led to events that I will not tell because I do not want to give away the author’s secrets.

Mandy, the reporter that I chose to interview me before I receive that injection seemed scared at first and could not handle being in the interview room with me when she first met me. As the interviews continued, she became stronger and pushed to find out the one secret that I would not divulge until the very end. This secret would explain how her mother became one of my victims and a lot more. I even insisted that she was present for my execution or she would never know the truth about her mother or why I had chosen her as the only reporter for this exclusive interview.

Yvonne Mason’s description of Mandy and her reactions are not only creative but also so realistic the reader will feel that he or she is in the room with her as they read my account of each murder. Anyone with any kind of feeling might even feel sorry for these women, but most of them got what they deserved and they were better off for it. You will have to read this amazingly crafted novel to find out whether you agree that they deserved what they got, or you think I was right. After all, they were in unhappy marriages or relationships and really provided nothing tangible to society. So, why not put them out of their misery.

Yvonne Mason, also the author of Silent Scream, which this reviewer cannot wait to read, wrote an outstanding and very descriptive, realistic and heart wrenching story of revenge. She describes the inner thoughts and workings of a multiple-personality man/woman who was not content with his life. Each of the women killed had changed over the years and still craved to be the center of attention to their spouses and family. However, they were not. For a short time he made sure that they were and then he ended their sorry lives.


Although, a genius, he never really felt he belonged anywhere and with any one. Planning these murders was a full time job and he committed them to perfection. He might have felt that he won by killing them but in reality he did not. The lethal injection that he received could not bring back those he killed nor would it fill the void in those left behind.

There is a lesson to be learned in this novel in that people need to learn to accept others for who and what they are and not ridicule them: Well: you see what happened to these women when they did!

I give this book FIVE STARS!

Fran Lewis

I give this book FIVE STARS!

Fran Lewis

Silent Scream
Yvonne Mason
ISBN: 9780557013890
5 Stars

Horrifying and Compelling – One Incredible Read!

Silent Scream takes you from the beginning to the end of serial killer Gerard Schaefer’s horrendous killing spree and then through the myriad of complexities in the criminal justice system. I was literally glued to this book! This book is disturbing, but I still found that I couldn’t put it down. But what’s even more disturbing is that the serial killer was a police officer who used his badge and gun to terrorize, torture, and kill young women in Florida between 1966-1972.

Books that involve serial crime, either fiction or nonfiction, fascinate me. Yvonne Mason has expertly crafted this true crime story to unfold with a continued escalating pace. A real page-turner! She has captured the evil soul of Gerard Schaefer and has also given a voice to the many victims. The extensive research conducted for this book is absolutely top notch.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys true crime or crime fiction genres. I’m anxious to read more books by this author in the future.

-Jennifer Chase, author of thriller Compulsion

Silent Scream: Yvonne Mason

Reviewed by Fran Lewis



In a world that has changed so much, where young people go missing daily, this novel reminds us that we need to warn our young women and young men to always be on the alert for sexual and social predators. The lives of so many families changed in 1972 when Gerard Schaffer, serial killer, whose twisted and maniacal mind decided to take the lives of young women he felt were unworthy of living. Comparing these young women to whores, he would trick, lead, and deceive these girls by leading them into his lair. Gerard Schaffer, a man of superior intelligence, believed in his own mind that what he did was right. He felt justified in his killings and bragged about them to anyone who would listen.

Pamela Sue Wells and Nancy Ellen Trotter were his first victims to get away. As a Deputy Sheriff, Gerard Schaffer, used his position of power and authority to terrorize these two girls by claiming he wanted to teach them a lesson. The lesson being not to hitchhike with strangers. He felt that they were nothing more than whores who needed to be taught a lesson. Handcuffing by girls and hanging them from different trees with a noose around their neck, he left them hanging from the trees. He took them to Hutchinson Island a remote place, which he thought, would be their final resting place. He told them the evils of hitchhiking and he would be back with men who would sell them to slave traders.

Little did he know that Nancy Ellen Trotter with everything she had would manage to get out of her noose and get help for herself and Pamela Sue Wells.

Although he was fired from his position this did not stop his reign of terror. Charged with two counts of aggravated assault, he did not seem to be fearful of the consequences he might face because of his actions. Although arrested and put in jail for only two months, the Judge D.C. Smith released him and helped to set off a chain of killings that would span many counties in Florida and other states too.

Throughout this graphic novel, this reviewer read of the heinous mutilations, decapitations and dismemberments inflicted on Shaffer’s victims. The list of victims and crimes seemed endless.

Trying to convince everyone he was mentally insane and should be sent to an institution, was not only a ploy of Schaffer to try and get out of going to prison for life, but one more way this reviewer realized just how evil and cunning this man was.

Although, there were many who interviewed him in jail, and many who corresponded with him and wanted to try to write his story and listen to his words, none was as powerful as those of the victims that were silenced by him.

Georgia Jessup, Susan Place, Collette Goodenenough, Barbara Ann Wilcox, Nancy Leichner, Pam Nater, Nancy Trotter, Pamela Wells, Carmen Hallock, Leigh Hainline, Elise Farmer, Alice Briscolina, Belinda Hutchins and those that we do not know about, this is your chance to have your Screams Heard forever. Having no regard for the pain he inflicted upon you, not amount of remorse for what he did and using the media for more than 30 years to tell his sick and twisted stories and taunt the families of his victims, your voices will now be heard and his will forever be silenced.

When Gerard Schaffer finally got his just rewards in prison, an inmate silenced his human voice. He used his knowledge of the law and his skill to write appeals and more to rat out his fellow inmates and try to get the courts to allow him to be set free.

In order to really understand and know just how twisted; insane and sick this man was, you need to read this book and make sure that their messages is sent aloud and clear to all young people.

To the real heroes of this story Philip Shailer, the Broward State Attorney, Judge Trowbridge who presided on the bench, was relentless, and made sure he would never go free, the girls thank you. To all of the detectives on this case, to Jack for his diligence and hard work investigating these killings and to all of those in law enforcement that made sure that this sick and twisted man did not go free, we the victims of Gerard Schaffer yell loud and clear: THANK YOU!






To the victims of Geralr Schaffer:
A special Eulogy to the Victims:
From Fran Lewis


Your families gathered with great attitude
To come and honor you
To share the sweet recollections
And express their gratitude

You were a great example
Of the way one should live
Your generous and loving spirits
Were the greatest gifts you could give

You took each day as a challenge
Exactly as it came
Your spirits remained steadfast
Life and its ups and never made you change

Your families would often would marvel
At the strength and determination found in you
How much we will miss your courage
How fearless your attitude

Life is a fragile thing
And it can change within an instant
Nothing is safe from the effects of change
No person or possession we’re given

The only things we can hold forever
Are the memories of you in our hearts
The love you bestowed upon us on earth
Before it came time for you to depart



Goodbyes are not forever
And nor is this the end
When the angels came to call you away
They led you to a play to of peace to stay

The empty spaces in our hearts that is left behind
Within this world we all know
Reminds us just how we must cherish each day
And how precious our time is before we go

MAY YOUR VOICES BE HEARD AND YOUR SCREAMS NEVER SILENCED! MAY THE SOUL OF GERARD SCHAFFER KNOW NO REST AND BE TORTURTED UNTIL ETERNITY.

There are not enough stars to give this book. I would give this five stars and five more for the outstanding and amazing author who wrote this important novel.

Silent Scream is one of the most compelling and frightening manuscripts I've ever read! The terror and madness of Schaefer will continue to tug at your psyche all the way through the book.

Yvonne Mason speaks with a profound literary voice for Schaefer's victims. Here, they are silent no longer.

No, I won't sleep well, just knowing that another Schaefer may be out there somewhere. I pray not.

Well done, Yvonne!

Ann B. Keller

"Yvonne Mason has captured the true essence of Gerard Schaefer, a deputy sheriff who
enjoyed torturing and killing young women. It is a gripping story and you should prepare to be
disturbed. I guarantee that you will find it difficult to put this book down."

Roy Hazelwood, FBI (ret)
author of Dark Dreams and
The Evil That Men Do






When Gerald Schaefer used his badge and gun to terrorize and kill rather than protect and serve he crossed a line that not only snuffed out the lives of his victims but also affected the lives of their loved ones and the police officers charged with investigating these crimes. In her book “Silent Scream” Yvonne
Mason has captured more than just the story, but has also given voices to all of
Schafer’s unknown victims. I’m sure there are many.

Det. Lieutenant Chuck Hemp OPPD Ret.

To me a good book invokes emotion and thought. The stronger the reactions, the better the book and "Silent Scream" brought out both. The emotion was anger and the thoughts are ongoing. I've been by the areas mentioned in the book and scenes from the book can't help but creep in and then comes the anger of how could all this happen. We know Gerard Schaefer was a disturbed, evil man and the book documents every aspect of his scary psyche. The book also follows the men and women who had first hand contact with him during the trial and after. Very well done.
My thoughts go out to the people involved or affected by these kind of events. The people who stumbled across evidence, or who helped in the searches. Someone, like my mother, who maybe saw Gerard with a "victim", or who saw someone who fit a "description" and disappeared. The question of did I really see that, or was that really him and can it ever be resolved in your mind or soul. A single event that can change a life forever. The sad thing is that Schaefer wasn’t the first and he won’t be the last.

Torill Trent

Lesa said: " This book is one of the best books I have read this year. A real page turner. Once you read it you will sit back and think about everything that happened in this book really happened. Then you will have a streak of fear run through your spine. This is one book everyone who reads murder mysteries or detective novels should read. Also every author should read it as well. The serial killer Gerard Shaffer has 10 serial killers in him. It is just amazing this man was a teacher and law enforcement. Makes you wonder, that the peers of our community that should have been able to see that person was crazy. The truth is they did notice and fired him. But he would get hired somewhere else. A must read for sure. I wish I could give this more stars.”
Blog Talk Radio Host Lesa Trapp