Emergency Room Doctor Shares Secrets Behind A 1959 'Murder In West Covina'

STUDIO CITY (CBS) — Dr. James Linder Jones visited the KCAL9 studios Monday to talk about his new book, "A Murder In West Covina."

Dr. Jones is an emergency room doctor who says he came face to face with the dark side of human behavior and learned "the ability of people to abuse and harm themselves and others is boundless."

In his book A Murder in West Covina, Dr. Jones says he uses true crime to "study the dark side of the mind, of intrigue, infidelity, betrayal, deceit, and manipulation." In the summer of 1959, the nation was shocked by a high-profile murder case out of West Covina, a small California town some 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Police accused Bernard Finch, a wealthy physician, of murdering his wife just outside the couple's home.

A Murder in West Covina is the result of two years of extensive research, including first person interviews and the careful dissection of courtroom testimony. It samples the opinions of people who lived in the community at that time, while detailing the evidence against Bernard Finch and his mistress Carole Tregoff. Dr. Jones also explores the remarkable heroism of the family's au pair – Marie Anne Lidholm – who put herself in the line of danger when she responded to Mrs. Finch's cries for help. In the book's forward, Lidholm says Dr. Jones has "given the case a soul."

For more information, visit the book online.