Ex-prof who killed his wife becomes subject of new book

When former Penn Economics professor Rafael Robb killed his wife in December 2006, the entire city of Philadelphia followed the police investigation, the arrest and the court case in disbelief.

And when Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Rose Ciotta releases her first book Cruel Games: A Brilliant Professor, A Loving Mother, A Brutal Murder today, those who followed the headlines can read about the case from a new angle.

"It's certainly a fascinating story from the perspective of a true crime story," Ciotta said. "[The book] has a lot of interesting elements in terms of the story line itself and the characters involved."

Robb pleaded guilty in November 2007 to beating his wife to death with a chin-up bar in their Upper Merion home. In November 2008, he was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison and 10 years of probation. He appealed the sentence in December 2008, but the judge denied his appeal.

Although Ciotta has done investigative reporting for the Inquirer, she was not involved in the coverage of Robb's arrest and subsequent trial.

The 288-page book will be the latest release in the St. Martin's true crime library series.

Although the book is written in the format of a mystery novel, the story line follows the chronology of the events that occurred before the murder and during the police investigation, the arrest and the court case.

According to Ciotta, Robb's case presented itself as an appealing story because of the "twists and turns of the police investigation and the legal issues that came up throughout the case."

She added that she felt that Cruel Games was an appropriate title for this mystery story because, "It captures what went on in Robb's marriage and picks up on Robb's professional expertise as an expert on game theory."

Since Robb specialized in game theory during his time at Penn, Ciotta said she occasionally contacted members of the University community when conducting her research.

"I had to verify some facts with Penn, and I talked to several professors who knew Dr. Robb," said Ciotta. "I just really reported how things unfolded in terms of his relationship with Penn."

The book also briefly refers to Tracy McIntosh and Scott Ward, two former Penn professors who ran into trouble with the law, in order to illustrate the impact of the unfolding case on the Penn community.

But according to Ciotta, Cruel Games is a story that will appeal not only to those familiar with the case in the Philadelphia metropolitan region.

"There will be people around the country and around the world who love true crime books, and they will pick up the book because it's the next in the series," she said.

University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman said she was unaware the book was being published and that, to her knowledge, the University had not been contacted for comment.

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