A Pre-Proposal Query
WHERE IS MADELEINE MCCANN?
A Criminal Profiler Takes On the World’s
Most Baffling Disappearance
by
Pat Brown
WHERE IS MADELEINE MCCANN?
A Criminal Profiler Takes on the World’s Most Baffling Disappearance
By
Pat Brown
Overview
The disappearance of little Madeleine McCann has become the most fascinating missing childcase since the abduction of the Lindbergh baby. In fact, over 2 million visitors have followed its progress in 2016 alone via the “The Complete Mystery of Madeleine McCann” website.
This nine-year cold case continues to be an obsession with people around the world – profilers, bloggers, journalists, FaceBookers, Tweeters, and citizens of many countries,especially England, Portugal, and the United States.
Gerry and Kate McCann were not your average parents of a missing child. They were both medical doctors, as were most of their seven friends (often called the Tapas Seven) who vacationed with them in Praia da Luz, Portugal from where Madeleine disappeared just short of her fourth birthday. Six of these well-educated doctors, including the McCanns, left their children unattended in their vacation apartments for five evenings straight, out of eyeshot andearshot, while they wined and dined in a nearby Tapas restaurant.
On the fateful night of May 3, 2007, 3-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared from her bed, and by morning the McCanns were claiming she had been abducted. They and their family and friends called in the international media, but despite the parents’ neglect of their children,which may have contributed to the disappearance of their daughter, the British government offered its support, including diplomatic assistance and the intervention of the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
When no proof of an abduction surfaced, cadaver dogs hit on the area behind the sofa in the McCanns’ vacation apartment, and the Portuguese police found the statements of the parents and their friends to be conflicting and deceptive. Both of Madeleine’s parents were made arguidos (suspects), but mother Kate McCann refused to answer any of the 48 questions put to her. Shortly after, the McCanns left the country and the case was shelved by the Portuguese police for reasons unknown.
At this point, the McCanns mounted a high-profile publicity offensive in the media,including appearances on Piers Morgan and Oprah. They created a private “Find Madeleine”fund, which brought in four million dollars in donations to be used in any way they wished. Some of it paid for their mortgage, travel, and high profile attorneys. In 2008, Kate McCann wrote a book called Madeleine, which (along with a serialization in a top British newspaper) earned the McCanns another million plus.
With their publicity campaign in full swing, the McCanns sued or threatened to sue a number of people who had dared to speak up about the case and suggest that the McCanns may have been involved. Blog sites were shut down, promises to cease and desist were obtained, and free speech was muzzled. The McCanns sued the detective on the case, Gonçalo Amaral, for one and a half million dollars and got an injunction in 2009 against his book, Truth of the Lie. It had become a bestselling Portuguese analysis of the police case (which had sold 180,000 copies in Portugal alone) and of his documentary DVD on the case. In 2016, however, Gonçalo Amaralwon his appeal, and his book and DVD were returned to the market.
In 2011, American criminal profiler Pat Brown self-published her analysis of the case in a 32-page mini-book on Amazon. Profile of the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann vanishedafter five weeks of high sales and nearly 50 five-star reviews. Amazon informed Ms. Brown that Carter-Ruck, the McCann’s libel solicitors, had warned them of impending legal action if the book was not removed from the market. They caved and Brown’s book was taken out of all Amazon online stores worldwide.
As of this date, the 2013 Scotland Yard review ordered by the British government to solve the Portuguese case of missing Madeleine McCann (a very unusual action to be taken by the UK in a case that was not even their own) has cost British taxpayers more than twelve million dollars. Scotland Yard now states that they only have one line of inquiry left to wrap up (and it is not about the McCanns). Then, they will shelve the case with their final conclusions. The Portuguese will also likely re-shelve the case when Scotland Yard pulls out.
Pat Brown has profiled this case extensively over the last seven years and investigated it in person in Praia da Luz, Portugal. In addition to her mini-book, Profile of the Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, she has written dozens of blog posts on the case at The Daily Profiler. Brown will bring out new information in the Madeleine McCann case; the evidence, the analysis, the profile, the players, the politics, and the corruption, and penetrate the international mystery that still surrounds the most confounding missing child case in history.
Pat Brown is an American criminal profiler, author of seven books and a crime commentator (seen more than 3000 times with regular appearances on Nancy Grace, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Dr. Drew, Anderson, Inside Edition, The Today Show, The Early Show, Wolf Blitzer, Larry King, Dr. Phil, Montel Williams, Bill O’Reilly, etc.).
Table of Contents
Chapter One: The Case of Madeleine McCann: Not Just Another Missing Child
Chapter Two: The Perplexing Parents: Bizarre Behaviors and Strange Bedfellows
Chapter Three: Marketing Maddie: The Tot Heard Round the World
Chapter Four: The Worst PIs Money Can Buy: Crooks and Conmen
Chapter Five: Those Dastardly Dogs: Damning Evidence or Canines Gone Wrong?
Chapter Six: The Tide Turns: The Crucification of the McCanns on the Internet
Chapter Seven: The Hired Guns of the McCanns: Silencing the Experts
Chapter Seven: The Strange Charade of Scotland Yard: Millions of Pounds Spent, Zero ResultsAchieved
Chapter Eight: Criminal Profiler Pat Brown’s Analysis of Madeleine McCann’s Disappearance
Below is an example of the responses from the publishers.
We are intrigued, but I don't think this one is quite right for our list. As the case is not concluded, and as the McCann's are more litigious than most, I don't think we have the infrastructure to handle a book like this one. Frankly, without the full-time in-house legal team for the vetting this would need, it's a costly proposal.
Alas, afraid I'm taking the coward's position on this one, but I wish you and Ms. Brown great success in finding the perfect publishing home for it, and I thank you for thinking of us.
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It is a sad situation that the McCanns have so cowed publishers that they are afraid to take a chance on a story that is as a big as this one. There still may be someone out there in the publishing world my agent hasn't contacted who might be willing to give such a book a shot, but I strongly doubt we will see anyone be brave enough until the case is long closed or the McCanns are out of the picture.
Criminal Profiler Pat Brown
August 9, 2016
By Pat Brown
Rating: 
Published: July 27, 2011
What really happened to Madeleine Beth McCann in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007? Was she abducted as the Gerry and Kate have claimed or did something happen to Madeleine on May 3 in the vacation apartment and the incident covered up? Criminal Profiler Pat Brown analyzes the evidence and takes the readers through the steps of profiling, developing a theory that is intriguing and controversial.