Mother Love, Deadly Love: The Texas Cheerleader Murder

When Texans run amok they rarely do so by half measures. But even by Texas standards the case of Wanda Holloway is extreme. After her daughter, Shanna, failed to make her junior high cheerleading squad, Holloway allegedly contracted for the murder of Shanna's successful rival, Amber Heath, 14, as well as of Amber's mother, Verna. ''The things you do for your kids!'' exclaimed Holloway, whose conviction was later overturned on a technicality. In Mother Love, Deadly Love: The Texas Cheerleader Murder, Anne McDonald Maier, a Texan, proves she understands perfectly where cheerleading fits in the great scheme of things — right behind God and football — and has a firm grasp of the significance of mothers in the cheerleading business. B