Lake Oswego resident Anne Jaeger was saddened that popular author Ann Rule — who shared the stories of many victims of heinous crimes with millions of readers — never got to tell her own life story before she died about 10 years ago.

So, as Rule’s friend of 30 years, Jaeger decided to take up this task.

“There are so many people out there who still love Ann Rule and are uber Ann Rule fans and I want them to get a view into Ann Rule’s life and what made her extraordinary,” Jaeger said.

Jaeger recently released “The Rule of Crime and Me: An Intimate View of Ann Rule Shared By Her Friend of Thirty Years,” which is the first biography of the popular true crime author who wrote books centered on murder cases involving Ted Bundy, Diane Downs and others.

As a TV news anchor, Jaeger met Rule in a courtroom as they were covering the trial of Downs, who had killed her daughter and nearly killed her two other children near Springfield. Jaeger actually told Rule’s sister Leslie to move out of press row, not knowing who she was. This became a running joke for years.

“She would say, ‘There is that Anne Jaeger, the one who would kick Leslie out of court,’” Jaeger said.

Jaeger’s book details Rule’s life from childhood to the end — including how she encountered her first killer as a child during summers in Michigan because her grandparents were running a “mom and pop” jail where prisoners lived with their families. A murderer there actually taught Rule how to crochet, Jaeger said.

“Really, I think her memory of Viola later drew her to finding out the ‘Why’ of murders — why they happen and how they happen,” Jaeger said.

Coincidentally, as Rule was starting to make a name for herself as a true crime writer, she worked at a suicide hot line with Ted Bundy. She of course had no idea that he was a serial killer, but would later have a correspondence with him as he was under investigation. Rule turned this experience into the book “The Stranger Beside Me.”

“It really bothered her. She had no idea that this man who was so nice to her and who together they saved people’s lives working in tandem could then turn around and be so brutal and vicious,” Jaeger said.

Generally, though, Jaeger said Rule tried to identify cases that flew under the radar and had interesting interpersonal elements.

“She was fascinated by people who seemed to have it all — money, wealth, a family — but they chose to kill because of their narcissistic behavior,” Jaeger said.

And what made Rule exceptional, Jaeger said, was that she centered the victims and their families, unlike many of the largely male true crime writers at the time. She even had victims and their families reach out asking her to tell their story.

“She was a wonderful listener. That was one of her most impressive skills on top of her writing,” Jaeger said.

Jaeger added that Rule testified in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program that focuses on profiling criminals, and was one of the first to identify that serial killers commit their crimes in waves.

Personally, Jaeger said Rule was a blast to be around.

“We would go weekends without talking about what she does and her books,” Jaeger said. “We were like girlfriends, even though there was a large age difference. We talked about men and our kids and our work some too. But she was hilarious and we went on some fabulous adventures I cherish.”

The Lake Oswego author said the book is both an objective account of Rule’s life and a love story designed to honor her memory.

“It’s a love story to her and about her because there was so much to love about her and so many people still love her to this day,” Jaeger said.

For more information about the book, search for it on Amazon.