Author says Peterson confessed how and why he killed Laci

For "I'm Sorry I Lied to You," Thomas eventually went with Digi-Tall Media, a small firm unknown to Border's bookstore in Modesto, which ordered no copies, a spokeswoman said. Neither did Modesto's Barnes & Noble, an employee said.

Two weeks ago, Thomas said another company is buying the publishing contract from Digi-Tall. More books should be printed this week, she said.

The National Enquirer and The Globe have recently published articles about Thomas' book.

"The marketplace for her book seems to be the tabloids," said Adam Stewart, attorney for Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson's mother.

A hardback of "I'm Sorry I Lied to You" obtained by The Bee through private order details several visits Thomas allegedly made to San Quentin. Peterson slipped while discussing evidence in June 2006, according to the book, and told Thomas the whole story when she returned three months later.

He had been sexually promiscuous throughout his five-year marriage and began planning the murder soon after Laci Peterson discovered she was pregnant in June 2002, Thomas wrote. He waited several months because killing her then would have raised too much suspicion, Thomas wrote.

"I was at the end of my rope," Thomas quotes Scott Peterson as saying. "It was either her or me. So I decided that it should be her. At the time I couldn't stand being around her anymore. ... I hated her by the time I killed her."

His version of getting rid of the body, according to the book, was similar to a scenario painted by prosecutors in Peterson's trial, with a few additions. For example, he used scissors to cut up gloves and clothes he wore that day, dressed in spare clothing he had brought to the marina and dropped bags of the shredded clothes in two garbage bins on his drive back to Modesto, Thomas wrote.

Also, Peterson took a loaded handgun and was "prepared to shoot whoever it was that stopped me" on the way, Thomas wrote. A detective found the gun in Peterson's glove box after he reported his wife missing upon returning home, according to trial testimony.

In interviews, Thomas blamed an inability to land a major publisher on negative publicity surrounding the fall 2006 cancellation of O.J. Simpson's "If I Did It" in which Simpson theorizes about the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman.

Thomas chronicled 14 years of erotic encounters with Peterson in Mexico, Spain, Israel and Montreal in her self-published, little-circulated book, "Conduct Unbecoming -- However, the Scott Peterson I Know Is Innocent," a copy of which was obtained by The Bee at Thomas' urging.

She later said everything in the book except her name is true, but said she would deny it because publicity about the affair could negatively affect her family members.

In the Los Angeles interview with The Bee, Thomas said she attended the University of Colorado in Boulder and received a law degree from the University of Southern California. But officials with those schools could find no mention of her married or maiden names in their records. Both said, however, that such searches are not airtight.

Thomas showed an advocacy agreement outlining a business relationship with Timothy Boham, a former gay porn actor awaiting trial in the November murder of a Denver businessman during a home robbery. Thomas said she took pity on Boham and offered her services.

Thomas used various names in many contacts with The Bee starting in May 2006, finally revealing her true identity in March.