PUBLISHING : Reopening the Book on a Shocker : ‘In the Best of Families’ recounts the grisly 1983 murder of the wife of Ronald Reagan’s personal attorney in Palos Verdes Estates.

It was one of the biggest news stories to ever come out of Palos Verdes Estates: Michael Miller, the schizophrenic son of President Ronald Reagan’s personal attorney, was charged with raping and murdering his mother.

Now, 11 years after Michael Miller, then 20, confessed to the murder and was found not guilty by reason of insanity, a book about the crime has arrived in bookstores--with moderate local success.

Long Beach author Dennis McDougal’s “In the Best of Families” sketches the Miller family background and retraces the crime, for which Michael Miller, the son of Roy Miller, was sent to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino until he is deemed fit to return to society.

On March 24, 1983, Michael Miller bludgeoned his mother, Marguerite, with a wooden club shortly after she woke up. He had been charged with rape, but the charge was dropped because investigators could not determine if the assault occurred before the murder.

McDougal, author of “Angel of Darkness,” which chronicled the life of serial killer Randy Kraft, said he wrote the 330-page book to draw attention to schizophrenia, a disorder that he believes is overlooked by society.

But some believe the case was singled out because of its elements: a wealthy family, a child with a mental disorder and a family patriarch in high political circles.

“Suppose it had been a murder in Gardena,” said Palos Verdes Estates Police Lt. Ed Jaakola, one of the murder investigators. “No one would have cared.”

Hal Hollister, a former vice president of New York-based National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, said he was not familiar with “In the Best of Families,” but disputed McDougal’s notion that the disorder is kept out of the public eye, especially by rich and famous families.

“It may be that the wealthy have hidden it more because they have sent their kids off,” he said. But he added, “A lot of very wealthy people are very outward.”

Research indicates that the disorder, which is characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thoughts and speech, withdrawal and emotional disturbances, has strong biological and genetic components. Michael Miller’s schizophrenic older brother, Jeffrey, overdosed on aspirin at the age of 23 while in a mental institution.

McDougal’s book, however, is heavy on the details of the crime and suggests Marguerite Miller’s controlling nature and obsession with health food as a motive for the murder.

Despite the book’s mixed reviews in literary trade publications, peninsula residents appear to be reading “In the Best of Families.”

Lisa Mirassou, manager of the Crown Books in Rolling Hills Estates, said her store has sold 32 copies, a large number for a publication with little advertising. (By comparison, the new Tom Clancy novel, “Debt of Honor,” has sold 148 copies.)

Lenore Blume, a book buyer for the peninsula’s three libraries, said she bought five copies of the book because she expected local interest and because it received some fair reviews.

Blume said she will put a copy of “In the Best of Families” in the Malaga Cove Library historical room, which contains books, photos and newspaper clippings.

A handful of city officials, including Jaakola, said they had not heard of the book. But one local resident who has is Don Longmire, who lives next to the Miller home and remembers when his daughter Jennifer, now 26, used to play with Michael Miller.

Longmire, who has read the book, said that Michael Miller sometimes teased his daughter and that the Miller family members kept to themselves.

Roy Miller, whose name and telephone number are still listed in the phone directory next to that of his long-dead wife, continued to live in the ranch-style home on Via Visalia until last month.

Roy Miller, McDougal said, has maintained public silence about the murder. Reached at his Downtown law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, he declined to comment about the book.

Michael Miller, 32, also declined to comment when reached by phone at Patton hospital.

McDougal said that Michael Miller has repeatedly asked to leave Patton and that Roy Miller still holds out the hope that his son will someday return home.