Welcome to Litsy!

#KickTheSlump #BookNookBuddies2022 #BookSpinBingo

Day 18 - #BasedOnATrueStory #AuldLangReads #TheMurderOfTheCentury #PaulCollins

In 1897, 4 boys playing on the East Eleventh Street Pier discovered a headless torso. Days later more body parts were found miles away and the race was on...not just between the police and the killer but also between NYC‘s big paper barons—Pulitzer & Hearst. Nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, this book offers a fascinating glimpse into 19th c. NYC and the rivalry between men/newspapers as well as, needless to say, crime.

Great book- fascinating look at the rise of yellow, tabloid journalism especially between Pulitzer and Hearst fueled by a spectalcular murder- a headless corpse is recovered, boiled and with no ID. There are fake witnesses, planted evidence (by ringers for the papers) generally a circus atmosphere. The murder itself is also worth a book- a love triangle, midwife, butcher, barber, rumors and innuendo. Fast listen recommended!

My next commute listen- murders in Long Island in 1897- picked it up at the library due to title and the narrator- William Dufris

Overall I enjoyed this but it was a little too dramatized for me. I would‘ve preferred more facts but I know this was a True Crime Novel. The story was very interesting though and the narrator of the audiobook was really good

What a wild ride of a murder mystery! Excellent on audio.

True crime combined with the beginning of sensational journalism. As an unidentified man‘s severed body parts begin to turn up around New York City in 1897, rival newspapers and cops try to find the killer and discover a deadly love triangle. I hadn‘t heard of this case before, and the historical context of the tabloid wars provides some insight into how the 24 hour news cycle of today started.

This book looks into some of the early phases of journalism where newspapers would do anything to get information on a story... and really, they would do everything and anything possible! The dialogue was collected from court testimonies and other primary sources, so the quotes used are things people actually said during that time. Really interesting read!

And now for something completely different. I read a couple of pages of this the other day while getting a pedicure, and today I'm ready to dive in.