900 Sinpatch Road

Home address of a true crime and mystery addict. Now serving more Mystery, Mayhem & Malice 

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A review of Lois Gordon’s biography of Nancy Cunard

Nancy’s obituary in 1968

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Scarsdale stabbing: Reich charged with murder

Julius "Jules" Reich has been charged with second-degree murder after his wife, Robin Goldman, was found dead in their Scarsdale home Wednesday.

The last murder in Scarsdale was that of Bonnie Garland. Two excellent books on the case:

The Killing of Bonnie Garland by Willard Gaylin

The Yale Murder by Peter Meyer

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A Crime to Remember: The Career Girl Murders (Season 1) New York City 1963

Books on the case

Dead Girls by Erik German 

The Victims: The Wylie-Hoffert Murder Case and it’s Strange Aftermath by Bernard Lefkowitz & Kenneth G. Gross 

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2016: the year of WDT

During high school I discovered the unsolved murder of Hollywood film director William Desmond Taylor. College, grad school and life in general intervened but my interest in the case remained strong. Every time a new book on the subject appears I snap it up. I’ve search out out-of-print books. Scoured libraries for old newspaper and magazine articles. I’ve collected shelves full of material and read about 25% of it. This year I’m going to read it all. Maybe I’ll even solve the murder. Ok, probably not.

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The original 1943 title and cover. Reissued as The Red Carnelian in 1965

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Murder in the Hippie Commune

Caitlin Rother is one of my all-time favorite true crime authors. Her next book could be a detailed expose of a car vandalism ring and I'd still hit the pre-order button. That's because Rother knows how to blend reporting and public documents, minute details and sweeping overviews, and sympathy for the victims with insight into the perpetrator.

In this outing, Then No One Can Have Her, Rother tackles the murder of Carol Kennedy, artist, teacher and mother. Her ex-husband Steve DeMocker is immediately a suspect but the path to his arrest and trials is years long. He enjoys the sorts of trial delays usually associated with multi-millionaires and HLN fodder. His ability to manipulate people while he is behind bars would make Charles Manson envious. His skills of manipulation prior to imprisonment are even more impressive. To say he gets a little action is like saying Buffalo, NY gets a little snow. He shoots, he scores, and then gets the lucky ladies to run errands for him.

The police, prosecutors and court system of New Age nirvana Prescott, Arizona clearly were not ready for the likes of Steve DeMocker. The town seems more prepared to hold a symposium on healing crystals than to handle the rudiments of a murder investigation. Which is why people move there, I suppose. The open-armed naivety that inspired students and faculty to re-start Prescott College on their own after it went bankrupt allows DeMocker to work his magic.

Instead of making Carol Kennedy an angelic victim, Rother explores why an intelligent woman stays with a man her friends describe as one sick customerr and the biggest Creep ever. She also reclaims neighbor Jim Knapp from the avalanche of innuendo DeMocker's defense team inflicted. Rother even manages to make trust law interesting.

A great read for any true crime fan.