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Title details for The Girls of Murder City by Douglas Perry - Available

The Girls of Murder City

Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago

by Douglas Perry
Peter Berkrot
Audiobook
1 of 3 copies available
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1 of 3 copies available
Chicago, 1924. There was nothing surprising about men turning up dead in the Second City. Life was cheaper than a quart of illicit gin in the gangland capital of the world. But two murders that spring were special—worthy of celebration. So believed Maurine Watkins, a wanna-be playwright and a "girl reporter" for the Chicago Tribune, the city's "hanging paper." Newspaperwomen were supposed to write about clubs, cooking, and clothes, but the intrepid Miss Watkins, a minister's daughter from a small town, zeroed in on murderers instead. Looking for subjects to turn into a play, she would make "Stylish Belva" Gaertner and "Beautiful Beulah" Annan—both of whom had brazenly shot down their lovers—the talk of the town. Love-struck men sent flowers to the jail, and newly emancipated women sent impassioned letters to the newspapers. Soon more than a dozen women preened and strutted on "Murderesses' Row" as they awaited trial, desperate for the same attention that was being lavished on Maurine Watkins's favorites.


In the tradition of Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City and Karen Abbott's Sin in the Second City, Douglas Perry vividly captures Jazz Age Chicago and the sensationalized circus atmosphere that gave rise to the concept of the celebrity criminal. Fueled by rich period detail and enlivened by a cast of characters who seemed destined for the stage, The Girls of Murder City is crackling social history that simultaneously presents the freewheeling spirit of the age and its sober repercussions.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 5, 2010

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400197699
      • File size: 293691 KB
      • Duration: 10:11:51

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Perry's book examines the notorious female criminals in 1920s Chicago whose stories lie behind the musical of that name, as well as the women reporters who covered their exploits. Peter Berkrot's narration matches the lurid topic and equally lurid writing with an affectedly snide tone, as if he's taking on the book's cynicism. But the affectation puts one off rather than engages, and it accentuates his nasal tone. The voices he supplies for quotations, frequently female, while not always convincing, do help differentiate the speakers and give them some life. But Berkrot's reading is fundamentally clear, well paced, and sensitive to the text, and those qualities, plus the remarkable period, carry the listener through. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 12, 2010
      This jaunty retrospective of two Jazz Age trials introduces us to the real-life originals of the killer ladies of the musical Chicago
      —and to the society that adored them. Journalist Perry (The Sixteenth Minute: Life in the Aftermath of Fame
      ) revisits the 1924 cases of Belva Gaertner, a swanky divorcée, and Beulah Annan, a beautiful married woman, both accused of shooting their lovers to death. They were the most photogenic on Cook County jail’s “Murderess’ Row” of defendants in a spate of woman-on-man killings that inflamed the press and captivated a public grown bored with gangland murders. (Perry’s third heroine is skeptical female reporter Maurine Watkins, who bemoaned the inability of all-male Chicago juries to convict killers with pretty faces.) The author gives an entertaining, wised-up rundown of the cases and the surrounding media hoopla, which the defendants and their lawyers cannily manipulated. (Annan hired a fashion consultant for court appearances and falsely declared herself pregnant to win sympathy.) Beneath the sensationalism, Perry finds anxieties about changing sex roles as feisty flappers and aggressive career women barged into public consciousness; his savvy, flamboyant social history illuminates a dawning age of celebrity culture. Photos.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 27, 2010
      A series of murders committed by women in Chicago in the 1920s provide juicy material for drama in this racy history, as well as the musical. Perry paints a vividly detailed picture of the events with a range of viewpoints, from interviews with the murderers to police reports. Peter Berkrot has a deep and projecting voice that's easy to follow and enjoy. He handles the straightforward narrative smoothly, using pause and emphasis to highlight more important passages. If his female voices require more work, he excels at quoting newspapers and other firsthand accounts, cleverly mimicking their sensationalized, breathless tone. A Viking hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 12).

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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