Name: The Girls of Murder City
ISBN: 9780670021970

Douglas Perry

Documents the true stories of the women whose sensational murder trials inspired the musical characters Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, tracing the contributions of fledgling reporter Maurine Watkins against a backdrop of Chicago's Prohibition Era and Jazz Age culture.

Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers who Inspired Chicago

The Girls of Murder City

Documents the true stories of Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan, the women whose sensational murder trials inspired the musical "Chicago," and traces the contributions of fledgling reporter Maurine Watkins against a backdrop of Chicago's Jazz Age culture.

Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago

Sarah Escorsa

Actual rating: 2.5 stars.
 
This book could have been Slightly Very Interesting Indeed (SVII™). It is, after all, supposed to be about a delightful bunch of somewhat homicidal (and ofttimes boozed out as fish) damsels in no bloody shrimping distress. Who kind of murdered lovers and husbands left and right in 1920s Chicago. And quite wonderfully managed to get away with their crimes because being young and pretty and stylish in the wonderful age of all-male juries was guaranteed to get them a  Get Out of Jail Free card. (Being a poor, unattractive, non-English speaking immigrant—or an African American—was sure to get your not-so-lovely derriere convicted for all eternity and beyond, though. Such lovely times these were.) Now that’s what I call Most Yummilicious Potential (MYP™)! And MYP™ tends to make me feel a teensy little bit like this:



It may not look like it but this is actually a celebratory dance. Just so you know.

Anyhoo and stuff, imagine all the Quite Fascinating Stuff (QFS™) the author could have explored here! He could have investigated why there were so many murderesses in Chicago at that particular time in history. He could have examined their personalities and motivations. He could have questioned how unethically close some reporters were to the jazzy jailbirds, and how full of sensationalist crap most of their articles were. He could have analyzed the impact of all-male juries on the American justice system. But he didn’t, so he didn’t.



See, even the best all-male jury in the history of all-male juries is discombobulated as fish over this.
 
So. What did the author do, you ask? Well, he…

① Fictionalized the shrimp out of this supposedly nonfiction book. So much so that most of parts of it read like passages from a trashy romance novel, and not factual accounts of real events. Therefore killing deadly dead any impact (or appeal) the book might have had. Not to mention that the author spends way too much time focusing on Totally Superfluous Details of the Most Dubious Veracity (TSDotMDV™), while completely leaving out essential information and facts that needed explaining. 

② Generously sprinkled his work with news article excerpts. And, doing so, kinda sorta shot himself in the foot pincer, since said excerpts tend to be more interesting than the book itself. And reveal a lot bloody shrimping more about 1920s Chicago than the author ever does. 

③ Shifted the focus of his book to Maurine Dallas Watkins (the reporter who wrote the original play on which the Broadway musical Chicago was based) faster than it takes to say “Fleet Admiral DaShrimp, unleash the crustaceans!” Which wouldn’t have been a problem if this had been Dallas Watkins’ biography. But it’s not, so it is.

④ Spent an inordinate amount of time talking about the Leopold and Loeb trial. Which wouldn’t have been a problem if this book had been about white, privileged college students who kill teenagers as a hobby. But it’s not, so it is.

So. What this all comes down to is, ① + ② + ③ + ④ =



Yeah, pretty much.

➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): pretty sure the author would be next on Belva’s, Beulah’s or any of their lovely fellow murderess’ hit list if they found out a lowly, despicably non-homicidal reporter had outrageously upstaged them in their own book. Quite revolting, that. 



[Pre-review nonsense]

What to think about this book I do not know. Much better indeed it could have been. But not much crispily nefarious yumminess ultimately it offered. A little perplexed by this I am. And so are the deliciously murderous damsels this book is about, from what I hear.



Yes, this is what a slightly mystified deliciously murderous damsel looks like. You're welcome.

Review to come and stuff.

The Girls of Murder City Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers who Inspired Chicago

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