The "double Indemnity" MurderThe "double Indemnity" Murder
Ruth Snyder, Judd Gray, and New York's Crime of the Century
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Book, 2006
Current format, Book, 2006, 1st ed, Available .Book, 2006
Current format, Book, 2006, 1st ed, Available . Offered in 0 more formatsFew incidents in crime history have been as notorious—yet mundane—as the 1927 murder of Queens suburbanite Albert Snyder by his wife and her lover. Resonant of the footloose Jazz Age, it made persistent headlines and led to a sensational trial, spawning a 1920s Broadway play and the classic noir film of the 1940s: Double Indemnity. This book assesses the entire case, from grisly slaying and shabby cover-up to sharp police work and aftermath. Moreover, it explores sociocultural questions that beg to be answered: what effect does news reportage exert upon high profile cases, and why did such a transparent crime earn such an enduring place in the popular psyche?
Investigation documents and photographs related to the 1927 murder of Albert Snyder by his wife Ruth and her lover Judd Gray have been mostly destroyed because of their antiquity. Mackeller offers his telling of the ordeal, as gleaned from trial transcripts, periodicals, interviews, city records, letters, a detective log, and earlier books on the topic. The murder inspired the book-turned-noir film titled Double Indemnity, and was later interpreted in the film Body Heat. This book reads like a novel and employs artistic license in fleshing out the moments that were not logged, as in the first chapter describing the crime, where dialogue of unclear source is abundant. The second chapter details the trial, wherein the two accused invent indictments of the other. This chapter also portrays the popular and media frenzy that accompanied the trial. The two were eventually sentenced to be executed at Sing Sing prison, and the final chapter describes their last days and the public's response. The appendix offers brief biographies of personalities in the book and discusses questions of motive that may remain unanswered. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Investigation documents and photographs related to the 1927 murder of Albert Snyder by his wife Ruth and her lover Judd Gray have been mostly destroyed because of their antiquity. Mackeller offers his telling of the ordeal, as gleaned from trial transcripts, periodicals, interviews, city records, letters, a detective log, and earlier books on the topic. The murder inspired the book-turned-noir film titled Double Indemnity, and was later interpreted in the film Body Heat. This book reads like a novel and employs artistic license in fleshing out the moments that were not logged, as in the first chapter describing the crime, where dialogue of unclear source is abundant. The second chapter details the trial, wherein the two accused invent indictments of the other. This chapter also portrays the popular and media frenzy that accompanied the trial. The two were eventually sentenced to be executed at Sing Sing prison, and the final chapter describes their last days and the public's response. The appendix offers brief biographies of personalities in the book and discusses questions of motive that may remain unanswered. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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- Syracuse, N.Y. : Syracuse University Press, c2006.
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