A less-than-compelling reinvestigation of a 1932 Arizona crime in which two bodies were dismembered, stuffed into luggage, and taken by rail out of state. Arizona journalist Bommersbach's ten-year investigation has not revealed definitively the perpetrator, motive, or dismemberer in the crime. Winnie Ruth Judd, the author tells us, was married to a physician 25 years her senior. She was sojourning in Phoenix with two young, pretty roommates while her husband—unemployable because of his drug addiction—searched for work in L.A. Phoenix in the 30's was strait-laced, but, even so, there was a subculture of ``cops, attorneys, playboys, and party girls.'' Enter J.J. ``Happy Jack'' Halloran, a successful Phoenix businessman who loved to take a couple of bottles and friends over to the ``girls'' and party. Unfortunately, this is all Bommersbach tells of Halloran, a central character. The other principals are paper-thin as well, except for Judd, who's depicted as so saintly that she seems subject to ascension at any moment. One night, Judd took two heavy trunks on the train to L.A., where she was asked to open them. Inside were one roommate and pieces of another. Judd was returned to Phoenix, where she told of being attacked by her roommates and of fighting for her life. At Judd's trial for murder, Bommersbach explains, the police concealed that fact that Happy Jack was with Judd that night; that she had a gunshot wound in her left hand and 147 bruises on her body (indicating self-defense); and that, in the coroner's opinion, only a surgeon (perhaps hired by Happy Jack?) could have cut up the bodies so precisely. Found guilty, Judd was sent to a state hospital, where she spent 38 years; she is now free. Fine if inconclusive research, but more properly melodrama than true crime. An NBC miniseries based on the book will air in November. (Photos—eight pp. b&w—not seen.)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-671-74007-5
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
This massive biography leaves no stone unturned in portraying a familiar but little-studied antebellum figure, considered the young country's best orator. Veteran historian Remini (Henry Clay, 1991; The Life of Andrew Jackson, 1988; etc.) maintains a delicate balance between Webster's (17821852) two personas: ``the Godlike Daniel,'' so called for his brilliant public addresses and eulogies of heroes of the American Revolution, and ``Black Dan,'' a tag referring not only to his dark appearance but to his ruthless politicking and ferocious temper. Much of the study of Webster's public life is organized around the famous speeches that defined and shaped his career, including his dual eulogy of presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and his congressional address appealing for early recognition of Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire, which positioned the congressman and senator for later appointments as secretary of state. Black Dan is more evident in Remini's depiction of the statesman's private life. Besides being alcoholic, Webster had the terrible misfortune of outliving four of his five children, launching three abortive and embarrassing attempts to gain the presidency, and suffering endless financial problems. Remini quite deftly shows why he was known as ``the Great Expounder and Defender of the Constitution,'' depicting Webster as one of the earliest strict constructionists, a man who felt that the Constitution was the defining American document and that the preservation of the Union took precedence over all other policy considerations. Unfortunately, it is here that Webster's political clout was eventually devalued, as he refused to combat the Fugitive Slave Act and chose to accept House Speaker Henry Clay's Missouri Compromise, which perpetuated slavery and did nothing but guarantee the outbreak of war. Remini never properly indicts Webster for this moral lapse, nor does he explain why constitutional amendments to reverse the injustice were not considered. Though Remini's obvious admiration for Webster may sometimes cloud his view, a more complete and engrossing biography could not be produced. (photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Oct. 6, 1997
ISBN: 0-393-04552-8
Page Count: 796
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A father's close-up view of his daughter's growing up, from her active days in the womb to the exhausted tantrum at the end of her third birthday. Hall is a writer of both fiction and nonfiction (The Impossible Country, 1994), but it is the novelist's sensibility that he brings to this biography of his first child, Madeleine. He has done his research on mental and physical development of the infant to the age we now call preschooler: the prehensile grasp of newborns, so strong in the first days; the separation of ``me'' from ``not-me''; the understanding of object permanence; the development of mobility, self-awareness, language; issues of control (the two-year-old's ``No!''). But to his close observations of her development (he was the parent on duty exactly ``40 percent'' of the time), he brought also a familiarity with myth and the growth of consciousness, and a poetic sensibility that realizes things are not always what they seem. A simple example: Blowing out her second birthday candles disconcerted Madeleine. Normal interpretation: Where did the flame go? What magic is this? But Hall probes deeper. Interpreting a photograph from that event, he sees Madeleine as looking ``worried and guilty''; had she ``broken'' or ``killed'' the flames? Is she beginning to understand herself as an instrument, a cause of the effect? When she begins to fear the monsters in the shadows, Hall reads and rereads the books meant to reassure her but finally comes to grips with Madeleine's very real dread and assigns himself to protect her: ``If a tiger came in here, I'd give it a karate chop.'' ``Poop'' is also a big issue, as is Madeleine's ambivalence at the arrival of her baby sister. Like every first-time parent, Hall seems to project his own childhood doubts and fears onto his daughter. Nevertheless, it's a pleasure to have a father report so astutely and with such concern on a baby growing up.
Pub Date: Nov. 10, 1997
ISBN: 0-395-87059-3
Page Count: 257
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
