A little over fifty years ago, the small town of Holcomb in Kansas was ravaged with a brutal murder case of four family members. They all were slaughtered. The murder and trial were going unnoticed for the most part in America until Truman Capote arrived in the city.
He then investigated the murder and published his stellar book In Cold Blood in 1966 with much detail of the slaughter and how the trial proceeded. Since then, it has been ardently and widely acclaimed as the benchmark of Crime Thriller.
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An Overview of the In Cold Blood
Truman Capote published the book in 1966, and it was an immediate hit among the Americans. Slowly, it won the heart of millions of readers across the globe. Currently, the book is the 2nd best-selling crime novel of all time. So, you know how famous the story is.
So, why don’t you ardently take the chance and read this fantastic true crime novel?
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The Plot of The Novel
In Cold Blood was written based on the true story of 4 slaughtered men in Kansas and then how the criminals were investigated and taken into custody for further trial.
Herbert Herb was an owner of a farm and was respected by his farmhands for his fair treatment to all. His wife, Bonnie, was depicted as a depressed and mentally disturbed woman in the novel, although his brother disputed it.
They had four daughters, namely, Eveanna, Beverly, Nancy, and Kenyon.ย While Eveanna and Beverly were married off to two wealthy men and lived in a distant place, the younger two daughters lived with the couple. On the dark night of November 15, 1959, the four family members were brutally killed by two ex-convicts.
They were later released from prison. Their name was respectively Richard Eugene and Perry Edward. The gruesome robbery and murder case soon become the talk of the little town. Police started investigating hard into the matter.
Floyd Wells helped the law enforcement authority as he contracted the warden and tipped him about the two murders’ location. Interestingly, Floyd earlier had suggested the two murderers about Herbert’s secret of keeping colossal cash at home.
The two murders were arrested on December 30 and were immediately taken into investigation. Both almost immediately confessed their crime. The trial started afterward, and both criminals tried to prove their insanity during the crime.
Ultimately, they failed and were executed to death on April 14, 1965, six years later of the horrific murder.
A brief summary of In Cold Blood
The Second Twist
The murder and trial became famous when Capote wrote the novel, and it went on viral. Capote had been assisted by his friend Harper Lee, who later won the Pultizer Prize for his stellar To Kill A Mocking Bird, in the research of the storyline.
Capote’s research was a compilation of overwhelmingly 8000 notes. He even met those who were present during the trial. What’s exciting and the most astounding part of the novel is that he interviewed Eugene and Edward.
After the execution of the murders, Capote went on to publish the talisman book that later set the genre of crime fiction.
Appreciation and Dispute
As soon as the book was released, people grabbed it wholeheartedly. Soon it became a sensation all across Europe and America.
However, the book received both positive and negative reviews. Mainly, critics were doubtful about the real depiction of the murdered Herb family. People claimed that Capote had fabricated the story for his book’s benefit. Also, Bonnie’s, the wife of Herbert Herb, family questioned the portrayal of Bonnie as a mentally disturbed woman. Some even questioned on Capote’s stand and told that he was favoring the two murderers.
But these doubts didn’t block the selling of it. The book, as it records now, is the benchmark of every crime story. Capote is well praised as the founding father of the Crime genre in literature.
Those who love dark thrillers and crime story, they cannot but read In Cold Blood. Once you start it, you won’t even know how time flies past you. The gruesomeness of the murder, the tales of the crimes, and their trial, everything seems surreal.
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