A dark room in Glitter Ball City : murder, secrets, and scandal in Old Louisville

A dark room in Glitter Ball City Murder, secrets, and scandal in Old Louisville

David Dominé

Book - 2021

This true crime saga--with an eccentric Southern backdrop--introduces the reader to the story of a murder in a crumbling Louisville mansion and the decades of secrets and corruption that live within the old house's walls. On June 18, 2010, police discover a body buried in the wine cellar of a Victorian mansion in Old Louisville. James Carroll, shot and stabbed the year before, has lain for 7 months in a plastic storage bin--his temporary coffin. Homeowner Jeffrey Mundt and his boyfriend, Joseph Banis, point the finger at each other in what locals dub The Pink Triangle Murder. On the surface, this killing appears to be a crime of passion, a sordid love tryst gone wrong in a creepy old house. But as author David Domiň sits in on the tri...als, a deeper story emerges: the struggle between hope for a better future on the one hand and the privilege and power of the status quo on the other.As the court testimony devolves into he-said/he-said contradictions, David draws on the confidences of neighbors, drag queens, and other acquaintances within the city's vibrant LGBTQ community to piece together the details of the case. While uncovering the many past lives of the mansion itself, he enters a murky underworld of gossip, neighborhood scandal, and intrigue. --Publisher's website.

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Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor 364.1523/Domine Checked In
Subjects
Mundt, Jeffrey.
Banis, Joseph.
Caroll, James.
Murder > Kentucky > Louisville.
Louisville (Ky.) > Social conditions > 21st century.
Published
[S.l.] : Pegasus Crime 2021.
Language
English
Main Author
David Dominé (-)
Physical Description
1 volume : illustrations (colour) ; 23 cm
ISBN
9781643138633
  • Part 1: Get your cash today ; Proud neighborhood ; A dark room ; Whores in hot pants ; Family secrets ; The plot thickens ; The city that's not too busy ; Freedom riders ; The pie whose name we dare not speak ; Road trip ; Dark rooms
  • part 2: Gotta know the tricks ; The first jury ; Opening statement for the prosecution ; Opening statement for the defense ; Witness for the prosecution ; Gay guys are so creepy ; Redheaded stepchild ; Star witness ; Weird rubber stuff ; Witness for the defense ; Verdict ; Party on St. James Court ; Derby ; The second jury ; Opening statements : round two
  • Witness for the prosecution : round two ; Sex, lies, and videotape ; Witnesses for the defense ; Pieces of silver
  • part 3: You should know better than that ; Old skeletons ; Exploring new territory ; Doors to nowhere ; Three degrees of separation ; It's a dainty thing ; The witches' tree ; Cabaret obscura ; Epilogue.
Review by Booklist Review

Dominé, author of titles ranging from ghost stories to cookbooks, takes on the true-crime genre with this unraveling of a mystery surrounding a body discovered in a Louisville mansion in 2010. The book is, to put it lightly, a lot: "Drag Queens. Lover's triangle. Revenge. Body in the basement. Spooky old mansion. Drugs. Kinky sex. Counterfeit money. ... You couldn't make this stuff up." An ode to the city of Louisville as much as a true telling of a grisly murder case, what Dominé has crafted reads more like a thriller than nonfiction. Dominé's creative talent is evident in the way he arranges the narrative, but his sources are often tangentially related to the crime at best or based on hearsay, and sometimes ask readers to suspend disbelief that conversations or events really happened. Still, the tale itself, and Dominé's creative license with it, is engaging and twisty and even hardcore true-crime fans won't be able to put down.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Dominé (Haunts of Old Louisville: Gilded Age Ghosts and Haunted Mansions in America's Spookiest Neighborhood) provides an enthralling deep dive into a bizarre murder case, enhanced by his eyewitness account of the resulting trials. In June 2010, after a call for help from Jeffrey Mundt, the Louisville, Ky., police responded to what they thought was a routine domestic dispute. Mundt had given them permission to break into his residence, and when they did so, they saw Mundt's boyfriend, Joseph Banis, attempting to flee and found Mundt locked in a bedroom. Both men referred to the presence of a body in the basement, where the police found the corpse of James Carroll inside a Rubbermaid container under the dirt floor. Carroll, a hairdresser and drag queen, had been stabbed and shot, and Banis and Mundt each accused the other of having killed him during a threesome about six months earlier. Both were charged, and they were tried separately in 2013; Banis was found guilty of murder, but Mundt was convicted only of minor charges, criminal facilitation and evidence tampering. Dominé gives this colorful case the detailed attention it merits, even if he's ultimately unable to conclude who really killed Carroll. Fans of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil will be captivated. Agent: Alice Spielberg, Spielburg Literary. (Oct.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Dominé (Ghosts of Old Louisville) brings to life the history and culture of Louisville, KY, as he investigates the Pink Triangle Murder. In 2010, Jamie Carroll was fatally shot and stabbed; months later, his body was discovered, buried in the cellar of a dilapidated mansion owned by Jeffrey Mundt in the historic Old Louisville neighborhood. As Dominé sat through the murder trials of Mundt and his boyfriend, Joseph Banis, what appeared to be a crime of passion slowly developed into a far more complex story. Dominé, who himself lives in Louisville, got the inside story from a cast of local characters, including rich socialites and LGBTQ+ Louisvillians, who helped him assemble the pieces of this true crime puzzle. Dominé's book explores the effects of class and socioeconomic status on the case; she notes that the defendants were extremely wealthy and argues that they used this privilege to their advantage. VERDICT True crime fanatics will be drawn in by the rich history and setting and gripped by Dominé's intriguing account of a scandalous murder in the heart of Louisville.--Mattie Cook, Flat River Community Lib., MI

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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