Review by Booklist Review
Award-winning crime writer Weinman (The Real Lolita, 2018) weaves a strange and compelling tale about murder, deception, fame, and friendship. On March 5, 1957 in Ramsey, New Jersey, Edgar Smith is arrested for the brutal murder of 15-year-old Vickie Zielinski. In short order, he confesses and is convicted. Once in prison, Edgar begins a campaign of innocence, naming another suspect and claiming police coercion, catching the eye of National Review founder William F. Buckley who has little doubt he is innocent. Buckley introduces Edgar to Knopf editor Sophie Wilkins who helps him publish a book while carrying on a torrid letter-writing relationship. In 1971, it is determined that his confession was coerced and he is released. Weinman makes it clear from the beginning that Edgar is guilty and a conman but that is the success of the book, the reader can see the long game while Buckley and Wilkins (and several other women he carried on with while in prison) are drawn into his lies. Weinman makes great use of the many letters that exist between all three of them. This is a psychologically fascinating must-read for true-crime buffs.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this mesmerizing account, Weinman (The Real Lolita) does a masterly job resurrecting a stranger-than-fiction chapter in American criminal justice. In 1957, unemployed veteran Edgar Smith was arrested for bludgeoning 15-year-old Victoria Zielinski to death in Mahwah, N.J. Smith, who testified in his own defense at his trial, was sentenced to death. In 1962, after conservative intellectual William F. Buckley learned Smith was an admirer of Buckley's magazine, National Review, Buckley began corresponding with Smith, leading to an unlikely friendship and financial support for legal efforts to spare Smith's life. Smith, who published both a book about his case and a mystery novel from behind bars, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder during a retrial, and in 1971 he was released for time served. In 1976, Smith stabbed a woman nearly to death in California. (During his testimony at the subsequent trial, he admitted to killing Zielinski.) Weinman's dogged research, which included correspondence with Smith, who died in prison in 2017, and a study of Buckley's papers, enable her to craft a deeply unsettling narrative about how a clever killer manipulated the justice system to his benefit. This instant classic raises disturbing questions about gullibility even on the part of the very bright. Agent: David Patterson, Stuart Krichevsky Literary. (Feb.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
With this enthralling book, Weinman (The Real Lolita) details the twisted, extraordinary story of a murderer who manipulated his way to freedom and fame. In the 1960s, Edgar Smith, on death row for the murder of teenager Victoria Zielinski, began corresponding with William F. Buckley, the prominent conservative who founded the National Review. Weinman contends that Buckley's advocacy and friendship helped Smith to get a book deal, a release from prison, and a welcoming reception from the public. Weinman thoroughly covers Smith's deception and his eventual return to crime. She writes with empathy for Smith's victims, including those left in the wake of his lies, and a critical eye toward the systems that allowed him to continue committing offenses. The book is a must-read for true crime fans, but it will appeal to nonfiction readers across genres for its thrilling blend of crime, media, and politics in mid-century America. Readers looking for similarly page-turning true crime may be interested in Rebecca Rosenberg and Selim Algar's At Any Cost: A Father's Betrayal, a Wife's Murder, and a Ten-Year War for Justice. VERDICT An immediately absorbing story of crime, manipulation, and influence.--Kate Bellody, SUNY New Paltz
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The acclaimed author of The Real Lolita tells the story of how a convicted murderer manipulated his way out of death row and into the spotlight. In 1957, Edgar Smith was sentenced to die for the murder of a 15-year-old girl. A decade later, he published a book proclaiming his innocence. That book, Brief Against Death, won the admiration of Truman Capote and William F. Buckley, a friend he made while in jail. Seeking to understand how Smith managed to hoodwink intellectuals as well as the women he claimed to love, Weinman, who writes the crime column for the New York Times Book Review, investigates his life and the crimes that brought him notoriety. She examines his life-changing friendship that developed in 1962 when Buckley, who had read of Smith's fondness for the National Review in a newspaper article, personally offered him a permanent subscription. For the next nine years, the two men exchanged more than 1,500 pages of correspondence in which the wily convict showcased his charm and writing ability and revealed his intent to write a book demonstrating that the case against him was "riddled with holes." Buckley believed Smith and later introduced him to a female editor who was similarly captivated by Smith's "sweet-talking" letters. After the publication of his book, the now-famous convict kindled romantic connections, including "torrid epistolary affair[s]" with two other women. By 1971, Smith was not only a free man; he was a famous writer thanks to his friendship with Buckley. However, by 1976, after the celebrity had dissipated, Smith was finally sentenced for a kidnapping that nearly ended in the death of a second woman. Weinman's book is not only a disturbing study in how "brilliant people" and the institutions they serve can be successfully conned. It is also a reminder of how society has always used talent as a way to excuse male acts of aggression and violence against women. Wholly compelling reading from an author well versed in the true-crime genre. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
