Nothing but the Night

June 6, 2022
King and Wilson, coauthors of The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria, return with an intriguing deep dive into the horrific 1924 murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks in Chicago. Affluent friends Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb abducted Franks, Loeb’s second cousin, on his way home after school, and, after striking him on the head with a chisel and shoving an ether-soaked rag down his throat, stripped his body, stuffed it in a pipe, and sent his family a ransom demand. Their scheme unraveled quickly, however, when police found Leopold’s glasses near Franks’s corpse. Their families retained Clarence Darrow, who managed to get his clients life sentences rather than the death penalty. The authors demythologize Darrow’s advocacy, noting that he manipulated the trial record to edit out portions of his actual remarks, and investigate theories about the four other crimes Leopold said the pair had committed, but refused to name. Most sensationally, King and Wilson suggest that Leopold may have had Loeb killed in prison to enhance his own parole bid. Unfortunately, the psychology that led to the murder remains speculative. Still, this is a disturbing and well-documented look at one of the 20th century’s most infamous murders.

August 5, 2022

Extensively researched, this fascinating book by King and Wilson (co-authors of Lusitania: Triumph, Tragedy, and the End of the Edwardian Age) goes back nearly 100 years when 19-year-old Richard "Dickie" Loeb and Nathan "Babe" Leopold pled guilty to the kidnapping and murder of Loeb's 14-year-old cousin. Leopold and Loeb had a dysfunctional relationship involving dominate/submissive fantasies, sexual games, and shared excitement for getting away with crimes. They were academically gifted--both having already finished college--and did not want for anything, except maybe more attention from their parents. They both pinned the actual murder on the other, and their sentencing hearing turned sensational as their lawyer attempted to save them from the death penalty. If Leopold and Loeb were found to be legally insane, it would have forced a jury trial. Their lawyer correctly decided it would be best to have a bench trial and pinned all hopes on a life sentence for them both, which he achieved. VERDICT While the full truth of what happened may never be known, the authors make a compelling case for who the instigator was and will have readers debating the root cause.--Karen Sandlin Silverman

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2022
King and Wilson team up again, this time to chronicle the notorious 1924 murder case dubbed the "crime of the century." On May 21, 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two wealthy University of Chicago students, picked up their neighbor, 14-year-old Bobby Frank, while he was walking home from school. They proceeded to bind, gag, and bludgeon him to death and demand a ransom from his parents. Although meticulously planned over months--they wanted "to see if they could commit the perfect crime as if it was some childish game pitting their wits against the police"--their plan soon unraveled when Frank's body was found in a nearby forest where Leopold frequently went birding. Further incriminating details included bloodstains in a rented car, the typewriter on which the ransom letter was likely composed, and bottles of ether and strychnine and two loaded guns at the Leopold house. The authors' meticulous research is apparent throughout this thrilling narrative, as they reveal crucial aspects of the boys' lives and families, especially their codependent relationship and interests in grim Nietzschean philosophy, sadism, and other dark subjects. Observers attributed the crime to a variety of factors, including the "corrupting modern influences" of the Roaring '20s; "perversion," which was "the common and unmistakable code for homosexuality"; or the idea that the perpetrators had strayed from their Jewish roots. The authors argue that Leopold was the actual murderer. "Individually, Richard and Nathan were damaged but probably not dangerous," they write. "It was their coming together that proved deadly." Clarence Darrow took up the case in order to argue against the death penalty. The defendants pled guilty to avoid a jury trial, although Darrow did enlist psychiatrists to suggest that the pair were "mentally diseased" rather than insane or evil. This defense brought another massive wave of media frenzy, which the authors capture in colorful detail. An absorbing, psychological work of historical true crime.

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September 1, 2022
The facts of the case are well known: in May 1924, university students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped and murdered Loeb's cousin, 14-year-old Bobby Franks. They were caught, tried, and convicted, but Clarence Darrow saved them from a death sentence. The case has inspired numerous books (Meyer Levin's classic novel Compulsion; Simon Baatz's essential nonfiction account For the Thrill of It), as well as movies (Hitchcock's Rope), plays, and even an opera. But is what we know about the case entirely true? Here, frequent collaborators King and Wilson (The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria, 2020) challenge some of our common assumptions. For example: although the two are usually depicted as devotees of the nihilist philosopher Nietzsche, Leopold was the real Nietzsche fan; Loeb, not so much. Another: although it's generally accepted that Loeb was the more dominant of the boys, it was actually Leopold who "dictated the terms of the friendship." Even their motive itself comes under new scrutiny. While not the definitive account, this one offers true-crime fans some new angles to consider. A worthy addition to the voluminous literature on this famous case.

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