Book

Fleming, Candace, author.

Murder among friends : how Leopold and Loeb tried to commit the perfect crime / Candace Fleming.

First edition.

New York, NY : Anne Schwartz Books, [2022]

©2022

355 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

How did two teenagers brutally murder an innocent child ... and why? And how did their brilliant lawyer save them from the death penalty in 1920s Chicago? Written by a prolific master of narrative nonfiction, this is a compulsively readable true-crime story based on an event dubbed the "crime of the century." In 1924, eighteen-year-old college students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb made a decision: they would commit the perfect crime by kidnapping and murdering a child they both knew. But they made one crucial error: as they were disposing of the body of young Bobby Franks, whom they had bludgeoned to death, Nathan's eyeglasses fell from his jacket pocket. Multi-award-winning author Candace Fleming depicts every twist and turn of this harrowing case--how two wealthy, brilliant young men planned and committed what became known as the crime of the century, how they were caught, why they confessed, and how the renowned criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow enabled them to avoid the death penalty. Following on the success of such books as The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh and The Family Romanov, this acclaimed nonfiction writer brings to heart-stopping life one of the most notorious crimes in our country's history.

Franks, Bobby, 1909-1924.

Leopold, Nathan Freudenthal, 1904-1971.

Loeb, Richard A., 1905-1936.

Kidnapping -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Case studies.

Murderers -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Biography.

Murder -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Case studies.

Trials (Murder) -- Illinois -- Cook County -- Juvenile literature.

Young adult literature.

Case studies.

True crime stories.

Biographies.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-306) and index.

Where is Bobby?. Wednesday, May 21, 1924 ; The longest night -- Boys will be boys. Nathan and Richard ; The superman and the master criminal ; Apart and together ; Planning the perfect crime -- Tracking the killers. Thursday, May 22, 1924 ; Search for the killers ; A murderer's theories, a coroner's inquest ; Saturday, May 24-Sunday, May 25, 1924 ; Interrogation ; Another day in custody -- Confessions. "I will tell you the real truth" ; Murderers' field trip ; "Impaling a beetle on a pin" ; Darrow for the defense ; Searching for insanity -- Courtroom battle. Surprise strategy ; A hot day in court ; Battles in and out of court ; New-school psychiatry takes the stand ; "The ageing lion" vs "fighting Bob" ; Waiting ; "Nothing but the night" ; "Life in prison is just what you make".

Part one: Where is Bobby? -- Part two: Boys will be boys -- Part three: Tracking the killers -- Part four: Confessions -- Part five: Courtroom battle.

9780593177426

0593177428

9780593177433

0593177436

1295183963

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