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New Harvest
February 2014
On Sale: February 18, 2014
Featuring: Veronica Gedeon
368 pages
ISBN: 0544114310
EAN: 9780544114319
Kindle: B00E3E4XMU
Hardcover / e-Book
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Historical | Mystery Historical
Beekman Place, once one of the most exclusive addresses in
Manhattan, had a curious way of making it into the tabloids
in the 1930s: “SKYSCRAPER SLAYER,” “BEAUTY SLAIN IN BATHTUB”
read the headlines. On Easter Sunday in 1937, the discovery
of a grisly triple homicide at Beekman Place would rock the
neighborhood yet again—and enthrall the nation. The young
man who committed the murders would come to be known in the
annals of American crime as the Mad Sculptor.
Caught up in the Easter Sunday slayings was a bizarre and
sensationalistic cast of characters, seemingly cooked up in
a tabloid editor’s overheated imagination. The charismatic
perpetrator, Robert Irwin, was a brilliant young sculptor
who had studied with some of the masters of the era. But
with his genius also came a deeply disturbed psyche; Irwin
was obsessed with sexual self-mutilation and was frequently
overcome by outbursts of violent rage. Irwin’s primary victim, Veronica Gedeon, was a figure from
the world of pulp fantasy—a stunning photographer’s model
whose scandalous seminude pinups would titillate the public
for weeks after her death. Irwin’s defense attorney, Samuel
Leibowitz, was a courtroom celebrity with an unmatched
record of acquittals and clients ranging from Al Capone to
the Scottsboro Boys. And Dr. Fredric Wertham, psychiatrist
and forensic scientist, befriended Irwin years before the
murders and had predicted them in a public lecture months
before the crime. Based on extensive research and archival records, The Mad
Sculptor recounts the chilling story of the Easter Sunday
murders—a case that sparked a nationwide manhunt and endures
as one of the most engrossing American crime dramas of the
twentieth century. Harold Schechter’s masterful prose evokes
the faded glory of post-Depression New York and the singular
madness of a brilliant mind turned against itself. It will
keep you riveted until the very last page.
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