Truman Capote's masterpiece IN COLD BLOOD was based on the
brutal killings of a family in Holcomb, Kansas. Perry Smith
and Dick Hickok were tried and executed for the killings.
But, what if they were not alone? What if there was a third
person and he got away? What would he do to get his hands on
a written confession by Dick Hickok, that explains it all?
Retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn and her husband, Carlos, who
is an ex-priest and now a university professor, are trying
to live a quiet life with their dogs. However, Carlos was
once a prison chaplain, and that is what brings a killer to
their doorstep. A man who would do anything to get rid of
any evidence of his involvement with one of the most famous
crimes in modern history.
Now, this book was one that I was really eager to read. I've
not read IN COLD
BLOOD, but I listened not long ago to FURIOUS
HOURS by Casey Cep and the book brought up the killing
in Holcomb, and the investigation Truman Capote and Harper
Lee did for Capote's book. So, I was pretty thrilled to read
a thriller based on that crime. This is the first Becky
Masterman book I've read so I was curious to see how the
book would be. And the book started strong and then the
story lost its hold on me. I'm actually really sad to have
to write this, but the book, despite having great
characters, both Brigid and Carlos and their interesting
backgrounds and not to mention Brigid's slightly creepy
niece Gemma-Kate, but, the story, the man who is after the
document, is just such a bumbling foolish old man, never
scary. The image one gets of the person he was as a child
just didn't match the man he was as an adult. I mean his
plan to kill Brigid keeps failing over and over again like
in a comedy. I felt the more I read, the more I grew tired
of the story and just wished it would finish.
WE WERE KILLERS ONCE had the potential to be a great book,
but the story just couldn't keep me interested all the way
and the third killer storyline that could have been so great
just didn't work for me. Still, I found the main characters
interesting and wouldn't mind reading another book in the
series.
In 1959, a family of four were brutally murdered in Holcomb,
Kansas. Perry Smith and Dick Hickok were convicted and
executed for the crime, and the murders and their
investigation and solution became the subject of Truman
Capote's masterpiece, In Cold Blood. But what if
there was a third killer, who remained unknown? What if
there was another family, also murdered, who crossed paths
with this band of killers, though their murder remains
unsolved? And what if Dick Hickok left a written confession,
explaining everything?
Retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn and her husband Carlo, a
former priest and university professor, are trying to enjoy
each other in this new stage in their lives. But a memento
from Carlo's days as a prison chaplain--a handwritten
document hidden away undetected in a box of Carlo's old
things--has become a target for a man on the run from his
past. Jerry Beaufort has just been released from prison
after decades behind bars, and though he'd like to get on
with living the rest of his life, he knows that somewhere
there is a written record of the time he spent with two
killers in 1959. Following the path of this letter will
bring Jerry into contact with the last person he'll see as a
threat: Brigid Quinn.
Becky Masterman's unputdownable thrillers featuring unique
heroine Brigid Quinn continue with this fascinating
alternative look at one of America's most famous crimes.