The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago

by Douglas Perry

Book Overview

THE UNTOLD TRUE STORY OF THE BEAUTIFUL KILLERS WHO DAZZLED A CITY AND INSPIRED THE ICONIC MUSICAL CHICAGO Chicago, 1924. There was nothing surprising about men turning up dead in the Second City. Life was cheaper than a quart of bathtub gin in the gangland capital of the world. But a pair pf murders that spring had something special. For intrepid 'girl reporter' Maurine Watkins, a minister's daughter from tiny Crawfordsville, Indiana, big city life...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670021970
• ISBN13: 9780670021970
• Release Date: August 2010
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Men Writing Women at its finest

Six pages in to the actual story and I was already taken aback at the authors writing. “Her body had a sullen prepubescence about it as though it had been stunted by cigarettes or some dread childhood disease. It was thrilling.” Or, “her body turning with erotic languor beneath her clothes, arms rising like a succulent baby’s.” Or, talking about glowing ass cheeks that resemble a clay pot out of the kiln, “a beautiful soreness”. I had to put it down. This is supposed to be a historical non-fiction and not whatever the hell this is. Bloviating about appearances with cringe worthy “artistic” liberties.

Chicago

I really liked this book. I’d just read The Devil in White City and figured it would be similar, which it was in some ways. It’s actually about the young lady reporter who wrote the play (which became a musical after her death) “Chicago.” My bf coincidentally recorded the musical the day before I started reading this so it was interesting to compare them.