The Murder of the Century

The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars

By: Paul Collins

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

In Long Island, a farmer found a duck pond turned red with blood. On the Lower East Side, two boys playing at a pier discovered a floating human torso wrapped tightly in oilcloth. Blueberry pickers near Harlem stumbled upon neatly severed limbs in an overgrown ditch. Clues to a horrifying crime were turning up all over New York, but the police were baffled: There were no witnesses, no motives, no suspects.

The grisly finds that began on the afternoon of June 26, 1897, plunged detectives headlong into the era's most perplexing murder. Seized upon by battling media moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, the case became a publicity circus. Re-creations of the murder were staged in Times Square, armed reporters lurked in the streets of Hell's Kitchen in pursuit of suspects, and an unlikely trio - an anxious cop, a cub reporter, and an eccentric professor - all raced to solve the crime. What emerged was a sensational love triangle and an even more sensational trial: an unprecedented capital case hinging on circumstantial evidence around a victim that the police couldn't identify with certainty - and that the defense claimed wasn't even dead.

The Murder of the Century is a rollicking tale - a rich evocation of America during the Gilded Age and a colorful re-creation of the tabloid wars that have dominated media to this day.

©2011 Paul Collins (P)2011 AudioGo

Critic reviews

“Wonderfully rich in period detail, salacious facts about the case and infectious wonder at the chutzpah and inventiveness displayed by Pulitzer’s and Hearst’s minions. Both a gripping true-crime narrative and an astonishing portrait of fin de siecle yellow journalism.” ( Kirkus Reviews)

"A dismembered corpse and rival newspapers squabbling for headlines fuel Collins’s intriguing look at the birth of 'yellow journalism' in late 19th-century New York. [A]n in-depth account of the exponential growth of lurid news and the public’s (continuing) insatiable appetite for it." ( Publishers Weekly)

Scattered Dutchman Murder

I am not much of a True Crime aficionado, but I picked up this book when it went on sale because this murder took place right just as the US prepared to leap into the 20th century and I am very interested in that period of history. As the country stood on the cusp of great change, there was hardly a place to better document the challenges of the age than New York City. In telling the story of this one gruesome murder, Paul Collins is occasionally plodding and repetitive, but he does do a great job of detailing this period of yellow journalism, some of the societal impact of the huge wave of immigration that was taking place, and the roots of modern forensic science (and some of the pseudo science that still reigned in that day). William Dufris is not my favorite narrator, but his Ed Murrow style works pretty well with this book. The details of the murder and suspected murderers are not that engaging (kind of made me wish I could read it the way Hearst would have presented it instead), but this is a good snapshot of turn-of-the-century life (and death).

How the Tabs started!

What did you love best about The Murder of the Century?

how the author wove the historical times into the storyline. Very descriptive and easy to follow

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Hyperbole for a Title

At least 25% of the books that I read are True Crime. As a 40-year teacher of American History I had a comfortable familiarity with Hearst and Pulitzer and the beginning of yellow journalism. It is in light of those factors that I say this was nowhere near “the crime of the century.” After the first few chapters I totally lost interest in the murder, who the perpetrator was and whether or not punishment was meted out. If the thesis dealt with the Hearst and Pulitzer publication war, this was a droll way to teach about that. If “The Devil in the White City” is the gold standard for this era’s crimes, this proclaimed “Murder of the Century” is fool’s gold.

Fascinating and thrilling

This book purports to tell not only the story of THE murder of the (19th) century, but also the beginning of the tabloid wars...and it delivers!

If you have an interest in true crime (or simply enjoy period drama), this turn-of-the-century tale will almost certainly satisfy.

Good Book, Not Great, Good

Good book. Held my interest, but nothing special. It does show that not much has changed in the way society, the press, the police and prosecutors handle a big case. I'm a retired police officer and detective who worked in a very large city. That said...
The press take something obscure and make it big, sensationalizing every dark corner of a person's life as if that makes them guilty. The police try to do as little as possible until forced to move forward, then move in all the wrong directions, because they are the easiest directions to go in. The prosecutors don't seem to care who did it, just want to ride the wave of a big case and make a name for themselves. The people and the juries seem to swallow it all, hook, line, and sinker.
Of course not all cops, not all prosecutors, not all press, and not all society are like the above description. Most are not, but it seems more and more we are less concerned with justice and more on rattling our heads and demanding revenge.
Think it's not true? Look at how many people are being released from long prison terms and death row after DNA evidence is clearing them. People don't seem to mind bending our civil rights until they are the targets of an unjust persecution.

Interesting take on the beginnings of Yellow Journalism

This book tells more than just the story of a shocking murder it also tells the beginning of Yellow Journalism which led to the tabloids and paparazzi we have today. All in all a interesting look into history

Reads almost like fiction

Very well put together. It's interesting to see how things were done over a hundred years ago.

Loved the Narration

I was so bored at first, I almost gave up, but I am glad I persevered. Once the suspects were identified, I found it interesting. It was interesting to read about this crime in the context of the culture and technology at that time. The end of the book could have been shorter,

This is a story about a murder, but the twist is that the victim has no head. This tends to make identifying the body a bit difficult, particularly before the era of fingerprints, computer databases and DNA. There were many theories as to who did it, including the fact that the victim was still alive. Even at the end, I was not convinced of exactly what happened and how much culpability each suspect had.

The story itself was three stars for me, but the extra star comes from the narration. Once the trial started, I was enthralled with the different voices. They really came to life, particularly the defense attorney.

On a funny note, I live in NY State and taxpayers get frustrated with Albany's lack of action, I was amused to read that a bill regarding alternate jurors took 33 years to pass in the early 1900s and even then a reference was made to Albany's inaction.

Such a great book!

The narrator was wonderful and the story was riveting. I love reading about old cases and this one may not be as exciting as some but the journey was the most interesting part. Learning how the police and reporters worked back then. The story of the love triangle. It was so great I couldn’t stop listening to it. I finished the whole book in 24 hrs.

War of the Newspapers!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely! It was a great listen. New York City in the age of Tammany Hall and Pulitzer vs. Hearst duking it out in their tabloids. What's not to like?

What other book might you compare The Murder of the Century to and why?

Compulsion by Ira Levin, which was a novel about the Leopold/ Loeb murderers. This story is true though, and much more compelling because it is factual.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene I remember the most is when Augusta returns to the prison and asks for a job. I think she missed the attention she got as a high profile prisoner.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I enjoyed the book immensely but would never sit for 10 hours to finish any book...

Any additional comments?

This is a wonderfully written and narrated story about a real life murder in 1897 New York City. The most important thing about the narrative is the early police force, (fingerprints were not reliable at that time) and how the newsmen and women were just as likely to gather the clues as the cops. It was an important step in beginning a cohesive way to solve crimes and a lot of the people involved learned a great deal from being involved in this case.