The Murder Room

The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases

By: Michael Capuzzo

Narrated by: Adam Grupper

Length: 15 hrs

Publisher's summary

Thrilling, true tales from the Vidocq Society, a team of the world's finest forensic investigators whose monthly gourmet lunches lead to justice in ice-cold murders.

Good friends and sometime rivals William Fleisher, Frank Bender, and Richard Walter—a renowned FBI agent turned private eye, a sculptor lothario who speaks to the dead, and an eccentric profiler known as “the living Sherlock Holmes”—were heartsick over the growing tide of unsolved murders of innocents. They decided one day over lunch that something had to be done, and pledged themselves to a grand quest for justice. The three men invited the greatest collection of forensic investigators ever assembled, drawn from five continents, to the Downtown Club in Philadelphia to begin an audacious quest: to bring the coldest killers in the world to an accounting. Named for the first modern detective, the Parisian Eugéne François Vidocq - the flamboyant Napoleonic real-life sleuth who inspired Sherlock Holmes - the Vidocq Society meets monthly in its secretive chambers to solve a cold murder over a gourmet lunch.

The Murder Room draws the listener into a chilling, darkly humorous, awe-inspiring world as the three partners travel far from their Victorian dining room to hunt the ruthless killers of a millionaire's son, a serial killer who carves off faces, and a child killer enjoying fifty years of freedom and dark fantasy.

Michael Capuzzo's brilliant storytelling gifts bring true crime to life more realistically and vividly than it has ever been portrayed before. It is a world of dazzlingly bright forensic science; true evil as old as the Bible and dark as the pages of Dostoevsky; and a group of flawed, passionate men and women, inspired by their own wounded hearts to make a stand for truth, goodness, and justice in a world gone mad.

©2010 Michael Capuzzo (P)2010 Simon and Schuster Audio

One of the greatest crime stories ever!

If you like crime fiction, then this non-fiction will blow you away. It reads like a novel. The insights in to crime and the criminal mind make this a must listen. 5 stars all the way.

A True blue Secret Society

What did you love best about The Murder Room?

I had never heard of Vidocq Society until I listened to the this book! It was unbelievable that a group of detectives existed without society really knowing anything about them and yet they do what they without any fanfare!

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Murder Room?

I loved listening to narrator discuss Richard Walter go after the bad guys! I wouldn't buy any "Green Bananas" is such a great quote! But his Cold Read of a Photo in front of Scotland Yard was Brillant

Have you listened to any of Adam Grupper’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not yet, but I would! His voice and inflections were EXCELLENT

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

If you think you can get away with Murder! Think again!

Any additional comments?

This was my Favorite Audio book EVER! Great Story! Great Narrator, Great True Crime!

Interesting Real Life Cast of Characters

Overall interesting story. Very non linear story telling, but has a solid, overarching trend line if one is patient enough to ride out the roller coaster. Some of the writing seems to borrow from schmaltzy detective dime novel tropes but it is trifling compared to the undeniably interesting characters that are Frank Bender, Bill Fleischer, and Richard Walter.

Super intriguing!

If you like true crime, this is one book you'll want to listen to! Narration is amazing and the stories are really intriguing.

one of the finest books ever written.

this book keeps you engaged from start to finish. this is my second reading of it. wish a movie would be made from it.

Great True Crime!

Excellent True Crime for any enthusiast! The stories are well written and the author is excellent

Beware of staring into the abyss,it stares back

Normally I pass on true crime genre, and I wouldn't have pick this one if I hadn't heard a fascinating interview on NPR's Fresh Air featuring the author, Michael Capuzzo, forensic psychologist and profiler Richard Walter, and learning of the origins of the Vidocq Society. Capuzzo's work walks us through an American nightmare of psychopaths, sadists, killers, serial killers and more. There are names here we're familiar with from the news, and some we're only dimly aware of from myths, fairy tales, and from our nightmares. All of them true.This is not the typical true-crime drama or quickie csi adventure with neat solutions and families finding hope and closure at the end. Solutions are a long time in coming if at all.
Always gripping, I'd find it hard to describe this as entertainment. This is information disturbing and horrifying for the most part but there is also hope, thanks to the Society. This is knowledge that helps us discover what drives certain individuals; that informs us as to why some people do what they do,such as the members of the Vidocq Society who labor for the dead in order to provide them a voice,in many cases restores an identity,and provides the relief their families longs for.
At fourteen plus hours I found this excellent production much too short and immediately had to listen again. Initially I thought I would be put off by Adam Grupper's sharp, just-the-facts reading but seconds into the audio I found myself swept away into this history of the origins of expert crime analysis. His voice and intonations were perfect for this book.He would make an excellent Sherlock Holmes.This is a book for all the cynics and skeptics who, like I, long to find the goodness buried deep in the the human soul only to find ourselves horrified by the potential for the extreme evil that is buried in us all; that allows us to annililate each other in ways unimaginable, but still providing hope for those who've lost loved ones to murder.
This is an excellent find.

Tops

Best, most informative book that I've read all year! I have a whole new cadre of heroes in the Vidocq Society.

Guaranteed to Fascinate

This is one of the most engaging books I have read on crime in a long time. Capuzzo tells the origins and history of the Vidocq Society, a group of forensic experts who gather together once a month in Philadelphia to hear cold cases. These men and women work pro bono and have solved numerous crimes. The book focuses on the three founding members of the society: US Customs Agent William Fleisher, pre-eminent psychologist and profiler Richard Walter, and the brilliant forensic artist Frank Bender. These men have solved some of the most heinous crimes of the last 50 years.

The topic of the book is fascinating and the true life characters are very intriguing. Perhaps at times too intriguing. Capuzzo, an excellent writer, tends to rabbit trail a little too much and inserts a lot of material that makes the flow of the story choppy and hard to follow at times. Don't let that dissuade you from reading this book. I will give you one warning: this is not for the faint of hear. You have to understand that these men track down psychopaths. Some of the material is brutal. Capuzzo never revels in the horror, but he does describe it. If you want to believe that there are no bad people out there then avoid this book. You will encounter evil.

The Murder Room: very detailed fast paced

I normally am not drawn to any of the detailed crime or forensic novels; but after hearing the author interviewed on NPR, it caught my attention. The book was excellent and from what I understood, very factual. The writing style and character detail had me picturing the events as I listened along. That was why it was so gruesome and moving to me; I felt like I was watching the events as they were unfolding. Anyone interested in profilers and forensics to solve crime will love the detail and the character detail made me feel like I was looking at them. I am amused at reviews that criticize the narrator so much, for me they are the voice that sets the tone and in this case; Adam Grouper did an excellent job in bringing the characters to life with his style. I could clearly identify who he was speaking for as he read. Talented Mr. Grouper!