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)

Perfect summer read and possibly more

Details really bring the era to life without slowing the pace and pitch of the story, which unfolds like a police procedural and courtroom drama among other things. The author does not preach against sensationalism, but instead wisely shows us that even more than a century later, some have never managed to evolve (the brouhaha surrounding high-profile cases). Competent narration rounds out this perfect package.

PRETTY, PRETTY, PRETTY GOOD!

I actually enjoyed this book after a spate of recent true crime books which were absolutely awful. Even veteran crime writer Ann Rule has lost her "mojo" after decades of dominating this genre. In this book you get good writing, research and narration - the must-have "triple crown" in audiobooks. Well worth the price of admission.

About journalism, not the crime

This is really not about "The Murder of the Century" - it's really about the tabloid newspapers in New York City at the end of the 19th century. Pulitzer and Hearst owned warring papers, both using sensationalism and "yellow journalism" to try and increase their readership and outdo their rivals. Headlines were bold, scandal was encouraged, and Hearst even created a "murder squad" of reporters with badges and guns to search for evidence before the police could find it, and make "citizen's arrests" if need be to protect The Journal's scoop. From colour to faster presses, it was a time of changes in newspaper publishing, and the murder of a masseur was just some of the fuel that stoked the fire of tabloid journalism competition. Sure, there was a murder, a dismemberment of the corpse. a missing head, and a scandal in the city, but that's all secondary to the real focus of the book.

It was an interesting book, but not terribly compelling or succinct. Narration was just OK.

Fun little historical murder mystery

Quick easy read. Found the relationship between the newspapers, politics, the law and the crime very interesting. "Bones" and "CNN" in the age of no fingerprints and no limits to behavior of journalists selling papers. Did they convict the wrong person?

Could not stop listening

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

A great story and history of the beginning of the twentieth century. The story is told in a way that keeps you engaged. I did not want the story to end.

An Entertaining Performance adds to the story

Dufris is the star of the show. His reading of Howe, the defense attorney, is amazing. This is a well writing and meticulously research account of a New York City murder and the sensationalist journalism that followed. The plot takes a lot of turns and in enganging thoughout. Once the trial is wrapped up, the book drags on for a few more chapters, and they should be skipped. This was a fun read, but it doesn't educate like most non-fiction. Paul Collins has a gift, but other still master the genre better.

Man gets paid to imitate German woman

If you love newspaper documentary as much as you love murder, this is the book you will want to be buried with.

Very fun history

A very clever approach to history and well told. If you are a fan of historical news you will enjoy this book. It felt as if you were reading the old newspaper articles yourself of the murder mystery and putting them together but someone saved you the trouble of going through all the microfiche!

Great book, great performance, terrible editing

This was a wonderful book, and William Dufris is a very engaging narrator with excellent character voices. The problem is the editing. For example, most chapters begin without a sufficient pause from the previous chapter. The editor does not leave enough room for the listener to reflect on what was just said. This also leads me to wonder if the quality control is up to snuff, although this is hard to discern without reading along.

Pacing is the editor's art, and this editor nearly ruined a first-rate book read by a first-rate narrator. It's a shame I have to give the performance 2 stars since the narrator deserves 5. But until Audible makes production a separate star rating, this is what I must do.

Very Interesting

If you could sum up The Murder of the Century in three words, what would they be?

Interesting, knowledgable, thorough

Who was your favorite character and why?

Defense council was portrayed very well by the narrator

What does William Dufris bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He had a great way of distinguishing each character's voice and brought out emotion in the dialogue. William Dufris did a great job!

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

The package no one wants to open