Crime Time: Starkweather

Can’t get enough of the true crime genre? Looking for something to do after binging shows like Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, McMillions and The Vow? Then join the Livingston Public Library for the brand new virtual book club, Crime Time. Crime Time is a true crime and crime adjacent book club where readers will explore everything from historical crime to unsolved mysteries.

For our July meeting, we will be reading Starkweather by Harry N. MacLean.  Copies are available at the main desk for checkout one month prior to our meeting.  The title is also available on:

• The Palace Project as an eBook. Available through their app in both Google Play and the App Store
• Libby as  an eBook

Please note we will not be meeting in August 2024.  We will meet again on September 16 and we are reading The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule.  Copies will be available for checkout at the main desk after July 15, 2024.  Since this is an older title, it in not available as an eBook on library platforms.

Synopsis:

On January 21, 1958, nineteen-year-old Charles Starkweather changed the course of crime in the United States when he murdered the parents and sister of his fourteen-year-old girlfriend (and possible accomplice), Caril Ann Fugate, in a house on the edge of Lincoln, Nebraska. They then drove to the nearby town of Bennet, where a farmer was robbed and killed. When Starkweather’s car broke down, the teenagers who stopped to help were murdered and jammed into a storm cellar. By the time the dust settled, ten innocent people were dead and the city of Lincoln was in a state of terror. Schools closed. Men with rifles perched on the roofs of their houses. The National Guard patrolled the street. If there is a cultural version of PTSD, the town suffered from it.

Starkweather and Fugate’s capture and arrest, and the resulting trials about the killing spree, received worldwide coverage. The event would serve as the inspiration for the movie Natural Born Killers and Springsteen’s iconic album Nebraska. Today, the story has dropped far from the national consciousness. With new material, new reporting, and new conclusions about the possible guilt or innocence of Fugate, the tale is ripe for an updated and definitive retelling. In Starkweather, bestselling author Harry N. MacLean tells the story of this shocking event and its lasting impact, a crime spree that struck deep into the heart of the heartland.