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Overview
For more than two decades, Vanity Fair has published Dominick Dunne’s brilliant, revelatory chronicles of the most famous crimes, trials, and punishments of our time. Here, in one volume, are Dominick Dunne’s mesmerizing tales of justice denied and justice affirmed. Whether writing of Claus von Bülow’s romp through two trials; the Los Angeles media frenzy surrounding O.J. Simpson; the death by fire of multibillionaire banker Edmond Safra; or the Greenwich, Connecticut, murder of Martha Moxley and the indictment—decades later—of Michael Skakel, Dominick Dunne tells it honestly and tells it from his unique perspective. His search for the truth is relentless.With new essay, “Mourning In New York,” about September 11, 2001.
Dominick Dunne's essays do much more than simply describe; his investigations have shed new light on those crimes and their perpetrators - and demonstrated how it is possible for some to skirt, even flout, the law.
Synopsis
For more than two decades, Vanity Fair has published Dominick Dunne's brilliant, revelatory chronicles of the most famous crimes, trials, and punishments of our time. The pursuit of justice has become his passion a passion that began during the trial of the man who murdered Dunne's daughter and who was sentenced to six and a half years and released in less than three. Dunne's account of that trial and its shocking result became the first of his many classic essays on justice.
Dominick Dunne's essays do much more than simply describe; his investigations have shed new light on those crimes and their perpetrators and demonstrated how it is possible for some to skirt, even flout, the law. His persistence and personal involvement in the matter of Martha Moxley's murder was an important catalyst in bringing a dormant case back to life.
Here in one volume are Dominick Dunne's mesmerizing tales of justice denied and justice affirmed. Whether writing of Vicki Morgan's hideous death; Claus von Bülow's romp through two trials; the media frenzy of Los Angeles in the age of O.J. Simpson; the death by fire of multibillionaire banker Edmund Safra in Monaco; or the ominous silence surrounding the death of Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Connecticut, and the indictment decades later of Michael Skakel, Dominick Dunne tells it honestly and tells it from his unique perspective. His search for the truth is relentless. His courage and his storytelling skills shine from every page.
Publishers Weekly
Listening to this audiobook is like having a series of long dinners with Dominick Dunne and listening while he recounts in some detail all the famous crime cases he has covered in his 20-year career. Even better, listeners get to choose the site, can eat (or not eat) whatever they want and don't have to dress up (or at all). Dunne is coy, sly, casually amusing, outrageously brazen and even occasionally tedious as he tells what Claus von Bulow's lover wore while she waited for her comatose rival to die in the other bedroom, what Lyle and Erik Menendez were really like and why Los Angeles society (and Dunne's own writing) never really recovered from the O.J. Simpson case. His stories are even heartbreaking, especially in his cool, crushing account of the trial of the young chef who murdered his daughter, Dominique the horrid crime and supreme legal injustice that got Dunne into the justice game in the first place. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewRaymond Chandler meets Truman Capote in the incisive, gripping writing style of Dominick Dunne. In Justice -- based on the stories published in Vanity Fair on crimes, trials, and punishments -- Dunne proves himself a master of the reportorial genre. But these stories, connected to some of society's wealthiest names and families, become more than just great reads. Dunne's work reveals, explores, -- and, sometimes, excoriates -- the world of jet-setters, country clubs, and courts themselves. They aren't lurid tales of those who see themselves as beyond the law so much as glimpses at the underbelly of the American Dream.
Two of the stories are a virtual tour de force. First, there is the opening essay, which expresses the horror of the murder of Dunne's daughter and the trial of her killer. Dunne is witness to it all and is transformed by the gross miscarriage of justice. His haunted account gives us insight into the writer's drive and interest in these kinds of crimes;in his re-telling, they become chilling moral tales. The second extraordinary piece in the book, written with all the earmarks of film noir in style and content, is on the 1943 murder of socialite Patricia Burton by gold digger Wayne Lonergan. Dunne's writing in these two essays -- and throughout the book -- shows all the cinematic acumen of the screenwriter he once was.
Almost impossible to put down, Justice is much more than just a compelling read. It is classic, hard-boiled American writing; stories drawn from reality that, in their retelling, transcend any hint of exploitation. Justice is a look at America, through a glass darkly. (Elena Simon)
Elena Simon lives in New York City.