Settings & Atmosphere - Fiction, Historical Figures - Fiction, Crimes - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Model Crime: A True Fiction

Name: Model Crime: A True Fiction
Author: Curtis Gathje
ISBN: 9781556114281

by Curtis Gathje

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Overview

Based on an actual case of 1937, which the sensationalist New York press of the day was quick to blow up into a major national event, A Model Crime is a quasi-fictionalized account of a tabloid-dream crime in which a beauteous young model, her mother, owner of a boarding house, and a man known as the "English boarder" are knifed and garrotted to death on Easter Eve.

In 1937, three people--a beautiful aspiring actress, her mother, and a mysterious stranger known only as "the boarder"--were murdered in New York City, a tragedy the sensationalistic press blew up into a major event. Now, Curtis Gathje, whose uncle was a suspect in the case, presents a quasi-fictionalized, documentary-style account of this infamous true crime mystery.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Truth once again proves stranger than fiction in Gathje's unique recounting of a landmark 1937 New York City murder and the subsequent sensational trial. Nude photographs of one of the three victims, model Ronnie Gedeon, turned the case into a tabloid frenzy-``crime and underwear,'' said the press-as each of Gotham's nine dailies illustrated every tidbit with another provocative glimpse of the 20-year-old's barely draped form. Gathje's uncle, Stephen Butter, was the last person to see the lovely Ronnie alive, laughing with her at 3 a.m. on Easter Sunday morning just outside the apartment inside which her mother, Mary, already lay dead. Gathje tells the tale with little fictional embellishment, instead creating a visual array of newspaper clippings, photographs (``Traffic Tied Up at Funeral of Slain Model and Her Mother'')-even a Walter Winchell column. Understandably, he focuses on his uncle's memories of the event, especially vivid since Butter became the initial suspect. Suspicion quickly turned in other directions before settling on Joseph Gedeon, divorced husband of Mary and father of Ronnie. (He was later cleared, but not before the appearance of an unexpected witness touched off a three-month manhunt.) Ranging from charmingly nostalgic to slyly amusing, this intriguing first novel makes for unusual and entertaining reading. (Feb.)

Library Journal

Based on a sensational triple murder in 1937 Manhattan, this first novel approaches the case from an insider's viewpoint. Stephen Butter is the last person to see his girlfriend, model Veronica Gedeon, alive. He follows the investigation of her murder-and that of her mother and their boarder-in the tabloids, often reading about himself. Analytical and journalistic prose describes every nuance of the case, the fanciful writings of the wildly obnoxious press, and the antics of a fascinated public, while period illustrations give faces to the suspects. Suspense becomes secondary to the ultimate unraveling of the case. A job well done.