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Murder Among Friends: How Leopold and Loeb Tried to Commit the Perfect Crime

by Candace Fleming

A 1920s Chicago murder case examined

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A 1920s Chicago murder case examined

Candace Fleming’s account centers on the 1924 kidnapping and murder of Bobby Franks by college students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. The narrative nonfiction traces the case from the pair’s plan to commit what they considered a “perfect crime” through their capture and confession, then follows the courtroom defense led by Clarence Darrow and its role in avoiding the death penalty. The book brings together the crime, its investigation, and the legal proceedings, framing a notorious case through questions of motive, responsibility, and punishment.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Teens and young adults interested in true crime and criminal cases.
  • Readers interested in 1920s Chicago and the history of law and crime.
  • Readers seeking narrative nonfiction about a criminal investigation and its courtroom proceedings.

Themes

Crime and investigationMotive and responsibilityCriminal defense and punishment1920s Chicago

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

How did two teenagers brutally murder an innocent child...and why? And how did their brilliant lawyer save them from the death penalty in 1920s Chicago? Written by a prolific master of narrative nonfiction, this is a compulsively readable true-crime story based on an event dubbed the "crime of the century."

In 1924, eighteen-year-old college students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb made a decision: they would commit the perfect crime by kidnapping and murdering a child they both knew. But they made one crucial error: as they were disposing of the body of young Bobby Franks, whom they had bludgeoned to death, Nathan's eyeglasses fell from his jacket pocket.

Multi-award-winning author Candace Fleming depicts every twist and turn of this harrowing case--how two wealthy, brilliant young men planned and committed what became known as the crime of the century, how they were caught, why they confessed, and how the renowned criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow enabled them to avoid the death penalty.

Following on the success of such books as The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh and The Family Romanov, this acclaimed nonfiction writer brings to heart-stopping life one of the most notorious crimes in our country's history.
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