People have asked me why on earth I would co-author a True Crime book, given my background as an investigative journalist who usually covers the rich and powerful at the nexus of finance, politics and the culture
My answer to that is that Jim and I aimed for to write something much broader and more important than a generic “True Crime” book right from the get-go.
There was something about this story that touched us, and we figured, would touch all of you, if we could tell the story properly. Both of us loved In Cold Blood by Truman Capote not for the gruesome murders of the Clutter family, but because of the humanity it depicts. (Yes, I know, some of the facts in it have since been debunked, but it has a lasting power, regardless).
I’ll never forget the book’s impact on me when I first read it. I stayed up all night to finish it. And then, as the sun rose, I sobbed and sobbed because (spoiler alert) of the revelation that a whole family had died unnecessarily. That the whole awful tragedy had been an accident. Sort of. And that was the real tragedy.
The only other book that’s also made me cry like that was Black Beauty, the story of a horse, which I read as a child and I remember leaping out my bed and racing to my parents shouting “Ginger died! Ginger died!’ The thought of a wrongful death was deeply, deeply upsetting then – and it is now.
So, yes, this book is about four is about four wrongful deaths, but it’s also about life. It’s about their lives, the struggles of their friends and families, the challenges facing the police and the small town of Moscow when it suddenly finds itself in the glare of the international press. We discovered that there were political and social tensions in the town of Moscow that were simmering before November 13th 2022. And when the murders happened they boiled over.
So, we think this book isn’t just a source of tabloid headlines; we think it’s an important book with multiple layers and themes and that it’s a really good book.
Jim and I just taped a video chat you’ll see in a few days and hopefully you’ll glean from it just how much we care about The Idaho Four. And I hope you will, too.
Even if you think you won’t.
You can pre-order the book here.
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Author: Vicky Ward Investigates
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