By Roseanne Montillo
Rosanne Montillo’s well-researched and perfectly titled Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire’s Wife, and the Murder of the Century, outlines how the two things Capote and Woodward seemed to have sought from high society – acceptance and respect – they denied each other.
Did they realize how much they had in common? Was Capote drawn to Woodward, not just for the sensational story of a socialite killing her wealthy husband with a shotgun, but because he hated that she reminded him of his mother, of himself?
Somehow, I was unfamiliar with the story of Billy Woodward’s killing and Truman Capote’s culpable role in Ann Woodward’s suicide. I was intrigued from the opening but then grew weary as it lagged in parts looking back on the early life of the young Ann, Truman and their mothers. Once Montillo got back to the time of Billy Woodward’s death, however, I was riveted.
It was also interesting to learn about Capote’s intimate connection to the research for his iconic In Cold Blood and his relationship to the murderers up until the moment they hanged.
Montillo painstakingly shows the coldness with which Capote turned his venom on Woodward and other women in his life, which led to his ultimate undoing.
As is often the case with true crime, the ending leaves you questioning why things had to play out the way they did.
I received a free egalley courtesy of Simon and Schuster, through NetGalley. This review is fair and impartial.
Did they realize how much they had in common? Was Capote drawn to Woodward, not just for the sensational story of a socialite killing her wealthy husband with a shotgun, but because he hated that she reminded him of his mother, of himself?
Somehow, I was unfamiliar with the story of Billy Woodward’s killing and Truman Capote’s culpable role in Ann Woodward’s suicide. I was intrigued from the opening but then grew weary as it lagged in parts looking back on the early life of the young Ann, Truman and their mothers. Once Montillo got back to the time of Billy Woodward’s death, however, I was riveted.
It was also interesting to learn about Capote’s intimate connection to the research for his iconic In Cold Blood and his relationship to the murderers up until the moment they hanged.
Montillo painstakingly shows the coldness with which Capote turned his venom on Woodward and other women in his life, which led to his ultimate undoing.
As is often the case with true crime, the ending leaves you questioning why things had to play out the way they did.
I received a free egalley courtesy of Simon and Schuster, through NetGalley. This review is fair and impartial.
Order online or buy now at your favorite independent bookstore. Mine is Sellers Books and Art in Jim Thorpe, PA.