Helpful Score: 2
Very interesting story of a murderess in Phoenix in the 1930s....especially interesting to me since I live in Phoenix, and know of many of the places that were mentioned in the book. It made me do more research online, and I found that the house where the murder takes place still exists!
Winnie Ruth Judd was a young married woman whose doctor husband was off fighting his addiction to morphine. Her two friends are murdered one night, and she shows up in LA with them in her steamer trunks. She's put on trial and convicted of murder in a very short time, with whispers of politics being involved. She just misses being hung, and ends up in the state mental hospital (which is still here!) for almost 70 years. She has friends, though, and one who gives her the key to the front door of the mental hospital, so she can leave when she wants (which is fairly frequently) and lives several lives outside the hospital.
The book is a research of the facts, and were provided by Winnie herself, along with multiple documents from the trial and local newspapers. Other people related to the case who are still around were also interviewed. It was written by a well known Phoenix journalist.
I LOVED this book...couldn't put it down.
Winnie Ruth Judd was a young married woman whose doctor husband was off fighting his addiction to morphine. Her two friends are murdered one night, and she shows up in LA with them in her steamer trunks. She's put on trial and convicted of murder in a very short time, with whispers of politics being involved. She just misses being hung, and ends up in the state mental hospital (which is still here!) for almost 70 years. She has friends, though, and one who gives her the key to the front door of the mental hospital, so she can leave when she wants (which is fairly frequently) and lives several lives outside the hospital.
The book is a research of the facts, and were provided by Winnie herself, along with multiple documents from the trial and local newspapers. Other people related to the case who are still around were also interviewed. It was written by a well known Phoenix journalist.
I LOVED this book...couldn't put it down.
