|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
October 6, 1927. Imogene Remus is killed in Eden Park, Cincinnati by her bootlegger husband, George, who then gives himself up to the police, confessing to the murder. Charles P. Taft II, son of William Howard Taft, ex-President of the United States and currently Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, is the chief prosecutor of Cincinnati, and as such, feels that this is the most important case he will ever get. Imogene was a society woman. George, a German immigrant, who became a pharmacist and then a lawyer, and then a bootlegger, is Imogene's second husband. Her first husband lay in a coma for years after having been shot in the head during the War. Imogene made a play for George and after the unexpected death of his first husband, marries him. George, by exploiting a loophole in the Volstead act, which introduced prohibition, makes $80 million in four years. Of course, lawmen all over the country are after him, and he goes to jail. He tells his wife to get him out by playing up to one of the FBI agents. She does, and he misunderstands, and shoots her on the day of their divorce. Remus pleads not guilty to the crime and asks to be his own attorney. He does accept a colleague to be his assistant and who actually conducts most of the trial. He refuses to be examined by the "alienists" because he claims he is not insane but his co-counsel still puts up a not guilty by reason of insanity defense. In the meantime, Taft becomes fascinated by the Jazz Bird, as Imogene was called, and reads her diary several times trying to understand the relationship between the rough immigrant and the well born lady. The book is an elegantly crafted novel based on a true story. It brings to mind the slower pace of a time before instant communications. Although Holden jumps back and forth in time, from about 1920 when Imogene and George first meet, until the day in the park when George shoots her, one is never confused as to time or place. The ending is inevitable given the circumstances laid out.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, November 2001
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
