|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
When a prominent Nashville legal family, the Levines, learned that their only daughter was missing, they had little doubt that the trail led back to their son-in-law Perry March. With the recovery of Janet Levine March’s car in a local apartment complex, but no sign of Janet, it was clear that things were altogether more sinister than the story Perry had originally concocted of her disappearance. Perry claimed that Janet got mad at him, decided to go on vacation alone, and left him in care of their two children. The story of the search for Janet March by the Levine family, while interesting, never truly grabs the reader in the way most true crime stories do. Part of the reason is the unresolved issue of the body of Janet March; it was never found. In addition, Perry March refused to ever completely reveal the truth, and even Perry’s father (who comes to play a key role in this story) who confessed to assisting Perry in disposing of Janet’s body after the murder clearly did not tell the truth in his “confession.” As a result, the reader is left with many unanswered questions. That might have worked with a better telling of the story, but here it just feels unsatisfying. Although author Gary C King does an adequate job of piecing together all the machinations of Perry March’s actions (both in Nashville and in Mexico, where he later joins his father to escape the heat of the murder investigation), the story never really gets off the ground. There are also sections that could use trimming, notably the transcript from Nathaniel Farris, an inmate whom Perry March befriended in prison. There is also some “selling” of the story. For example, although the publicity and cover images claim that “they [Perry and Janet] were the perfect couple,” readers never have that image of their relationship in the story told here. Although the case was featured on the television show, 48 Hours, the primary audience for this book will no doubt be those in the Nashville area, who followed it in local papers and on their local news. For the rest of us, the story leaves readers flat, wondering how someone who can be so clever as to dispose of his wife’s body so that it has never be found can be so careless as to trust a prison snitch? In addition, there is the unresolved issue of what happened to Perry March’s second wife (in Mexico) and child, as well as the two children now living with the Levines. In short, this book seems to raise as many questions as it answers. The ultimate question that readers will probably be asking themselves, however, is why should they care about this story at all? It’s the failure to address that question which shortchanges readers of LOVE, LIES, AND MURDER most.
Reviewed by Christine Zibas, October 2007
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
