A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger (2006, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

Sebastian Junger turns away from the destructive effects of the elements (Fire and A Perfect Storm) to write about deadly force of a very different kind: the Boston Strangler murders of the 1960’s. Roy Smith, a Black employee for a local housecleaning service, was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison for killing Bessie Goldberg, who may or may not have been the Strangler’s ninth victim. He consistently maintained his innocence. On the day of the crime, Albert DeSalvo, an Italian-American carpenter, was part of a crew that was working on the nearby Junger home. Two years later, convicted and jailed for a series of area rapes, DeSalvo confessed to the Strangler murders. He was never charged with those crimes.

Junger examines the histories of both men, the psychology of serial murderers, the limitations of the criminal justice system and forensic evidence, and the insidiousness of racism, presenting a thorough, lucid and sobering reckoning of precisely how justice could sometimes go awry. Kevin Conway delivers a strong, partially differentiated reading that maintains its objectivity, letting the readers decide for themselves which of these men, if either, was indeed the Strangler.