Book groups are the best because not only do you get to pick books that have been on your To Be Read list since forever, but you also get to read books that you wouldn’t have otherwise picked up on your own. In Cold Blood is the latter. It’s one of those books that I’ve probably thought “Huh. I should read that some day.” Happily, a book group member had access to a ton of copies, so here we are.
I had very little background knowledge of this story. I know the book itself is considered a great work and is often found on Books You Must Read list. It also helped create a genre of fictionalized journalism where Capote took nonfiction and added in the details. We don’t know what really happened, but Capote interviewed people and filled in the blanks with his own details. This, of course, bothers some people who think it creates fiction. Once you muddy the waters, it’s no longer a truthful account.
In November 1959 in a town in Kansas, four members of the Cutter family were murdered. This was a place where things like this don’t happen. There was no motive, no reason for the family to have been targeted and it looked like whoever had done it was going to get away with it.
Read more about the murder, the men who committed it, and Capote’s research and nonfiction fiction.
Cannonball Read V 