Scoundrel : how a convicted murderer persuaded the women who loved him, the conservative establishment, and the courts to set him free Cover Image

Large Print Book

Scoundrel : how a convicted murderer persuaded the women who loved him, the conservative establishment, and the courts to set him free

Summary: "In the 1960s, Edgar Smith, in prison and sentenced to death for the murder of teenager Victoria Zielinski, struck up a correspondence with William F. Buckley, the founder of National Review. Buckley, who refused to believe that a man who supported the neoconservative movement could have committed such a heinous crime, began to advocate not only for Smith's life to be spared but also for his sentence to be overturned. So begins a bizarre and tragic tale of mid-century America. Sarah Weinman's Scoundrel leads us through the twists of fate and fortune that brought Smith to freedom, book deals, fame, and eventually to attempting murder again. In Smith, Weinman has uncovered a psychopath who slipped his way into public acclaim and acceptance before crashing down to earth once again."

Record details

ISBN: 9780063211087
ISBN: 0063211084
Physical Description: large print
xi, 581 pages (large print), 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm
Edition: First Harper large print edition.
Publisher: New York, New York : Harper Large Print, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2022]
Copyright: ©2022

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references.

Formatted Contents Note:

Introduction -- Part I: The sand pit (1957). "Where is Vickie?" -- The Mercury -- "If you're looking for a fall guy..." -- Openings -- "I just threw it out the window" -- "Eddie and Don aren't friends anymore" -- "It can't be" -- Part II: The death house (1958-1962). Patricia -- Divorces -- Part III: The conservative (1962-1966). A "lifetime" subscription -- "My God, I wish I could be absolutely certain" -- Meeting in Trenton -- Waiting for death -- Part IV: Making the brief (1967-1968). Lunch at Paone's -- "They must think I am Houdini" -- Blood, nerves, vibrations -- Hatkic -- March to publication -- The breach -- Brief against death -- Part V: Reasonable doubts (1969-1971). Rogue's wake -- A reasonable doubt -- Bid for a new trial -- Conviction overturned -- Part VI: Getting out (1971-1976). Non vult -- Freedom's first dawn -- The celebrity convict -- Counterpoint -- Paige -- Part VII: Boiling over (1976-1979). Rage, revived -- On the run -- arrested again -- "The saga of a bad man" -- "Used and betrayed" -- Part VIII: Staying in (1980-2017). A strange triangle -- Vacaville -- Coda: 1948.