Book summary

The author of THE PERFECT STORM revisits a decades-old murder in this riveting work of true crime. In 1963, the Boston Strangler terrified the city and the surrounding suburbs with his rape/murder spree. The killing of Bessie Goldberg fit the Strangler's MO, and when police arrested African-American handyman and house cleaner Roy Smith for the crime, they assumed Smith was the Strangler. Years later, when white painter/carpenter Albert DeSalvo confessed to being the Strangler, Smith was already serving life in prison for the Goldberg murder. Junger evaluates the possibility that DeSalvo (who refused to number Goldberg among his admitted string of murders), not Smith (who also refused to admit guilt) killed Bessie Goldberg. What lends this book an added frisson is that during the period surrounding the murder (including the day in question), DeSalvo was working as a carpenter for Junger's mother.

Media reviews

"Junger's taut narrative makes dizzying hairpin turns....[H]e's a hell of a storyteller." (starred review)