"A thoughtful, compelling reexamination of an intriguing story of
fatal obsession and its enduring mysteries."--Kirkus Reviews
The disappearance of a
twenty-one-year-old woman from a Massachusetts suburb became one of the
most
discussed crimes of the twentieth century. The discussion intensified
when the
publi*c * learned that she worked as a prostitute in Boston's
notorious
red-light district, the "Combat Zone," and was linked by a trail of
blood to a
famous professor from Tufts University.
When Robin Benedict vanished
the investigation and media circus that gripped the city of Boston
hadn't been seen
since the days of the Boston Strangler case. On a Sunday morning in
March 1983,
a small-time pimp walked into a police station and claimed his
girlfriend was
missing. He said she had been on her way to visit a client named
William
Douglas. In the year that followed, the case drew in detectives, state
troopers, scores of journalists, and even psychics. But Robin was never
found.
*Boston Tabloid * reconstructs
a grisly murder, and explores one man's bizarre obsession. In revisiting
this
legendary crime, Don Stradley consulted journalists involved in the
media
frenzy, prison authorities, arresting officers, and psychiatrists, all
in an
effort to unravel a most tangled story. Why was the city, and the
nation, swept
up in this sordid tale? It remains a grim and fascinating moment in
Boston's
history.
