Independence Day weekend, 1960: a young cop is murdered, shocking his
close-knit community in Stamford, Connecticut. The killer remains at
large, his identity still unknown. But on a beach not far away, a young
Army doctor, on vacation from his post at a research lab in a
maximum-security prison, faces a chilling realization. He knows who the
shooter is. In fact, the man--a prisoner out on parole--had called him
only days before. By helping his former charge and trainee, the doctor,
a believer in second chances, may have inadvertently helped set the
murder into motion. And with that one phone call, may have sealed a
policeman's fate.
Alvin Tarlov, David Troy, and Joseph DeSalvo were all born of the Great
Depression, all with grandparents who'd left different homelands for the
same American Dream. How did one become a doctor, one a cop, and one a
convict? In Genealogy of a Murder, journalist Lisa Belkin traces the
paths of each of these three men--one of them her stepfather. Her canvas
is large, spanning the first half of the 20th century: immigration, the
struggles of the working class, prison reform, medical experiments,
politics and war, the nature/nurture debate, epigenetics, the infamous
Leopold and Loeb case, and the history of motorcycle racing. It is also
intimate: a look into the workings of the mind and heart.
Following these threads to their tragic outcome in July 1960, and
beyond, Belkin examines the coincidences and choices that led to one
fateful night. The result is a brilliantly researched, narratively
ingenious story, which illuminates how we shape history even as we are
shaped by it.
