The story of a death row prisoner who gets support from well known people. He convinces William F. Buckley to support him. He becomes a best selling author. A difficult person to read about. ( )

In this rather dry true crime tale, convicted murderer Edgar Smith's jailhouse devotion to the National Review magazine attracts the attention of its publisher, William F. Buckley. The conservative icon and his friend, emotionally deprived editor Sophie Wilkins, encourage Smith’s latent literary gifts, and the convict publishes a few self-serving tomes. Once he obtains his freedom, Smith continues his pattern of developing relationships with needy women. Ultimately, however, his baser impulses catch up with him.

Author Sarah Weinman quotes extensively from Buckley’s, Wilkins's, and Smith’s letters to each other. This feature lends the book an air of authenticity, but also bogs down the pace of the story. The man at the heart of the narrative, Edgar Smith, isn't all that interesting, and the reader never gets a sense of the conditions that made him a sociopath.

Without all the quotes, this might have made a good article for a magazine. ( )

Edgar Smith is an example of a sociopath unable to control his self-destructive tendencies or his murderous rage at women. Yet he was able to deploy a superficial charm to convince others of his innocence and won the support of William F. Buckley in his quest for release from Death Row and the support of a female editor in publishing a book about his experiences in prison. He convinced other women to date or marry him and to remain loyal even as evidence of his crimes piled up. Fortunately for society, after his 2nd crime as an adult he spent the remainder of his life in prison.

Scoundrel by Sarah Weinman is that wonderful type of true crime book that combines the crime, and thus the criminal's, story with the stories of those affected by the crime. In doing so, it illustrates many of the issues still facing how we want our "justice" system to function.

Any true crime book has to walk that fine line between sensationalism and reportage. Many readers, even those of us reluctant to admit it, still want a bit of the sensational. Weinman keeps that aspect down to what is only natural for a crime of this sort, especially one with the afterlife this one had. Victims are often overlooked in these accounts, much less so here. And peripheral people are rarely mentioned, yet they are given some room here for their stories. In particular it is the women who are overlooked beyond their roles as either victim or supportive spouse/parent. We see here just how many women ended up hurt or manipulated because of the dysfunctionality of our "justice" system. Yes, I am using quotation marks as scare quotes because our system is about almost everything except justice, with the usual exception of for white males (from their perspective anyway).

The writing here keeps the reader moving forward while also having what seemed to me to be almost asides that highlight some element that speaks to the larger issues, such as the disconnect between public support and private doubt based on experience. These asides don't hinder the overall narrative of the book but serve to keep the reader attuned to things beyond just what happened.

I would recommend this to readers of true crime as well as those interested in cases that speak to our "justice" system and how it should function. Also readers who want to know a little more about the people involved besides just the criminal.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )