Fleming, Candace. Murder Among Friends: How Leopold and Loeb Tried to Commit the Perfect Crime. Non-fiction Anne Schwartz, 03/2022. 355pp. $19.99. 978-0-593-17742-6. OUTSTANDING. GRADES 7-12.
The shocking kidnap and murder of a fourteen-year-old boy by two rich nineteen-year-olds in Chicago in 1924 is recounted in this fascinating true crime book by award-winner Candace Fleming (The Family Romanov, 2014). Using abundant primary sources, including newspaper and magazine accounts, court transcripts, and memoirs, this is the compellingly told story of Leopold and Loeb, two of the first murderers who became media obsessions. Fleming creates this page-turner with background information on their upbringing in Chicago’s Jewish merchant class, where both were considered geniuses and graduated high school by age fourteen. The text is careful in describing Leopold’s homosexuality, which was considered unacceptable at that time, but Fleming describes that opinion as inaccurate and outdated now. The book contains two sections of b/w photos, detailed source notes, a bibliography, and an index.
Penny Peck, San Jose State University, iSchool