3 out of 4 stars
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The Battered Wife and Her Five Little Kids All Dressed in White by George Garrigues is the 3rd installment in the non-fiction Read All About It series. It is the true story of an affluent Caldwell, New Jersey woman who shot and killed her abusive husband in 1916. Was it murder or self-defense? Two young girls found their father Christof Beutinger’s body in the bedroom, with their mother holding a gun. His wife Margaret Claire Beutinger admitted shooting her husband five times, but claimed it was self-defense. She is arrested on charges of first-degree murder, with the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.
Margaret told the police about incidents of abuse during her marriage and the night of the killing. There are also statements by others who witnessed Christof’s behavior over time and policemen who had previously been called to the home for domestic disturbances.
After a quick recap of the children finding their father’s body and their mother in the room, there are flashbacks to background information about the U.S in 1898, Jamaica and the Philippines, and Christof’s War Department career. The storyline is a little dizzying to follow in the beginning, as it jumps from current incidents to long descriptions of the early parts of the couple’s troubled marriage - where they met, lived, and how Christof made money over the years. Once the trial starts, the pace picks up and I became more absorbed in the plot.
The events unfold through actual articles from various newspapers. This method lends authenticity to the story along with the inclusion of numerous photographs. The author also adds information in italics throughout the book for extra clarity and insight. The accounts of the trial are vividly written and I felt like I was watching a movie at times. I was amazed that these scenes were so well described, since the articles were written by journalists from different newspapers.
Some of the background information bogs down the story at times – for example, the names of all of the jurors and their respective occupations as well as six pages in the middle of the book about the town of Caldwell. There is also some repetition, as the details of the shooting are described numerous times throughout the book.
This book has earned a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. The subject matter is interesting, but the plot doesn’t move forward smoothly. I found the first third of the book slow-paced with long-winded, extraneous details – the various places and homes they lived in, jobs Christof had, and a chapter about the funeral. Although one newspaper article might be interesting by itself, a series of them by different reporters doesn’t always flow well as a cohesive story. Still, I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy true crime stories and media accounts of trials.
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The Battered Wife and Her Five Little Kids All Dressed in White
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