A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City
Murder, Secrets, and Scandal in Old Louisville
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- $31.99
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- $31.99
Publisher Description
This true crime saga—with an eccentric Southern backdrop—introduces the reader to the story of a murder in a crumbling Louisville mansion and the decades of secrets and corruption that live within the old house’s walls.
On June 18, 2010, police discover a body buried in the wine cellar of a Victorian mansion in Old Louisville. James Carroll, shot and stabbed the year before, has lain for 7 months in a plastic storage bin—his temporary coffin. Homeowner Jeffrey Mundt and his boyfriend, Joseph Banis, point the finger at each other in what locals dub The Pink Triangle Murder.
On the surface, this killing appears to be a crime of passion, a sordid love tryst gone wrong in a creepy old house. But as author David Dominé sits in on the trials, a deeper story emerges: the struggle between hope for a better future on the one hand and the privilege and power of the status quo on the other.
As the court testimony devolves into he-said/he-said contradictions, David draws on the confidences of neighbors, drag queens, and other acquaintances within the city's vibrant LGBTQ community to piece together the details of the case. While uncovering the many past lives of the mansion itself, he enters a murky underworld of gossip, neighborhood scandal, and intrigue.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Dominé (Haunts of Old Louisville: Gilded Age Ghosts and Haunted Mansions in America's Spookiest Neighborhood) provides an enthralling deep dive into a bizarre murder case, enhanced by his eyewitness account of the resulting trials. In June 2010, after a call for help from Jeffrey Mundt, the Louisville, Ky., police responded to what they thought was a routine domestic dispute. Mundt had given them permission to break into his residence, and when they did so, they saw Mundt's boyfriend, Joseph Banis, attempting to flee and found Mundt locked in a bedroom. Both men referred to the presence of a body in the basement, where the police found the corpse of James Carroll inside a Rubbermaid container under the dirt floor. Carroll, a hairdresser and drag queen, had been stabbed and shot, and Banis and Mundt each accused the other of having killed him during a threesome about six months earlier. Both were charged, and they were tried separately in 2013; Banis was found guilty of murder, but Mundt was convicted only of minor charges, criminal facilitation and evidence tampering. Dominé gives this colorful case the detailed attention it merits, even if he's ultimately unable to conclude who really killed Carroll. Fans of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil will be captivated.
