How to Murder Your Wealthy Lovers and Get Away With It
Money & Mayhem in the Gilded Age
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
What's a gal to do when her loaded lover is getting to be a nuisance? Why, just murder him and take all his money, of course. If you want to be fabulously single with tons of cash, just follow the lead of the beautiful and conniving Minnie Wallace Walkup Ketcham, who left a trail of broken hearts, empty wallets, and corpses.
Minnie was just 16 when she stood trial in 1885 for the wrongful death of her first husband, a successful businessman and politician almost 40 years her senior. Despite overwhelming witness testimony that the Creole beauty from New Orleans had purchased the arsenic that killed him, Minnie's own testimony brought the entire courtroom to tears. She was acquitted. Minnie returned to New Orleans with James Walkup's fortune, life insurance, Civil War pension, and all the expensive clothes she had shipped home before he even died.
Minnie still didn't have enough cash for her liking, so she successfully targeted, seduced, and murdered two more wealthy older men while evading justice in the courtroom (and escaping her lawyer's fees, too). How to Murder Your Three Lovers and Get Away with It is an extraordinary and off-the-wall true story of intrigue, scandal, and murder.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This gossipy true crime account paints a comprehensive portrait of a woman shrouded in mystery, Minnie Wallace Walkup Ketcham, who was born in 1869 and widowed for the first time by the tender age of 16. In a glib, conversational tone, Ammeson (A Jazz Age Murder in Northwest Indiana) relays the story of a teenage girl who walked into the lives of wealthy older men and walked out with generous inheritances after their suspicious deaths. The author incorporates newspaper clippings and letters that detail the events surrounding Ketcham's crimes to gain insight on just how the young girl finessed worldly suitors, judges, and juries, engaging readers with playful tongue-in-cheek commentary aplenty. Ammeson relies heavily on unadulterated research material, specifically long passages sampled from the work of journalists past. Few insights are gleaned beyond the obviously sensationalized facts of the case, and the author's commentary tends to offer little more than mischievous quips. The book is informative and thoroughly researched, but its entertainment value lies mainly in the scandalous nature of Ketcham's career.
