A Recommended Read from: The Los Angeles Times * Town and Country * The Seattle Times * Publishers Weekly * Lit Hub * Crime Reads * Alma

From the author of The Real Lolita and editor of Unspeakable Acts, the astonishing story of a murderer who conned the people around him—including conservative thinker William F. Buckley—into helping set him free

In the 1960s, Edgar Smith, in prison and sentenced to death for the murder of teenager Victoria Zielinski, struck up a correspondence with William F. Buckley, the founder of National Review. Buckley, who refused to believe that a man who supported the neoconservative movement could have committed such a heinous crime, began to advocate not only for Smith’s life to be spared but also for his sentence to be overturned.

So begins a bizarre and tragic tale of mid-century America. Sarah Weinman’s Scoundrel leads us through the twists of fate and fortune that brought Smith to freedom, book deals, fame, and eventually to attempting murder again. In Smith, Weinman has uncovered a psychopath who slipped his way into public acclaim and acceptance before crashing down to earth once again.

From the people Smith deceived—Buckley, the book editor who published his work, friends from back home, and the women who loved him—to Americans who were willing to buy into his lies, Weinman explores who in our world is accorded innocence, and how the public becomes complicit in the stories we tell one another.

Scoundrel shows, with clear eyes and sympathy for all those who entered Smith’s orbit, how and why he was able to manipulate, obfuscate, and make a mockery of both well-meaning people and the American criminal justice system. It tells a forgotten part of American history at the nexus of justice, prison reform, and civil rights, and exposes how one man’s ill-conceived plan to set another man free came at the great expense of Edgar Smith’s victims.

 Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Booklist Reviews

Edgar Smith brutally murdered 15-year-old Victoria Zielinski in New Jersey in 1957 and was sentenced to death for his crime. While in prison, he struck up a letter-writing friendship with none other than William F. Buckley, he of the National Review—a conservative magazine that was widely read at the time—who believed Smith to be a great writing talent. From death row, Smith writes a book while having an illicit relationship with his editor, Sophie Wilkins. The book is a modest success but is championed by Buckley, and the spotlight provided paves the way for a review of his case and an eventual reduction of his conviction to second-degree murder with a sentence of time served. Smith's story ends as expected with a brief basking in the glory of the national spotlight; the stab a a normal life; and, finally, another vicious attack on a woman for which he is sentenced to life in prison; this time, it sticks. Narrator Gabra Zackman provides a direct and fast paced reading of the book which examines many themes present in current media coverage of crime: which victims matter most and who gets second chances. True-crime readers, political junkies, and history buffs alike will enjoy this fascinating study of a cause célèbre. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.