{"product_id":"2940170716913","title":"The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago","description":"Chicago, 1924. There was nothing surprising about men turning up dead in the Second City. Life was cheaper than a quart of illicit gin in the gangland capital of the world. But two murders that spring were special-worthy of celebration. So believed Maurine Watkins, a wanna-be playwright and a \"girl reporter\" for the \u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e, the city's \"hanging paper.\" Newspaperwomen were supposed to write about clubs, cooking, and clothes, but the intrepid Miss Watkins, a minister's daughter from a small town, zeroed in on murderers instead. Looking for subjects to turn into a play, she would make \"Stylish Belva\" Gaertner and \"Beautiful Beulah\" Annan-both of whom had brazenly shot down their lovers-the talk of the town. Love-struck men sent flowers to the jail, and newly emancipated women sent impassioned letters to the newspapers. Soon more than a dozen women preened and strutted on \"Murderesses' Row\" as they awaited trial, desperate for the same attention that was being lavished on Maurine Watkins's favorites.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the tradition of Erik Larson's \u003ci\u003eThe Devil in the White City\u003c\/i\u003e and Karen Abbott's \u003ci\u003eSin in the Second City\u003c\/i\u003e, Douglas Perry vividly captures Jazz Age Chicago and the sensationalized circus atmosphere that gave rise to the concept of the celebrity criminal. Fueled by rich period detail and enlivened by a cast of characters who seemed destined for the stage, \u003ci\u003eThe Girls of Murder City\u003c\/i\u003e is crackling social history that simultaneously presents the freewheeling spirit of the age and its sober repercussions.","brand":"Tantor Audio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47100681486576,"sku":"2940170716913","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940170716913_p0.jpg?v=1763715453","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940170716913","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}