In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences

Richard Hickock and Perry Smith didn't plan on killing a family of four. It just sort of happened, and they weren't particularly sorry about it. But the deed was done in Kansas, America's heartland, and it was the sixties, a period before Americans grew resigned to violence on a personal level that is common now, unthinkable then.

Juries didn't buy into guiltless murders either, with the result that Hickock and Smith both died for their crimes. It was black and white, you don't slaughter innocent people and then cop a plea.

It took an artist like Truman Capote to illuminate the human tragedy behind the headlines. He gives us an account of six individuals, each living his or her own drama.

"A masterpiece. . .spellbinding!" (Time)