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mezzoir's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
This book is true to its marketing. It is a book about the authors return to her hometown almost 50 years later, to write about the murder of a classmate and how it changed the town and the lives of the victim’s friends. Aficionados of true crime – this book may not be for you as it is really a memoir/murder mystery book.
For most part Rebecca manages the segues between the crime and anecdotes of her life, the town and the people touched by the crime quite well and the book flows, and reads, well with the exception of one annoying blemish.
When writing about true crime it much easier for the reader to follow the investigation if the author can maintain a chronological order – especially when we are talking about events in a single day.
The chapter, The Partygoers, starts at midnight with detectives visiting the home where the victim had last been seen alive, then jumps to a long sequence with the victim’s girlfriend which you find out pages later is taking place at 11:00pm and then goes back to the midnight visit with bits of how the body was discovered that morning in the middle. As this occurs very early in the book when you are trying to get your head around just who is who in the book it would read better if the events were sequential.
It was an enjoyable read and I would read more from this writer.
This book is true to its marketing. It is a book about the authors return to her hometown almost 50 years later, to write about the murder of a classmate and how it changed the town and the lives of the victim’s friends. Aficionados of true crime – this book may not be for you as it is really a memoir/murder mystery book.
For most part Rebecca manages the segues between the crime and anecdotes of her life, the town and the people touched by the crime quite well and the book flows, and reads, well with the exception of one annoying blemish.
When writing about true crime it much easier for the reader to follow the investigation if the author can maintain a chronological order – especially when we are talking about events in a single day.
The chapter, The Partygoers, starts at midnight with detectives visiting the home where the victim had last been seen alive, then jumps to a long sequence with the victim’s girlfriend which you find out pages later is taking place at 11:00pm and then goes back to the midnight visit with bits of how the body was discovered that morning in the middle. As this occurs very early in the book when you are trying to get your head around just who is who in the book it would read better if the events were sequential.
It was an enjoyable read and I would read more from this writer.
mnboyer's review against another edition
3.0
Note: I would like to thank author Rebecca Morris, NetGalley, and WildBlue Press for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book. I'm an avid reader of the true crime genre and I'm always looking forward to getting my hands on another book!
Richard "Dick" Kitchel was a 17-year-old high school student who never returned from a party in Corvallis, Oregon in 1967. His body was found 10 days later floating in the Willamette River. It was clear that he had been strangled and that some sort of struggle occurred before his body was dumped in the river (the strangulation killed him and there was no water in his lungs, ruling out drowning). The condition of the body, having been exposed to the river's elements and fish, was not helpful in determining much about the murder. Similarly, since it had been 10 days and no one really knew Dick had been murdered (most young teens have willingly left home, according to the detectives in the 1960s) any potential crime scenes also lacked physical evidence.
Detectives relied heavily on testimonies of individuals that had seen Dick that night. They began to piece together information, listened to various theories about what could have happened to Dick, but unfortunately... the case went cold.
Author Rebecca Morris gives a voice to Dick, opening up the case and discussing what she recalled at the time of the murders. This did indeed happen in her hometown and she knew several of the individuals that were involved in the investigation. Towards the end of the book, it becomes clear that 40 years later another cold case investigator began working on the case. While there is a strong belief that (someone whose name I will not spoil here!) was involved in Dick's murder (even if accidental)... the case still has not been officially solved (this isn't a spoiler).
There are some great things about this book. First and foremost, I really do appreciate when local individuals get involved with investigations because people within the community often have access to testimony that investigators may not. A murderer is more likely to tell their barber a key piece of evidence as opposed to a detective. Also, authors that are writing about their hometowns and/or events that took place as they lived through them are often not as cold as "outsiders" who tend to give a lot of fact, but not much "heart" when discussing crime.
Secondly, I always enjoy (which is an awkward word when discussing true crime) hearing stories where silenced victims get a chance to have a voice. It seems like a lot of people in Corvallis were perfectly fine with Dick's death--he was, perhaps, a bit of a troublemaker. He liked to drink (this was common for teens in the 1960s). He had anger issues and he and his father were often fighting. He had bullied at least his stepbrother and probably others. So on the surface, sure, maybe you think that you wouldn't miss Dick much either. BUT there are other things about Dick that Morris makes more apparent so you can understand that even if Dick was a dick (I couldn't resist), he still didn't deserve to be murdered. His case *should* be solved.
However, there are some "issues" that I have with this book that I deducted some stars for when I decided to sit down and rate the book. Please note, I think a 3-star review is an "average" review and think that "average" books are perfectly acceptable and still worth reading. I'd suggest that in my opinion, about 90% of books out there are 3-star books. It takes a little more to get me to give 4 or 5 stars.
My biggest issue was that Morris, at times, was a little too close to traveling down the memoir road. While I appreciate her insight, and it is needed, there were often times (entire chapters, really) where she was discussing her own views of Corvallis and/or her own experiences--and I felt like there were times where Dick and his murder were completely absent. Some background information about an author is good, especially when they were around during the events and want to establish themselves within the story. However... too much makes a reader begin to wonder... how much of this is 'true crime' and how much of this is 'memoir'? I think areas where the book falls too far into memoir (and information about Morris) are tempting to skip over, and distract from the story I came to read about--Dick.
Still, this book does a decent job of explaining why Dick's case remains unsolved. There are several factors--the most important seemingly being that there is a lack of physical evidence. I, perhaps like the author, feel like detectives/investigators could have done a bit more to get the case solved. After all... they have a strong inclination about who murdered Dick, but never fully pursued that avenue. It is unfortunate, because Dick's case does deserve some closure. But perhaps this book is the first step towards that closure, because now readers know is story.
Richard "Dick" Kitchel was a 17-year-old high school student who never returned from a party in Corvallis, Oregon in 1967. His body was found 10 days later floating in the Willamette River. It was clear that he had been strangled and that some sort of struggle occurred before his body was dumped in the river (the strangulation killed him and there was no water in his lungs, ruling out drowning). The condition of the body, having been exposed to the river's elements and fish, was not helpful in determining much about the murder. Similarly, since it had been 10 days and no one really knew Dick had been murdered (most young teens have willingly left home, according to the detectives in the 1960s) any potential crime scenes also lacked physical evidence.
Detectives relied heavily on testimonies of individuals that had seen Dick that night. They began to piece together information, listened to various theories about what could have happened to Dick, but unfortunately... the case went cold.
Author Rebecca Morris gives a voice to Dick, opening up the case and discussing what she recalled at the time of the murders. This did indeed happen in her hometown and she knew several of the individuals that were involved in the investigation. Towards the end of the book, it becomes clear that 40 years later another cold case investigator began working on the case. While there is a strong belief that (someone whose name I will not spoil here!) was involved in Dick's murder (even if accidental)... the case still has not been officially solved (this isn't a spoiler).
There are some great things about this book. First and foremost, I really do appreciate when local individuals get involved with investigations because people within the community often have access to testimony that investigators may not. A murderer is more likely to tell their barber a key piece of evidence as opposed to a detective. Also, authors that are writing about their hometowns and/or events that took place as they lived through them are often not as cold as "outsiders" who tend to give a lot of fact, but not much "heart" when discussing crime.
Secondly, I always enjoy (which is an awkward word when discussing true crime) hearing stories where silenced victims get a chance to have a voice. It seems like a lot of people in Corvallis were perfectly fine with Dick's death--he was, perhaps, a bit of a troublemaker. He liked to drink (this was common for teens in the 1960s). He had anger issues and he and his father were often fighting. He had bullied at least his stepbrother and probably others. So on the surface, sure, maybe you think that you wouldn't miss Dick much either. BUT there are other things about Dick that Morris makes more apparent so you can understand that even if Dick was a dick (I couldn't resist), he still didn't deserve to be murdered. His case *should* be solved.
However, there are some "issues" that I have with this book that I deducted some stars for when I decided to sit down and rate the book. Please note, I think a 3-star review is an "average" review and think that "average" books are perfectly acceptable and still worth reading. I'd suggest that in my opinion, about 90% of books out there are 3-star books. It takes a little more to get me to give 4 or 5 stars.
My biggest issue was that Morris, at times, was a little too close to traveling down the memoir road. While I appreciate her insight, and it is needed, there were often times (entire chapters, really) where she was discussing her own views of Corvallis and/or her own experiences--and I felt like there were times where Dick and his murder were completely absent. Some background information about an author is good, especially when they were around during the events and want to establish themselves within the story. However... too much makes a reader begin to wonder... how much of this is 'true crime' and how much of this is 'memoir'? I think areas where the book falls too far into memoir (and information about Morris) are tempting to skip over, and distract from the story I came to read about--Dick.
Still, this book does a decent job of explaining why Dick's case remains unsolved. There are several factors--the most important seemingly being that there is a lack of physical evidence. I, perhaps like the author, feel like detectives/investigators could have done a bit more to get the case solved. After all... they have a strong inclination about who murdered Dick, but never fully pursued that avenue. It is unfortunate, because Dick's case does deserve some closure. But perhaps this book is the first step towards that closure, because now readers know is story.
reviewsbylola's review
3.0
Dick Kitchel was a senior in high school in 1967 when his bloated and blackened body was found in a local river. Detectives worked with what little information they had to try to solve the murder, but over 50 years later, Dick's murder remains unsolved. Dick hung around with a rough crowd, including a young couple whose home he visited on the last night he was alive, when they were throwing a party. Could any of the party attendees have killed Dick? Likewise, Dick was being raised by his severe, surly father, Ralph Kitchel, who displayed some questionable behavior after his son was killed. Was Dick beat to death by his father?
Rebecca Morris, author of A Murder in My Hometown, was a classmate of Dick's, so she had a personal insight into the case. In that sense, she brought a very personal perspective. Although not personal friends with Dick, Morris was able to evoke the setting in which this tragedy took place, and included some personal photographs, such as yearbook pictures, that added a lot to the story.
A Murder in My Hometown is divided into three sections. The first section deals exclusively with Dick's murder in October 1967 and the immediate aftermath, including the investigation and any leads that came forth. The second section was titled 1968 and focused on the second half of what would have been Dick's senior year of high school. This section felt like it could have belonged in a separate book. It was nice to get a glimpse of what life would have been like for Dick had he lived, and it gave an all important look at the culture of the 60s, but there was no flow from this section to the section preceding it as well as the section following it. The last section takes us to "modern day" (2008), where the case is being re-investigated. As is often the problem with cases so old, many of the key players had died, and memories had ceased being as sharp.
As far as true crime goes, I was invested in this story. I knew there was a good chance that there was no resolution to the case, which isn't a problem for me as a reader, and although it can be problematic to some, I think there is enough there so that the reader doesn't feel slighted. Overall, I wish the book had felt more cohesive. I can see why the book was broken up in sections, but it wasn't successful.
Rebecca Morris, author of A Murder in My Hometown, was a classmate of Dick's, so she had a personal insight into the case. In that sense, she brought a very personal perspective. Although not personal friends with Dick, Morris was able to evoke the setting in which this tragedy took place, and included some personal photographs, such as yearbook pictures, that added a lot to the story.
A Murder in My Hometown is divided into three sections. The first section deals exclusively with Dick's murder in October 1967 and the immediate aftermath, including the investigation and any leads that came forth. The second section was titled 1968 and focused on the second half of what would have been Dick's senior year of high school. This section felt like it could have belonged in a separate book. It was nice to get a glimpse of what life would have been like for Dick had he lived, and it gave an all important look at the culture of the 60s, but there was no flow from this section to the section preceding it as well as the section following it. The last section takes us to "modern day" (2008), where the case is being re-investigated. As is often the problem with cases so old, many of the key players had died, and memories had ceased being as sharp.
As far as true crime goes, I was invested in this story. I knew there was a good chance that there was no resolution to the case, which isn't a problem for me as a reader, and although it can be problematic to some, I think there is enough there so that the reader doesn't feel slighted. Overall, I wish the book had felt more cohesive. I can see why the book was broken up in sections, but it wasn't successful.
sveak's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Wildblue Press for a copy of this book.
This book is written by Rebecca Morris, a woman who grew up with the murder victim. Years later she has decided to look into the murder and how it affected the people of the town.
What I liked most about this book is the incredible detail we get about the small town but also her family and friends. It doesn't really read like a true crime book, but a memoir. It is a very visual novel in my opinion because the descriptions paint a very vivid picture of the social sphere but also the town.
Overall, it is a sad story about a boy with a hard life.
This book is written by Rebecca Morris, a woman who grew up with the murder victim. Years later she has decided to look into the murder and how it affected the people of the town.
What I liked most about this book is the incredible detail we get about the small town but also her family and friends. It doesn't really read like a true crime book, but a memoir. It is a very visual novel in my opinion because the descriptions paint a very vivid picture of the social sphere but also the town.
Overall, it is a sad story about a boy with a hard life.
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