In November 1948, murder shook the community of Leland, Mississippi: 68-year-old white woman Idella was found dead, the victim of a ferocious assault, with over 100 wounds inflicted by a pair of gardening shears. Ruth Dickins, Idella's daughter and the crime's sole witness, identified a possible suspect, a young Black man who, Ruth told police, ran off after assaulting her. Police searched the immediate area to no avail and began to have questions about Ruth's statements, which grew inconsistent. Authorities became certain that no one outside the family committed the crime, and, the following year, Ruth would be charged with first-degree murder. The trial garnered a rabid following, but its conclusion was far from assured. Lowry (Who Killed These Girls? 2016), who was a child in a nearby town at the time of the murder, intertwines engrossing dual narratives charting the Thompson case and the course of her own family's life from the 1940s forward. Her true-crime thriller will keep readers absorbed from start to finish.

The details of a 1948 murder in small-town Mississippi anchor a personal account of class, race, and justice. The author of numerous novels and works of nonfiction, Lowry has created a signature genre that combines deeply researched true crime with memoir--e.g., Crossed Over (1992); Who Killed These Girls? (2016). Her latest focuses on the murder of Idella Thompson in Leland, Mississippi, just a few miles from the author's hometown of Greenville. Thompson was hacked to death in her home in the middle of the afternoon, suffering more than 150 blows from a pair of pruning shears. Her daughter Ruth Dickins, who reported the death and was found at the scene in blood-soaked clothing, claimed to have interrupted "a Negro" in the act of murder. Despite a two-week manhunt, this hasty fabrication could not be supported, and Mrs. Dickins was tried, convicted, and sent to a prison farm. Police never uncovered the true motive, though both women were known to be "high-tempered and difficult." Lowry was 10 at the time of the crime and followed the trial and its aftermath along with everyone else in the Delta. Though few doubted Dickins was guilty, the governor received petitions for her release every year. Others saw class bias in the call for clemency and thought she should stay right where she was. "Before suspending Mrs. Dickins's sentence," one woman suggested, "the governor [should] get the pictures of Mrs. Thompson's body and see for himself the mercy and consideration she gave her mother." Lowry chronicles the checkered fortunes of her own, less prominent family alongside those of the Thompson/Dickins clan, and though these stories have no real reason to be conjoined, the author uses both to illustrate the effects of the changing mores and social structure of the period. At one point, she was selected by her school to appear in a TV segment in which White students--"dumb as fence posts"--made the case against desegregation. Lowry's dry wit, honed sentences, and careful way of connecting the dots make her case: This is quite a story. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Lowry (Who Killed These Girls?) delves into the murder of society matron Idella Thompson, the sensational trial, and the Mississippi Delta in this powerful book. In 1948, Thompson was gruesomely murdered in her home. Though her daughter, Ruth Dickins, was the only person in the house, and there was no evidence of an intruder, Dickins claimed an unidentified Black man was the perpetrator. When Dickins was convicted of her mother's murder, she remained insistent that a Black man was responsible for the crime. What follows is a case marked by racism and class that polarizes the community to this day. Lowry grew up nearby and was a child at the time of Thompson's murder. Reflections on her upbringing add rich context to the story as she revisits her home and memories. Lowry skillfully balances memoir with the complexities of the crime, region, and implications about white privilege. This book will appeal to readers interested in Delta history and is a great addition to any true crime fan's bookshelf. Readers interested in similar themes may enjoy Karen L. Cox's Goat Castle: A True Story of Murder, Race, and the Gothic South. VERDICT An evocative, thoughtful true crime story.--Kate Bellody

In this thought-provoking memoir, Lowry (Who Killed These Girls? The Unsolved Murders That Rocked a Texas Town) weaves her story of growing up in mid-20th-century Mississippi with the story of a white socialite's murder and its aftermath. In 1948, Idella Thompson, the widow of a prominent planter, was stabbed 150 times in her house in Leland, deep in the Mississippi Delta. The victim's 42-year-old daughter, Ruth Dickins, was home at the time and claimed a Black man was the killer. Given the lack of evidence pointing to an unknown intruder, Dickins was eventually left as the only suspect. She was brought to trial, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison in 1949. However, after Dickins's well-off white friends and family applied political pressure and embarked on a letter-writing campaign, Dickins was released having spent six years in prison and given a full pardon. Focusing less on the crime itself and more on white privilege in that time and place, Lowry elegantly details Southern daily life and the struggles for equality that eventually led to desegregation. This timely reminder of the injustices of America's past deserves a wide readership. Agent: Anne-Lise Spitzer, Philip G. Spitzer Literary. (Aug.)