The question of guilt or innocence is not as black and white as some would expect; however, that’s not to say that the issue of “black” and “white” does not enter into it at all. Consider the events of a spring day in 1963, in Belmont, Massachusetts, when Bessie Goldberg, a white woman in her sixties is found strangled in her home.

This is at the height of the Boston Strangler hysteria (in 1962-1964, 13 women were strangled in Boston, reportedly by the same killer) that gripped the greater Boston area (Belmont being a suburb of the city). In quick succession the police arrest a black man, Roy Smith, for the murder.

Author Sebastian Junger and his new book A Death in Belmont [2006, W. W. Norton, 280 pages] examines the Goldberg murder, the Boston Strangler case, the subsequent conviction of Smith, and the aftermath with a journalist’s eye for details married against an author’s aim for advocacy, and explorations of the larger issues of justice, race, and truthfulness in American society.

It’s a large undertaking and one that Junger doesn’t shy away from, though his take on the case is not at all black and white either. In fact, Junger’s exploration of the case and the larger issues inherent in his questioning of the criminal justice system reveal no easy answers for anyone seeking to understand the events of that spring in 1963 and what the murder wrought upon those most affected by it.

Into Junger’s story comes the wildcard to end all wildcards, Albert DeSalvo, the self-described and later retracted Boston Strangler. Could he be the real killer of Mrs. Goldberg? Was Smith an innocent man caught up in the strangler hysteria and latent racism? This is something that Junger examines throughout the book in effective detail and with a number of plausible scenarios, advocacy, and thinking out loud moments.

For, in a strange coincidence, Junger is connected to this murder in ways that other are not. Junger grew up in Belmont, in a house a mile or two from the Goldbergs. At the time of the murder, Junger was a toddler, and his parent (his mother, an artist), had commissioned a contractor to build a studio behind their home. Among the work crew was a small, powerfully built man named Al; otherwise known as Albert DeSalvo.

Did this give him the time and opportunity to murder Mrs. Goldberg? Mind you, the case against Smith was circumstantial (he was, admittedly, in the house as part of a work assignment around the time of crime), and compelling on its face value.

Junger takes the reader on an historical tour of the Strangler cases, coupled with an examination of Smith’s past and his human frailties (Smith, a flawed man, had a criminal past, plus a taste for alcohol and women). He examines DeSalvo, an admitted rapist, possible psychopath, and a cunning, knowledgeable, and brutal criminal. He also lays out the case against each, with another possibility as well. It’s an intriguing examination.

If anything, A Death in Belmont is a remarkable work, not so much as non-fiction, as it is an inquiry into what is truth. To believe one thing about the human condition is to, sometimes, be faced with something different and even darker. To think all the good things about American criminal justice is to also have to contemplate its more sinister side, that of incompetence, manipulation, and rush to judgment, among other ills.

It's no shock that Junger writes extremely well. As readers of The Perfect Storm found, he has a way of distilling things down to human terms, whether based factually or envisioned from recollections, stories, and other memories.

Here, Junger never shifts his case too far away from its personal connections and the book does not become bogged down in procedural details as an intelligent exercise. The answers are never as black and white as we think. A Death in Belmont is well worth reading with that thought in mind (four stars).

Sources
www.wwnorton.com
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5362257
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/gallery/death_in_belmont/


Recommended: Yes