Nothing But the Night
~ A Capsule Book Review by Allen Kopp ~

The time is 1924. The place, Chicago USA. Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb are both eighteen years old. They live in a Jewish enclave in Chicago called Kenwood with their wealthy families. They are both smart and well educated. The have everything in life that anybody could want. Yet, still, inexplicably, they kidnap and murder a fourteen-year-old boy named Bobby Franks, also from a wealthy Jewish family, also from the Kenwood neighborhood. They beat Bobby in the head with a chisel, force ether-soaked rags down his throat, and then pour hydrochloric acid all over his body. After they have killed him, they dump his body in a culvert in a wooded area outside the city.

There is no apparent reason for Leopold and Loeb to commit such a horrendous murder. It seems to be a crime without a motive. Leopold and Loeb both know Bobby Franks from the neighborhood and have no real reason to want to harm him.

The murder of Bobby Franks comes to be known as the “crime of the century.” Public interest in the murder is unprecedented, fed by the Chicago newspapers, which print any information on the murder they can come across, regardless of its journalistic merit. Soon the story spreads outside Chicago, and the entire country becomes fascinated by the crime.

Despite the supposed mental superiority of both Leopold and Loeb, and despite their wealth, they are soon suspects in the murder. Under police interrogation, Richard Loeb breaks down and confesses that he and Nathan Leopold, Jr. did, in fact, kill Bobby Franks. The murder is, ironically, solved within a week.

Since Leopold and Loeb confess to the crime, there will be no trial to determine guilt or innocence. There is a trial, without a jury, to present evidence and allow both sides to argue in favor of the death penalty or a life sentence in prison. After both sides argue their case, the final decision rests with the judge. It will be either the death penalty or life behind bars.

The Leopold and Loeb families procure the services of famed defense attorney Clarence Darrow, who is vehemently opposed to the death penalty, to defend “Dickie” and “Babe” in the trial.

Nothing But the Night by Greg King and Penny Wilson is a riveting, historical, true-life crime story, where truth is stranger than fiction. It comes in at a tidy 300 pages. The story is detailed and well-documented, but it never bogs down in details of police or court procedure. If you are a fan of true-life crime, as I am, you will find Nothing But the Night a very powerful reading experience.

Copyright © 2023 by Allen Kopp