Morning Ran Red

by Stephen Bowman

MRR, as it is known to fans, is a must for every mystery reader's experience. Touted for its compelling storytelling, literary quality, and historical significance, many readers and reviewers feel that MRR shares the stage with Capote's In Cold Blood as one of the best in the genre.

Based on the Villisca Axe Murders of 1912, the mass murder has become one of the most infamous unsolved crimes in American history. As with other ground-breaking books, MRR is not only about the tragedy, but has itself become an integral part of the modern-day story.
Many writers had tried and failed to write the story of the famous unsolved crime. Bowman realized that it was not simply about a gruesome mass murder. It was a story about people. A love triangle. Rich against poor. Town against country. Families against families.

For decades the town tried to hide the secrets of the tragedy. Bowman's book blew the lid off, but today is recognized as important to the town's history and progress.

Genres: Mystery, Nonfiction, Horror

422 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1986

Reviews

[Linnea Swalwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

More entertaining than I expected! Lots of different characters with all kinds of scandals going on. Finishing this just makes me even more curious about what actually happened with the Villisca axe murders (since this novel wasn’t based on facts).

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

So boring. Can't finish...and I rarely do that with books.

[Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Morning Ran Red is extremely turbulent. There were points where I felt like this book was a 1 to 2 stars and other points where I was loving this book. As some other reviewers have commented, there are absolutely plot twists and surprises that seem forced throughout the novel, most notably in the first half. Some of the obscure ones were corny, like one of an old, cheesy soup opera's "dun-dun-dun" moments. You just have to push through it honestly, and it does indeed get better after most of the relationships are established and the bulk of the exposition is accomplished.
In the latter half of the book, the plot completely revolves around a courtroom trial that begins the process of the reveal and resolution, which I incredibly enjoyed. There were moments here and there in the book where politics came into play, but whenever the story started to be told directly from the courtroom, the novel completely became a legal and political thriller. I thought that this aspect of the book was what truly made it worth it, along with the loose ends that were solved by Bowman in the last 50 pages or so. In the final chapters, I became so involved in the story that I actually had that "I can't put this book down" feeling, which is incredibly rare for me.
In conclusion: Cheesy? Sure. Fun? Yeah. Melodramatic at times? It has its moments. Overall a good story? Yes, I enjoyed the ride.

[Rachel Jessen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed learning about this real life story even though it does not use all the actual names and I definitely wanted to keep reading! I kept guessing who could possibly have done it. There were so many suspects. But I read it on NOOK and it was terribly edited with frequent misspelling, typos, incorrect and random punctuation marks inserted at weird places. Needed an editor and proofreader badly! Very distracting. It also made the book hard to read because they neglected to provide basic paragraph spacing when switching scenes and topics in a chapter.

[Jessica Weinreich · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly dumb. It did not need the Villisca murders as a jumping off point. Were it not so poorly written with a ridiculous plot and cast of characters it could be its own story. Convoluted with forced twists and plot points, the book is in desperate need of a good editor and proofreader.

[Megan Bruns · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rather boring. Kept reading it hoping it would get better but it didn’t.

[Wulfwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting fantasy about the Villisca Axe Murders. I have been fascinated by the actual, unsolved murders for years. I was looking forward to reading this fictionalized account of what could have happened. The actual description of the murders was well written. The author was able to bring forth a vivid description of them that makes it difficult to forget. I felt like the author was trying to hard to make me believe the story. I was left feeling the ending was a forced wrap up so I was not satisfied with it. The book dragged a bit at times as much involved the court part and court can be very long. It is worth reading if you keep in mind it is a fictionalized account of what could have happened.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the story is interesting and I saw it through to the end (having family in the area of Villisca, I was very interested in reading this story), I found the abundant typos very distracting. I read this on my kindle and am hopeful that the printed version has less. I'm not sure if this book was ever edited. It looks like someone took a hand written copy and then was unable to read certain words and made their best guess. Other typos made no sense at all including the number 1 in the middle of words that I could only guess was mean to be an L. It is a good mystery and feels like a little piece of Iowa history, however poorly written.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am quite intrigued by this 98 year old unsolved crime, and I had hoped this was going to be a nonfiction book. Initially I was bummed it was fiction, but I'm happy I read it. It's a pretty good book.

[Ashley Austrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book overall, but I was slightly disappointed. From the synopsis, I got that it would be more fact-based, and instead it was a completely fictional account of the real events. There's not really anything wrong with the book, just wasn't what I expected.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

So disappointed. Stephen Bowman took the true crime, changed names, the town name. The book was disjointed. There were so many typos/misspellings, it distracted from reading it. Would never recommend to anyone.

[J.M.]

For some reason I can't recall now, I read about the murders in Villisca online and became interested in them.

[Tracy Lackey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, but I couldn't help thinking the whole time that it was a fictional account of a true story, the Villisca axe murders. The ending left me feeling unsatisfied.

[Erin Copeland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting idea to an unsolved crime. It says its fiction so im not sure why some think its not.

[Jalease]

AMAZING U LOVE THE MYSTERY AND THE MURDER BUT HOW SAD 😢😢😢😢😢