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Murder Has a Public Face: Crime and Punishment in the Speed Graphic Era
In his popular Strange Days, Dangerous Nights, Larry Millett delivered Weegee-style images of midwestern noir from the photo files of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He returns in this new volume with a focus on the "dangerous"murder cases from the forties and fifties, memorialized in intimate and telling photographs.
There is Arthur DeZeler, accused of bludgeoning his wife, Grace, and sinking her body in a northern lake. Laura Miller, single and pregnant, ran for help after gunshots killed her married lover. Arnold Axilrod, a mild-mannered dentist with a penchant for over-sedating his female patients, was arrested when the lifeless body of one of those patients was discovered in a Minneapolis alley. And, finally, there is Arnold Larson, the personable salesman with a winning smile and a bad temper.
Millett traces these four sensational crimes from the moment the victim was found, through the search for the killer, to the court trial and resulting imprisonment or acquittal—there are two of each. All are copiously illustrated with shots from the bulky Speed Graphic camera, which yielded rich, textured views in an era when photographers enjoyed unrestricted access to police matters ranging from found bodies to jail cells. The images dramatically evoke these crimes of passion now more than a half-century old, offering a thrilling immersion into Minnesota noir.
There is Arthur DeZeler, accused of bludgeoning his wife, Grace, and sinking her body in a northern lake. Laura Miller, single and pregnant, ran for help after gunshots killed her married lover. Arnold Axilrod, a mild-mannered dentist with a penchant for over-sedating his female patients, was arrested when the lifeless body of one of those patients was discovered in a Minneapolis alley. And, finally, there is Arnold Larson, the personable salesman with a winning smile and a bad temper.
Millett traces these four sensational crimes from the moment the victim was found, through the search for the killer, to the court trial and resulting imprisonment or acquittal—there are two of each. All are copiously illustrated with shots from the bulky Speed Graphic camera, which yielded rich, textured views in an era when photographers enjoyed unrestricted access to police matters ranging from found bodies to jail cells. The images dramatically evoke these crimes of passion now more than a half-century old, offering a thrilling immersion into Minnesota noir.
- GenresTrue CrimePhotography
128 pages, Hardcover
First published October 15, 2008
About the author
Larry Millett
55 books82 followersLarry Millett has combined his interest in journalism, architectural history, and mystery fiction to create an unusual writing career. A native of Minneapolis, he attended school there and then went on to obtain a bachelor’s degrees in English from St. John’s University and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago.
He began working as a general assignment reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1972 and became the newspaper’s first architecture critic after a year of study on a fellowship to the University of Michigan.
Larry’s first book, The Curve of the Arch, appeared in 1985. Since then, he’s written eleven other works of nonfiction, including Lost Twin Cities, which has been in continuous print for more than twenty years.
Larry began writing mystery fiction in 1996 by bringing the world’s most famous consulting detective to Minnesota for The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon. He’s published six other novels featuring Holmes, Dr. Watson, and St. Paul saloonkeeper Shadwell Rafferty.
Larry lives in St. Paul’s historic West Seventh Street neighborhood with his wife and occasional writing partner, Jodie Ahern, who is also an accomplished painter and a freelance copy editor.
He began working as a general assignment reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1972 and became the newspaper’s first architecture critic after a year of study on a fellowship to the University of Michigan.
Larry’s first book, The Curve of the Arch, appeared in 1985. Since then, he’s written eleven other works of nonfiction, including Lost Twin Cities, which has been in continuous print for more than twenty years.
Larry began writing mystery fiction in 1996 by bringing the world’s most famous consulting detective to Minnesota for The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon. He’s published six other novels featuring Holmes, Dr. Watson, and St. Paul saloonkeeper Shadwell Rafferty.
Larry lives in St. Paul’s historic West Seventh Street neighborhood with his wife and occasional writing partner, Jodie Ahern, who is also an accomplished painter and a freelance copy editor.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 7, 2015
A very interesting work about the history of American journalism, with a particular focus on crime reporting and photography. Although some vintage crime scene photos are included, they are used for illustrative purposes rather than shock value. So if you're looking for shock, you may be disappointed, but overall I think this is a very well-researched and written book that provides unique insights about the evolution of American sensibilities. I find it a good companion piece to works like Wisconsin Death Trip.
June 7, 2014
The material of the book was extremely interesting, especially the pictures and the things that photographers of the time were allowed to do. I, however, didn't like the set up of the book. I felt like instead of breaking the stories up into legal chapters, each chapter should have told the entire piece from start to finish. There were many times I found myself slightly confused as to which case I was reading about as there wasn't a good transition from one case to the next since the headers of each were nonspecific. All in all though, it was a fascinating read.
November 21, 2013
A rather dull account of several crimes in the 30s and 40s in the St. Paul area, with photos from local papers. I expected more gruesome crime photos but most were of people in courtrooms. The descriptions of the crimes and trials are broken up in a way I found confusing, since none of them were particularly memorable.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews