Who Named the Knife: A True Story of Murder and Memory

by Linda Spalding

When a murder occurs in beautiful Hawaii, the suspects are two young mainlanders on their honeymoon. Mayann Acker is eighteen-years-old. Her husband, William, is twenty-eight and just out of prison.Linda Spalding is chosen as a juror for Maryann's trail. Surprisingly, the chief witness against her is William. Spalding has her doubts, but on the last day of the trial she is abruptly dismissed from the jury. Maryann is found guilty. Who Named the Knife is the story of how, eighteen years later, Spalding tracks down Maryann and uncovers much more than the answer to the question of her innocence. A complex journey into the twists of fate that spin two lives down different paths, Who Named the Knife offers profound insight into the human heart.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Memoir

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Linda Spalding, Kansas-born Canadian fiction and nonfiction writer, often explores world cultures and the clash between contemporary life and traditional beliefs. Born in Topeka, she lived in Mexico and Hawaii before moving to Toronto, Ontario in 1982.

Spalding's work has been honoured numerous times. Her non-fiction work, The Follow, was shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award and the Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize and she has since received the Harbourfront Festival Prize for her contribution to the Canadian literary community.

Her novel, The Purchase, won the 2012 Governor General's Literary Award.

She has two daughters and is currently married to novelist Michael Ondaatje. Linda, her daughter Esta, and Michael are also on the editorial board of the Canadian literary magazine, Brick.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Linda Spalding was called for jury duty while she was living in Hawaii in 1979. During the trial for which she served as a member of the jury she kept a journal. She was five minutes late on the last day of the trial and was dismissed from that jury. Spalding goes back to discover what happened to the defendant, Maryann, who was convicted of murder. The author's repetitive writing and far-reaching comparisons between herself and Maryann are, at best, confusing, and become annoying as the book continues. Spalding resorts to fantasizing too often on what might have occurred or attempts guesswork at characters' actions and/or reactions, which I found off-putting, especially for a non-fiction work. Maryann's story by itself is interesting and would have made for a very compelling magazine article due to the limited information that Spalding puts forth. Spalding's biographical portion of the book lacked substance. She should have either written a book about Maryann or a memoir about herself, but combining the two stories didn't work for me.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not at all what I expected. What looked like a standard true-crime story turned out to be...how do I describe this? The author was attempting to come to terms with the events in her own life by clearing up how she feels about the criminal case she sat in on as a juror decades before. So basically, this is the same idea as Crossed Over: A Murder, A Memoir, although the results are very different. We get to know the convicted killer and what landed her in the same unit as the Manson girls (two of whom the author also met in the course of this story). We find out why this killer, like the Manson alumnae, are such standouts in a women's prison, but also what they have in common with most female prisoners. We learn a lot of things that were new to me, but all of it is filtered through the author's firm belief that this woman would never have been convicted without her, and that everything that happened to Maryann Acker is somehow about Linda Spalding. It's well written, but it comes across inherently ditzy and self-centered.

[JMM · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Who Named the Knife, Linda Spalding explores her experiences as a juror on a murder trial and her subsequent relationship with the woman who is serving time. I read it in one sitting, finding myself completely absorbed by the tale and Spalding's willingness to invite the reader into her heart. Jury duty is a common experience, yet one I have not seen examined in essay or book form before. Spalding's reflections on her own past, on her emotional similarities with the woman on trial and the "what-if's" of their lives, are a profound examination of the experience. (Thank you, Sara!)

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at a sociopath and his girlfriend, but I never got to really understand or know any of the characters. The author and the female subject ultimately seem uninteresting and kind of spaced out. Also it seems like the author wasted a lot of her own life for some uncalled for guilt trip that went no place.

[Elderberrywine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mid-1960s through 1970s were an extraordinary turbulent and bloody period in American history. Fueled by civil rights protests and the Vietnam War, it was a whole period of what next. Of course, since these were my high school and college years, it was, for most of us, just the way it was. Starting in 8th grade with John Kennedy’s assassination, there was the assassination of Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, the Democratic convention of 1968 in Chicago, Kent State, and the resignation of Nixon. Let’s just say during those years, not too many people of my generation were tuning politics out. At least not then.

But beneath the major events, there was an underlying sense of unease. This was also a time of cults and conspiracies, from the Manson Family to the Jamestown massacre, from the Waco standoff to the McMaster preschool witch hunt. A young Mormon runaway, 18 year old Maryann, marries William Acker in California and they make their way to Hawaii. She is found beside the body of a local man in possession of the murder weapon, and her husband is gone, back to California. He has quite the rap sheet, but uses the fact she cannot testify against him to escape charges and she is left standing trial.

Here is where the author shows up. She was a juror on that trial, and was very much leaning to acquittal. She too was a Mormon runaway, about ten years older than Maryann, and a lot of William’s testimony did not ring true to her. But the morning of the jury verdict, her cat was having issues, and she ended up arriving a little too late. An alternative juror took her place, and Maryann was convicted.

Many years later, she wonders about Maryann, and now an investigative reporter, looks her up in the California prison in Chico where she is now domiciled. Since Maryann was shunned by her family, she has no visitors and tentatively welcomes Linda’s visits. Seems as if Maryann was always innocent, but the American judicial system being what it is, that doesn’t seem to make much difference.

The title by the way? William had a knife that he always had on him, that he named Justice. Who does that?

[Jane Mulkewich · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, the best part of this book was getting to know a little more about Linda Spalding's life (as I had previously read her book The Purchase, which is great, and I also met her once at a dinner party with her partner Michael Ondaatje). She was a juror in a murder case in Hawaii, and 20 years later she tracks down the accused murderess who is still in prison, and begins to write her and visit her and they become friends of a sort. Spalding is fascinated by the similarities and parallels in their lives, and how things could have been different.

[Corey Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spalding seems (italics) to take a trial she was a juror on and makes a true-crime read. I say "seems" because that's not really what happens. Instead, Spalding presents us with a retrospective piece about what may be best described as guilt. This was not the book I expected it would be and I was left rather disappointed.

[Amber A · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not at all what I expected as a true crime junkie. I anticipated there would be more suspense and details about the case. Although there are some, the book is more about the author comparing her life to Maryann’s and building a friendship with her nearly 20 years after she was one of the jurors over her trial. It was okay, but not the true crime story I was expecting.

[Nefty123 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't care for the writing or subject. The author never made me care about the accused.

[Andrea Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book!

[Diane]

Very interesting story - women's prisons, women incarcerated, author living in Canada in rural-like environment (total contrast).

[Gordon Gray · Rating 1 out of 5]

really poorly written

[Daisy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really thought this was going to be another book that added to my ever-increasing lexicon of murder fear. The author was supposedly writing a book about being on a jury that convicted a woman for murders she may not have committed and her later reconnection with the woman while she was a life-long prison inmate. I thought there would be a lot more about corruption in the justice system, examination of prison life and - well, injustice. Instead, I was stuck with 258 pages full of self-indulgent introspection about how awful her life was since she was confronted with the painful realities of life. Depression hurts, but medication helps. Less whining, please.

The only reason this got 2 stars instead of 1 is that I liked the title and will steal it and put it to use for my own nefarious artly purposes. This book SUCKED.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

an account of the hawaii murder trial of a woman defendant who was probably wrongfully convicted. written by a juror who was bounced from the murder jury after being 5 minutes late back from lunch, felt guilty, and much later developed a friendship of sorts with the defendant. I study jury systems so this should have been super engaging for me but I found it hard to understand the motivations of the defendant and the juror. If you read this book check out the true life consequences of the appeal mentioned toward the end of the book..you will be shocked.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was interested in this book, as I had lived in Hawaii, now live in Canada and was visiting Hawaii over the holidays of 2013, so thought it would be an interesting and timely read. I found it disjointed and rambling. I was not able to emotionally connect with the characters and finished it...barely...because I thought it would come together in the end. It does not and I would not recommend it.

[Erika Nerdypants · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah, not so much for me. A lot of court room dialogue, which feels like the writer just copied the court records verbatim, and what other events both of the crime and of her personal life feel disjointed without any real flow.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. After having read "the Purchase" by the same author I was expecting more.

I did find the "it could have been me" connection between Linda and Maryanne to be interesting; however, this connection went on too long.

[Mamatufy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting memoir about the author sitting on a jury in Hawaii and the follow-up she did years later. The story is different than typical true crime stories because the murderer is seen as a sympathetic person & not a cold blooded killer. Interesting.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit waffly but shockingly she is still in jail after 20 + years despite the husband confessing.

[Nerak · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sort of interesting story but poorly written - disjointed and spacy.

[Dawna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts were good but on the whole - just okay. The storyline was too jumbled for my taste.