I've always been fascinated by Lizzie Borden and true crime stories. After reading this book, I realized besides the rhyme, I really didn't know much about her. Did she do it? Did she not? Cara Robertson delivers a glimpse of Lizzie's life before the murder and it is a compelling and interesting read, I enjoyed the pictures of the people in Lizzie's life before and after the murder and recommend this well-researched and well-written book to anyone who wants to know more about Lizzie Borden. .

*Also, for those who said they couldn't read it on their Kindle, check the doc file. That's where I found mine after I contacted Customer Service.

While I admire the time and research involved in the making of this book, it was incredibly dry. I literally had to force myself to pick it up and keep reading. Admittedly, nonfiction isn't typically my genre of choice, but the Lizzie Borden story has fascinated me for years, and I was genuinely curious about this latest novel, which offered a new glimpse into her infamous life.. The included pictures were a very nice touch, and gave the story that sense of realism that so many true crime books lack...these are real people dealing with real crimes. I sometimes think that fact gets lost in the shuffle.

An extra star was added solely for the amazingly well done research.

**As always, thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Cara Robertson for the advanced reader's copy.

Oh, Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie Borden. Did you kill your parents or did someone else do it? It's a question that people have researched and debated over for years. This new book from Cara Robertson gathers photos, legal transcripts, local account and newly found letters from Lizzie and has us, the reader, looks at this case again with fresh eyes.

Robertson has done a fabulous job of presenting the story of these murders as is. There's little opinion - it's left to you to decide.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you NetGalley for early access to this book!

This book was incredibly informative and well researched, but it does read like a thesis instead of a page turning book of suspense. This book dives into the scandalous murders of Mr. & Mrs. Bordon, Lizzie's father and step-father, during the late 1800's. What I found so interesting about this specific book was that the author goes into a lot of background detail about the location, people involved, societal norms, and compares that to other places and women during the same time period to get an idea of how fairly or unfairly Lizzie was treated. By the end, we aren't given a definite answer by the author to whether Lizzie actually committed these crimes, and keeps the discussion open for future books and research into this topic.

It is very clear that if this happened today, the murderer would have been found immediately and without question. Lizzie's recollection of the day of the murders started off strong, but then she later contradicts herself which leads to being the number one suspect and ends the search for the murderer. I liked how this book showed the different camps of thought, where one camp believed women couldn't even commit an act like this, and the second camp that believed she was a product of evil and probably murdered because of menstruation. The female reporter who ends up getting Lizzie to tell her story is a super interesting character, and I'd read another whole book just about her.

While I found all of the information provided in this book very interesting, I did not think all of it was needed. We get a profile of several different people like reporters & townsfolk who end up not influencing the trial at all and I can't figure out why we need to know those particular backgrounds. It read like a thesis, and was a bit dry. The book is much shorter than the page count suggests, the last large section is the author citing sources. I knew a bit about this trial before I started reading, but there was still new information that I hadn't heard before. I specifically liked the example of "fake news" and gotcha media the spurred from this trial, and it's so weird to see the parallels to this trial in today's age.

Overall, it was a very smart and informative read. I thought there was a small bit of filler information that wasn't necessary, and it took me a while to get through due to the dryness of the material. But it's non-fiction, so I feel like there's some room there for dryness. I would say it's a 3.5/5 Stars.

This was an interesting (and very in depth!) look into the case of Lizzie Borden. I've always been fascinated by this case, so getting to read all of the details of the murder & the trial was so interesting. You can tell this book was VERY well researched (like 100 pages of footnotes in the back of the book), and the author did an amazing job with that. I loved that there were pictures throughout as well, because it really helped me to visualize the crime scene (especially when there were blue prints). Because this book had a lot of facts about the case, it was a little bit dry for me at times (I did skim some parts), but I enjoyed it overall.

Lizzie Borden. Everyone knows her name and some know the rhyme, but who knows the true story? The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson will be out on Tuesday and while it's not on my purchase list, I did find it to be an interesting read.

In August of 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were murdered (hacked to death to be more specific) in Fall River Massachusetts. Written by lawyer Cara Robertson, this book allows you to step inside family life at the Borden home and reviews the trial as it progressed day by day. Lizzie Borden, the 32 year old daughter of Andrew Borden and stepdaughter of Abby Borden, was charged with the crime and after reading this book, I'm convinced she did it!

The Borden home was an unhappy one. Andrew's first wife died when his two daughters were young and a couple years later he remarried. The girls never got close to his new wife, Abby, and were quite rude to her. Even Andrew didn't seem to treat Abby very well giving her the same allowance as his daughters despite many household expenses needing to come out of hers. When Abby requested financial help for her sister, Andrew did provide it, but after Lizzie and her elder sister Emma found out, they demanded equal sums of money from their father. He agreed and they ended up purchasing the home they lived in however, a few weeks before the murder, Andrew bought it back from his daughters. I found the timing of that purchase rather strange. The whole family dynamic was uncomfortable with a tense household of adults who refused to eat meals together and had a series of keys for different parts of the house as if they didn't trust the members of their own household to respect their privacy and personal belongings.

On August 3rd, the day before the murder, Lizzie went to the pharmacy to purchase prussic acid, but was turned away. Prussic acid was a powerful poison and was typically prescribed in a diluted form. Even diluted, less than a teaspoon was a fatal dose. Lizzie claimed it was to clean a cape, but that was not something it was used for and the pharmacist had never had anyone ask for it before.

The unhappy living situation, timing of financial exchanges, and Lizzie's attempt to purchase poison are just the beginnings of the mountainous heap of evidence that she did it. Get yourself of a copy of this book from your local bookstore if you're interested in learning more so you can form your own opinion!

Very good read. For me, I learned things I did not know. Well written and it allows you to come to your own conclusions. I do not think we will ever know the full truth, but this book is a good read for any interested in Lizzie Borden. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on my review.

A very detailed and meticulously researched account of the Lizzie Borden case. I do not read a great deal of true crime, so may be less familiar with what is typical for the genre. However, I found myself in the weeds with the detailed and cross-referenced facts in this book. This bogged down the narrative for me and I just didn’t feel like it flowed very well. I did not finish this one.

The Trial of Lizzie Borden goes into great detail of the discovery of Andrew and Abby Borden's bodies and the trial of one of the most notorious unsolved murders in the United States. While the story of Lizzie Borden interests me, this book didn't seem to hold my attention. It seemed very cut and dry and written in a very scientific manner. This may be fine for some people, but I struggled to get though the book (even though I already knew how the trial ended).

One thing I never realized though is that Lizzie was in her early 30's when the deaths occurred and when she was on trial. Not knowing too much about the details of the story, I wrongly assumed that she was in her 20's. I also did not realize that Abby Borden was her stepmother and not her mother. And just to give my opinion, I do think she was guilty of killing her stepmother because she wanted to. However, I think her father was just a means to an end and even though she cared for him, she wanted her independence and was willing to kill him to achieve it.

I appreciate the meticulous research that has gone into this dark, remarkably well-documented story that took author Cara Robertson 16 years to publication. Chock full of fascinating historical information about Lizzie, her dysfunctional family relationships including living under the roof of a cruel father and a thorough reporting of the sensational trial that gripped the nation.

*will post in online venues upon publication

I give The Trial of Lizzie Borden 3 stars. Here’s the thing, this was my first true crime book, I wanted to go out of my comfort zone for genre, and it being a familiar topic I thought it would be a good way to ease myself in. I thought wrong. True crime just isn’t for me. I do enjoy some non-fiction books, but I just don’t think I’m smart enough, or have enough focus for this style. It was extremely well-researched, so thorough, and for me, that was the problem. I don’t care about minute details, what people were wearing to the trial on what day etc. I understand other people enjoy every single detail so they can really picture it, but for me, it ended up being too dense. I’m not sure if all true crime books are set up in this way, but if true crime is your thing, you will love this. If courtroom play-by-play bores your, (like it does for me), you may want to keep that in mind when considering this.

The Trial of Lizzie Borden was a meticulously researched and comprehensive look at a case that has fascinated people for over a century. For me, the case is second only to Jack the Ripper in terms of becoming a part of popular culture. It’s such a strange case, and I find it so interesting. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of learning more about it.

Robertson manages to present a fairly complete account of the Borden murders and Lizzie’s subsequent trial while remaining relatively impartial. Personally, I found this both admirable and frustrating, because I wanted to come out of this book with a decent amount of certainty about who was actually the murderer. But, while I do have a favorite prevailing theory – hint: it was Lizzie – I couldn’t say it’s beyond a reasonable doubt. There just wasn’t enough evidence against her, and there’s still the possibility of someone else having committed the crime.

I really liked this book. While it was a tiny bit on the dry side – it is a history book, after all – it did hold my attention all the way through, and I thought it was a great overview of the case. The time Robertson spent researching this book was evident, and I respect that a lot. I was a little bit disappointed that there wasn’t a whole lot of information that was new to me, but that’s just me, personally. I’d definitely recommend this for anyone who is curious and wants to learn more about the Borden case, because it’s probably the most comprehensive view I’ve come across.

I was intrigued with the idea of new information about the time and trial of Lizzie Borden. I have some familiarity with the crime. I've watched the original movie and have seen one or two documentaries regarding the case. Anything new would have been great to read after all of this time.

What I read was a dry retelling with no new details that I could see. This book would be good for someone with almost no knowledge of the case and trial. For me it was like reading the transcripts of the trial and every other document involved.

In the thrust of America's true crime obsession, works like this stand out. Robertson's exhaustive examination of one of the most famous female criminals is worth the time of any reader.

This not being a book or genre I normally read, I still found it rich with historical detail and loved the pictures of the people and places mixed in. A compelling book about the trial of Lizzie Borden. Would definitely recommend.

I have always been fascinated by the Lizzie Borden case. This book was very interesting and I loved jumping into the Borden world again. I would love to actually go visit the Borden house one day.

I was very excited to read this because I am actually distantly related to Lizzie Borden. Sadly, this book was a bit hard for me to get through. I found the material dry because it was filled with a majority of direct quotes from research and not a lot of storytelling. I was also disappointed with the "new information" that wasn't really anything solid. I thought there was going to be this big reveal when really we were just told that there's more information out there but we don't know what it is. Overall, I feel like I learned a lot while reading, but I didn't enjoy the reading experience.

Most of us true crime fans are familiar with the Lizzie Borden story: a woman’s father and stepmother are found one day in the home, viciously murdered. The murder weapon is believed to be one of the few axes found in the home, and the murderer is believed to be Lizzie herself. The story has been recounted hundreds of times in hundreds of ways. My preference is to watch those ghost hunter shows that theorize that the Borden house, now a bed and breakfast, is haunted.

What we generally don’t hear about is what happened after the murders. We usually hear a short sentence that Lizzie is not found guilty, but that’s about it. Lifetime has shown their own take of what Lizzie did after she was acquitted, an almost childlike, frivolous frenzy of purchasing a large house and fancy clothes, all the while throwing lavish parties.

Cara Robertson addresses Lizzie’s life post- murders in her book, The Trial of Lizzie Borden. Along with supporting Lifetime’s reporting that Lizzie started living a more fun and fancy-free lifestyle, she painstaking reports an essentially blow-by-blow account of Lizzie’s trial. In what can only be a well-researched book, Robertson takes the reader from the day of the murders, to Lizzie’s arrest, to the trial, to post-trial. Robertson studs the book with well-placed quotes and photos and seems to leave no stone unturned.

Unfortunately, the information becomes a little dry and the trial becomes a rehashing and dissection of the presented evidence, of which there is very little. Of course, because this all happened in the late 1800s, there is little biological evidence, and what biological evidence that exists is shaky at best. The trial is filled with witness accounts that clash, and the incompetence of everyone involved was frustrating. One of the most sickening details was to know how the skulls of the victims were cleaned before the trial. It’s common knowledge that they made an appearance at the trial, but I doubt the horrifying fact that the skulls were cleaned by placing them in lobster pots for sea life to do the work, was not. Talk about not leaving out any details. Don’t get me started about the female hysteria during menstruation theory, either. Don’t get me wrong, though, Robertson is able to provide some more fascinating, sometimes odd or funny details, which I will let future readers discover themselves.

All in all, an incredibly well-researched book, but with its dull moments due to the back and forth between the prosecution and defense. It also took mental gymnastics to follow Lizzie’s whereabouts on the day of the murder. But of course, these things cannot be left out just because they’re uninteresting, and Robertson is a thorough reporter.

This non-fiction explication of Lizzie Borden's murder trial was extremely informative and entertaining, It read like a novel and held my attention the entire time. This is a novel I will be recommending to my high school students for our non-fiction choice readings. It's books like The Trial of Lizzie Borden that make non-fiction enjoyable and are considered high interest for students and adults.

Most people are familiar with the murder that Lizzie Borden was accused of as there have been numerous books and movies based on it. In August of 1892, Lizzie’s father and stepmother were brutally murdered in their home. Lizzie was accused of the murder and the trial became a sensationalized spectacle. People then and now all have different opinions of what happened that day in Fall River, Massachusetts. Was Lizzie a guilty murderess or was she wrongly accused?

I have read many accounts of this murder and even saw a play based on it. Ms. Robertson’s book is one of the most extensively researched and unbiased accounts I’ve read. This most definitely does not read like a historical novel as well it shouldn’t, though never ceased to hold my interest. This is a fact-based accounting based on Ms. Robertson’s twenty years of research. The book itself ended at 65%, the rest being a list of notes detailing the source of almost every sentence in the book.

What I found the most impressive about the book was that the author includes much information about society at the time of the murder and the way people perceived women. The men on Lizzie’s jury just couldn’t imagine a lady such as Lizzie committing such an atrocious act. For a women to do what was done to these two victims, she would have had to have been a monster and that would have shown in her countenance. The book also touches on what was thought to be the cause of “hysteria” in women.
The book not only covers the trial in detail but also the discussions that were taking place outside of the courtroom and newspaper accountings, as well as rumors. Another plus is that the book is chock full of photos that help the details to life.

A must read for true life crime readers. Highly recommended.