In the 1930's, trunks are unloaded from a Phoenix to Los Angeles train. Something red and sticky is dripping from them and there's a horrible smell in the air. The train officials figure that someone wants to import a dead deer. When a lovely young woman comes to claim this baggage, they are surprised...she doesn't look like a hunter. When they ask her to open the trunks, she explains that she doesn't have the key but will go home to fetch it. They let her leave and she doesn't return. Eventually the police are called, they break the trunk locks, and find two carved up bodies of young women, the sight and smell so vile that the police had to run outside to vomit.
So begins the true crime life of Winnie Ruth Judd, the Trunk Murderess. The author fictionalizes Judd's story but it adheres very closely to the truth which reads like fiction. We follow the events in Judd's life that lead her to that train station and what comes after the trunks are discovered. Her marriage to her addict husband, Doctor, her friends and competitors,  Anne and Sammy, and Jack Halloran, the pillar of Phoenix society, are all well drawn. The Mexican Revolution, William Randolph Heart's newspaper, and the history of the small town in Arizona starting to emerge as the city of Phoenix are part of her story. Was this just a love triangle gone wrong, the actions of a severely mentally ill woman, or a case of vengeance in the  soul-sucking Phoenix heat?
Being a Phoenix native, I was always aware of the Trunk Murderess and the basic story of Winnie Ruth Judd. But Notaro brings out so many things that I wasn't aware of, notably that Judd became a beautician operating her salon in the asylum, and that she died in 1998, at the age of 93. This novel holds its own as historical fiction, but also as a piece of lurid Arizona history that most people don't know but should. And now they will.

I thought this book was intriguing from the start, even more so because it was based on a true story/person. It read like a fiction book, though I think the part one was much too long with too much filler. Part 3, where the story really matters was short and could have been better detailed if part 1 hadn’t been so long winded. Since it’s based on a true story, I won’t judge the ending as being unsatisfactory, but by the end it was reading more like an autobiography rather than a work of fiction. It was enjoyable altogether, but not spectacular.

3.5 stars
I have read Laurie Notaro’s nonfiction, but THE MURDERESS is her first fiction novel that I’ve read. Even then, it’s based on a true story, so her journalistic roots show through here.

In her 20s, Winnie Ruth Judd killed her two female friends Anne and Sammy. In this novel, Notaro starts when Ruth is caught at the train station with trunks that are leaking blood and smell noxious. Then the reader learns of her past, when she marries Doctor Judd, who is a narcotics addict, and he tragically gets rid of her newborn baby.

The narrative then pivots to Anne and Sammy, who met in Juneau, Alaska. When Sammy is diagnosed with tuberculosis, the doctor orders them to go to warmer weather, like Arizona, for her to get better. They move there, and soon Ruth is folded into their social circle. Ruth and her husband have been living separately, and Ruth takes up with Jack Halloran. On one pivotal night, Ruth shoots and kills Anne and Sammy. The last part of the novel is her trial with her lawyer being funded by William Randolph Hearst of all people (the trial will make good news!), narrowly averting execution by hanging, and her being put in a state psychiatric hospital, her “escapes,” and her later life.

The topic is interesting, and I hadn’t heard of Winnie Ruth Judd before. So I learned a lot, particularly the intersectionality of past trauma, alcohol/drugs, and mental health contributing to a psychotic break. There was the text of Ruth’s actual writing in the notes section of the book, and I could see how coming up with a coherent story from that, newspaper articles, and any court records that could be found from over 90 years ago would be a challenge for any author.

Each part of this book has a different perspective and writing tone. Some are more journalistic with very clear writing and short sentences. Some, particularly those from Ruth’s perspective, have a bit more prose to them. Surprisingly, I actually liked Anne and Sammy’s part, even though it took me a bit to figure out what was going on there because it was an abrupt shift.

While I liked each part individually, I question how cohesive the narrative is as a novel. Some parts I could tell that the author spent her time honing, but others felt a bit slapdash. I did enjoy this one even though it won’t rise to the top of the year status.

Publishes October 8, 2024

Thank you to @netgalley and @LittleA for this ARC. In this true-crime fiction book, Ruth Judd is found at a train station with two suitcases dripping some liquid. When she is asked to unlock them, she said she would go grab the key and return. She doesn't return that day so the porters had no choice but to open them as there was now a very strong smell. They find the bodies of two women cut up to fit into these two cases. Ruth Judd is now no where to be found and on the run. Her husband believes she is innocent since she is a calm natured, petite woman. Did Ruth actually murder these women or did someone take advantage of a naive woman. This story is something else....#TheMurderess #LaurieNotaro #LittleA #Oct2024

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this book. I was so intrigued by the story that I wanted to learn the real life connection. The plot kept me guessing with the unrealiable narrator.

Compelling..
A fictionalised true crime novel centred around notorious killer Winnie Ruth Judd, set 1931. When a suspicious porter at Los Angeles train station opens the trunks belonging to Judd, the disembodied remains of two women are discovered, Judd herself has disappeared into the crowds. The search begins and an epic tale starts. Well written and rich in historical detail, the author has penned a compelling and intriguing tale of what follows and what went before. Captivating reading.

This absolutely phenomenal true-crime fiction manages to immerse you fully in the Great Depression while building vivid characters and suspense. I've long wondered how single women lived throughout America's history, and this novel is a clear window into the lives of 3 unconventional women. This reads as quickly as any psychological thriller and you will be fascinated with the harsh world that used to be.

This advanced reader's copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

Book/Story: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Book Cover: ⭐⭐⭐

TRIGGER(S): MURDER, MENTAL HEALTH, HUMAN DISMEMBERMENT, DRUG ADDICTION, ABORTION, INFIDELITY



POV: Multiple, Third Person (Part I), Singular, First Person (Part II & IV), Singular, Third Person (Part III), Open Third Person/Singular, First Person (Part V)
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Safe or Dark: Safeish (see trigger warnings)

🚨 🚨 THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS IF YOU ARE NOT AWARE OF THE TRUE CRIME CASE OF WINNIE RUTH JUDD! 🚨🚨




“She was already guilty; no matter what the truth, she was guilty. The public had already deemed it so.”

I had previously heard about Winnie Ruth Judd's (26) case. The woman who allegedly murdered two of her friends, Agnes Anne LeRoi (27/32 sources vary) and Hedvig “Sammy” Samuelson (24), in the early 1930s. 1931, to be precise. It’s a story I’ve always been interested in. So, I was obviously excited when I found this book was based on her crime or what is suspected to be her crime. This fictional account of what happened on that fateful day between Ruth Judd and her two friends does not disappoint.

It was fun to see Laurie Notaro take us into the minds of Ruth, her husband (Dr. William Judd), brother (Burton McKinnell), lover (Jack Halloran), Anne LeRoi, the two detectives working the case, and others on the days following the murders. It makes you wonder what Ruth was up to when she was on the run and how her family and acquaintances were affected by her actions.

You can tell that Notaro did thorough research on the case in order to weave factual aspects into her fictional tale. Such as the murders themselves, Ruth’s injury to her hands, the trunks she took on the train to Los Angeles with her, her relationship with Jack Halloran, her friendship with the murder victims, and the shotty police work during the murder investigation. This story is a truly wonderful mix of true crime and historical fiction.

The writing is fluid and easy to follow. It’s descriptive without being dense and bogged down by unnecessary sentences. A few times, I felt like I was with the characters, watching the events unfold right next to them. Things slow down a bit in the middle, and it can seem like it might be a bit hard to get through. But don’t let that deter you, since the information given during that time is important to the plot of the story. And don’t worry, because the story picks up with vengeance once again as things work towards its conclusion.

The author had a way of making you feel sorry for Judd as we dive into her struggles with mental illness. The murders committed by Ruth Judd will always fascinate me since I personally believe it’s a tale of a person who just...snapped.

I don’t think we will ever truly know what happened on that fateful day in the little bungalow on 2929 North Second Street in Phoenix, Arizona. I don’t think we will ever truly find out if Judd is the actual perpetrator. Even though she admitted to killing her two friends in self-defense, It very well could have been Jack “Happy” Halloran (who was indicted by a grand jury in 1932 and exonerated in 1933) whose affections the women were allegedly fighting over. Or perhaps a fifth unknown person was present during the party. Judd simply could’ve assisted in covering up the murders.

“Before the police could finish their search, he hammered a sign into the front yard announcing a tour of the murder house.”

In 2014, a letter Judd wrote to her attorney, H.G. Richardson, on April 6, 1933, confessing to the murders of LeRoi and Samuelson was discovered, seemingly settling the debate over her guilt once and for all. But we all know how confessions, whether they are written or verbal, can be unreliable.

Whatever the truth may be, thanks to subpar police work, mishandling of evidence, and the media, which treated the whole thing like a circus sideshow, WRJ was already deemed guilty by the public, which became enthralled with her before she was ever brought to trial.

This book gives us something to use to fill in the blanks. Even if it only fictional ones.

Judd’s two victims lost their lives at the ages of twenty-seven and twenty-four/thirty-two but Judd herself lived to the ripe old age of ninety-three. Which is a subtle reminder that sometimes life just isn’t fair.

Winnie Ruth Judd, AKA the Trunk Murderess, might not be as well-known as other killers (Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Ramirez, etc.), but she will always be infamous in her own right.

As a true crime junkie, I could ramble on and on about this case all day. But for the sake of all you readers, I will end this review here.

If you weren’t interested in researching this case before, you definitely will be after finishing this book.

Fun Fact: Winnie Ruth Judd died in her sleep on October 23, 1998, sixty-seven years to the day from her surrender to the LAPD in 1931.

If you look online, you can find her obituary under the name Marian Lane in the New York Times.

“The trial was never going to be anything but a farce; the public demanded it.”

TLDR: IF YOU LOVE TRUE CRIME AND DON’T MIND A FICTIONAL TWIST ON THINGS, CHECK OUT THIS BOOK!

I would like to thank Little A and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

This is my voluntary, unbiased, and honest review.

This was a well written fiction book, this one is written from the perspective of an unreliable narrator and there is some skeptical information and some that is of concern as you are not sure who to trust to get the true story.

Is Ruthie being truthful? is she schizophrenic? Did she indeed have a son? Is she making everything up? What is the deal with her husband?

There are more questions than answers in the book that eventually sort themselves out or at least the best that you can.

This was an easy read but a little dense at times mainly because there was a lot going on and you aren't sure which narrator to trust.

Laurie Notaro's The Murderess is a compelling true crime novel about Winnie Ruth Judd, a woman known for the infamous murder of two friends in the 1930s. I couldn't put down this story of a woman beset by the trials of schizophrenia and the tragedies of a world with limited life choices for women. Notaro's sensitive attention to human nature and deft handling of archival material make for a novel that I will return to over and over again.

Thank. you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC; all opinions are my own.

Having been something of an ID: Investigation Discovery addict a few years ago, there is a lot in Laurie Notaro's novel THE MURDERESS that seemed familiar so it's probably safe to assume that the 1931 case of Winnie Ruth Judd, aka The Trunk Murderess, was featured on one or more episodes of something (probably 'Deadly Women,' let's be honest) at some point.

But I didn't remember enough to make reading Notaro's novel a dull chore.

Quite the opposite. It was a thrilling ride through a 'ripped from headlines' case. I think what made it different than one might expect, different than what would have been shown on some true crime show or podcast, is that Notaro gives the perspective almost wholly to Ruth herself. And she does that without giving the murderess any sort of attempted redemption arc. Ruth apparently was and is portrayed by Notaro as a deeply troubled young woman against whom everything seems to work. And she almost certainly did murder her two best friends, just not for the reasons that played better in the headlines.

It's an expansive story, giving background on Ruth and following her all the way through her death at age 93. There are occasionally looks at the story through the eyes of her husband (the entire relationship with her husband, whom she called only Doctor, was incredibly creepy -- and a brief look through Wikipedia says that was reality) and her seeming lover (creepy in a more normal sort of 'rich man takes a mistress who happens to be mentally ill and manipulates & drugs her all the more' sort of way). It's a tragic story, both because two women were murdered and because Winnie Ruth Judd never stood a chance.

The only flaws are that the plots is choppy in places, in turns drawn out and too quick, but that might have been entirely necessary given the subject matter the plot was set upon.

THE MURDERESS will be available for purchase this fall.

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I received a copy of THE MURDERESS through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest & original review. All thoughts are my own.

Female killers have always been fascinating to me, real as well as fictional ones. The Murderess offers and intimate and shocking glimpse of what makes a murderess, and it is indeed a fascinating story!

I went into this book thinking it’s simply a historical fiction about a murderess, but halfway through the book, I realized that it’s based on a true crime. This book was a perfect mix for me as someone who enjoys historical fiction and is intrigued by true crime.

It was such an interesting read that I devoured this book in one sitting in the middle of the night. The beginning chapters grabbed my attention, and I enjoyed the use of different points of view to build up the narrative. The writing style was engrossing, and the author did an incredible job at bringing the setting to life. However, the pacing slowed down after the beginning which broke the reading momentum experience. Despite this, the book was able to pick up the pace back and pull me in.

To savor the suspense of the story, it's best to approach this without knowing anything at all. So, for now, I'll keep my thoughts on the plot and characters to myself (until release day when more people read it!) If historical fiction and true crime are your cup of tea, you would probably enjoy this! Thank you NetGalley and Little A for the advance review copy!

Link to Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6642294130 and https://www.instagram.com/p/C9G8fcfysAH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I don't know if I should even be leaving feedback since I very much skipped to the end in the one and didn't read every page. I really didn't like it. The characters were flat, not well developed, underlying insinuations not clear. Writing was repetitive and didn't hold my interest..

Fascinating look at killer Winne Ruth Judd - from the 1930s who was caught with a couple dismembered bodies in her trunks - a tragic story

This really, really interesting book , and certain not what one would expect from the very funny Notaro, but she does a wonderful job with the true story of Winnie Ruth Judd, a twenty-six year old doctor’s wife and minster’s daughter who travel’s from Phoenix to Los Angeles in 1931. One of her trunks is dripping a suspicious substance and after some tense negotiations the police are eventually called and they find the dead bodies of Hedvig Samuelson, 23, who was stabbed, shot and then dismembered and Anne LeRoi, 27, who had been shot in the head.

The search was on for Judd and “she was already guilty, no matter what the truth, she was guilty. The public had already deemed it so.”

This story, based on the true crime is fascinating and really well done. I was captivated throughout, and highly recommend.

Very interesting read. This was my first book from this author and I will pick her previous novel too. If you are into historical fiction based on a true crime then, this book is for you.

It tells the story of a schizophrenic woman who murdered both her best friends during one of her episodes, I felt for Ruth, she had an illness that wasn’t treated properly and assessed. I liked the fact that it has different points of views , everyone trying to figure out what truly happened ignoring her condition.

I didn't realize this was a true crime story. The beginning chapters really grabbed me, but after the initial hook, I felt a bit lost. I'm sure I would have felt differently if I'd realized right away it was a retelling of a true crime. Overall, the book is well written. But I didn't really connect to the characters so it wasn't my favorite read. I did like the writing, however, and would be interested to see what else this author has written.

An intriguing historical fiction based on the true story of Winnie Ruth Judd, the writing pulled me in from the first page and I had a difficult time putting this one down.



Thank you to Little A and NetGalley for the DRC