Blonde Rattlesnake

True crime novels are not really my favorite genre, but I do like to venture out from time to time and read something that I would not normally read. When I decided to read “Blonde Rattlesnake” by Julia Bricklin, I was not expecting much, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the author did great job at researching this book, and her writing style kept me interested in the story. I have learned great deal about the 1930s (Great Depression and Prohibition time) criminal justice and law enforcement system. I would recommend this book to all fans of true crime genre.
Thank you NetGalley, Julia Bricklin, and Rowman & Littlefield Lyons Press for giving me a chance to read an advance reader copy of this book.

Blonde Rattlesnake is a thought provoking book. Not particularly immersive or nail-biting, it nonetheless tells Burmah Adams White's story in a fairly unbiased way, unlike the newspapers and radios of the time of her arrest and trial. While the book includes some of those, the author also includes quotations from Burmah herself, as well as from her mother. Unlike many biographical fiction books, there is not any creative nonfiction here, it is strictly written in a journalistic style.

The book focuses less on the crimes committed - though there is plenty of page time given to those - than on the corruption in the California legal system in the 1930s, and whether or not Burmah actually received a fair trial. Also on the WHY she acted as she did, which is never answered fully enough to truly decide. No doubt as many people at the time did, some readers will decide for themselves whether or not she acted of her own free will or if she was coerced by an abusive husband, but for myself, I was never completely satisfied and couldn't state an opinion either way.

3.5/5 stars, rounded up.

NetGalley got me this book and I thank them!

I like true crime but this was too true, I mean almost like a "just the facts ma'am" kind of book. It was good but with no pull, I think a lot of good material was left off the pages.

Blonde Rattlesnake
by Julia Bricklin
due 6-1-2019
Rowan & Littlefield/Lyons Park
5.0 / 5.0

´Blonde Rattlesnake´ is a fun and engaging crime story, written well and easy to become immersed in. It intimately captures the terror and chaos caused by Burmah Arline Adams White, 19, and her husband, 28 year old, Thomas White. Their crime spree across Los Angeles during the summer of 1933, committing robberies at gunpoint; one that left a woman blind, and many others hurt, was headline news. Named the ´Rattlesnake Bandit´, they evaded the police for 6 weeks before Thomas was shot and killed and Burmah was taken into custody. The details and memories of this crime are included, with testimony and B&W photos. Burmah was sentenced to 30 years at San Quentin, served 8 and was released into obscurity, until her death in the 1960ś of alcoholism. Her life and past are so different than her legacy and was interesting and captivating to read.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me this e-book ARC fro review.
#BlondeRattlesnake #netgalley

Author Julia Bricklin takes readers through the true story of the 1933 Los Angeles crime spree of Burmah Adams and Tom White in the new book Blonde Rattlesnake. Nineteen year-old Burmah was a hairdresser with an innocent past and a taste for danger when she met Tom White at a nightclub.  After marrying the conman against her parents wishes, she spent her honeymoon driving around Los Angeles with a gun and committing multiple robberies with her new husband. Their crime spree would lead to the death of an elementary school teacher and a former publisher. Blonde Rattlesnake follows the details of Burma Adams life, the crime spree, and even a little bit about her time in prison. The book is easy to follow, but also a very familiar story of women who end up in crime. From head injuries, to abusive spouses, the book is incredibly well researched in the realm of true crime and California during the Depression. The book Blonde Rattlesnake is available June 7, 2019.

I went into this one looking to learn about a topic and person that I didn’t know about before hand and I ended up getting a really detailed but concise account of the life and sentencing of Burmah Adams White.

I didn’t know what to expect going into this one, I was worried it would be over dramatic or drawn out, but what it really is, is a factual and unbiased account of the crimes and trial of Burmah Adams. It’s not a very long book, but considering the crimes that took place and how everything played out that just makes sense. The book starts by giving you an overview, with some specifics to set the tone, of what happened in 1933 and how everything played out. After that the book gets into the details. It definitely doesn’t go overboard though, you get brief but thorough biographies on all the main players in the case. The author states at the beginning that by researching and writing this book they hoped to try and decide/find out, why Burmah did what she did, and also states that they’re still undecided. And after reading this one I can see why, it’s a strange case that might have a bunch of variables, but it also might be pretty simple. The author presented everything in a way that let’s the reader decide for themselves though, I never felt like they were trying to convince me of anything while reading, which is nice considering the subject matter.

I think this is a really well written book, it’s split up into sections starting with the early life of Burmah Adams and Tome White and ending with how everyone involved in the case ended up. It taught me all about something that I didn’t know anything about previously, and it’s given me something to think about. Will all the evidence presented I still can’t decide what to make of Burmah Adams myself, but this is a book that I know I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

"Nineteen-year-old Burmah Adams, a hairdresser and former Santa Ana High School student, spent her honeymoon on a crime spree. She and her husband of less than one week, White, an ex-con, robbed at least twenty people in and around downtown L.A. at gunpoint over an eight-week period. But the worst of their crimes was the shooting of a popular elementary school teacher, Cora Withington, and a former publisher, Crombie Allen, who was teaching her how to drive his new car.

A few days later, a watchful pair of patrolmen in a Westlake neighborhood called their detective colleagues at the Los Angeles Police Department; they had spotted a car that looked like one the duo had stolen days before. Two of these detectives dressed as mechanics and kept an eye on the apartment building until Burmah and Thomas appeared one afternoon. As police swarmed the building, Burmah tried to hurl herself out of a third–story window, while Thomas shot at officers and was immediately gunned down and killed.

Blond Rattlesnake reveals the events that brought Adams and White together and details the crime spree they committed in the sweltering hot days and nights of Los Angeles in the height of the Great Depression. It describes the terror of citizens in their path and the outrage they directed at the female half of the duo. Politicians exploited Burmah’s incarceration and trial for their own purposes as the press battled for scoops about the “Blonde Rattlesnake” and created sensation while trying to make sense of her crimes."

I love me some true crime!

Blonde Rattlesnake
Burmah Adams, Tom White, and the 1933 Crime Spree that Terrorized Los Angeles

by Julia Bricklin

Rowman & Littlefield

Lyons Press

History , True Crime

Pub Date 01 Jun 2019

I am reviewing a copy of Blonde Rattlesnake through Rowan Littlefield and Netgalley:

Burmah Adam’s was born in January of 1914 leaving her only nineteen at the time of the crime spree that terrorized Los Angeles. Tom White was born in July of 1897, and was also part of this devastating, terrorizing crime spree.

At the time of the crime spree Burmah was on her honeymoon, she had attended Sant Anna High school and was formally a hairdresser, she and her ex con husband White had been married for less than a week.

Burmah’s husband of only five days was killed by the cops after he and Burmah’s two day run of terror over Los Angeles!

The worst of their crimes was shooting the popular elementary school teacher Cora Withington and former publisher Cromblie Allen Who was teaching Cora to drive his new car. A few days after the pair were shot, two detectives dressed as mechanics kept an eye on the apartment Build they stayed at until Burmah and white showed up one day. Burmah tried to throw herself out a window while White shot at officers and was gunned down. Ultimately Burmah would go to prison but she would spend less than eight years there to be released in 1941.

I found Blonde Rattlesnake to be an interesting historical true crime story and find it to be worthy of five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!