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A review by jnestwd
The Crewe Murders: Inside New Zealand's Most Infamous Cold Case by Kirsty Johnston, James Hollings
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
2.5
The Crewe Murders: Inside New Zealand's most infamous cold case offers an updated take on a thoroughly well covered crime case from the 1970s.
Jeannette and Harvey Crewe were shot dead in their home in June 1970, their bodies disposed of in the Waikato river where they were located several weeks later. Their daughter Rochelle survived, just 18-months old at the time, prompting debate over whether or not the killer, or killers, returned to the scene of the crime across the five day period to feed and hydrate the child.
Overall, this book provides a good general overview of the matters at the heart of the crime. It's unfortunate that the police mishandling of the investigation and their subsequent framing of Arthur Allen Thomas distracted investigators from the true issue at hand - solving a brutal double homicide.
And although this case has been well covered as the subject of many books throughout the years, I found this latest adaptation to be quite light-touch, skimming through the more than 50 years long mystery without adding anything new or of meaningful substance.
While it's true that there is a chapter towards the end dedicated to "new" information, this would have been sufficient as a news article (as it was also published), rather than deserving an entire book just for this big reveal.
There were no new conclusion or insights drawn at the end, no big lightbulb moment, which begs the question - why did this book need to be written?
For those unfamiliar with the crime, this book would be a useful overview of the key facts. But as a true crime enthusiast with fairly good existing knowledge of the story, I was left wanting with this one.
Jeannette and Harvey Crewe were shot dead in their home in June 1970, their bodies disposed of in the Waikato river where they were located several weeks later. Their daughter Rochelle survived, just 18-months old at the time, prompting debate over whether or not the killer, or killers, returned to the scene of the crime across the five day period to feed and hydrate the child.
Overall, this book provides a good general overview of the matters at the heart of the crime. It's unfortunate that the police mishandling of the investigation and their subsequent framing of Arthur Allen Thomas distracted investigators from the true issue at hand - solving a brutal double homicide.
And although this case has been well covered as the subject of many books throughout the years, I found this latest adaptation to be quite light-touch, skimming through the more than 50 years long mystery without adding anything new or of meaningful substance.
While it's true that there is a chapter towards the end dedicated to "new" information, this would have been sufficient as a news article (as it was also published), rather than deserving an entire book just for this big reveal.
There were no new conclusion or insights drawn at the end, no big lightbulb moment, which begs the question - why did this book need to be written?
For those unfamiliar with the crime, this book would be a useful overview of the key facts. But as a true crime enthusiast with fairly good existing knowledge of the story, I was left wanting with this one.