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A review by librarianonparade
Killer Colt: Murder, Disgrace, and the Making of an American Legend by Harold Schechter
2.0
I have to confess to being disappointed with this book. I have read a number of Harold Schechter's books, and he has a real talent for bringing a time and a place to life via the retelling of historical murder cases. However, the problem I found with this book is that the murder was really not all that remarkable, and to my mind all that elevated this case above other such run-of-the-mill cases was the identity of the murderer's brother, the famous Samuel Colt of the Colt pistol fame. If John Colt had not been Sam Colt's brother I think this case would have faded from the public view and historical record like many other cases.
The book alternates the story of John Colt with the story of his brother Sam Colt's efforts to get official backing for his military experiments, from his reloading pistols and rifles to his early versions of the torpedo. I found this side of the story far more interesting, but once John Colt went to trial Sam's story was pushed to one side.
The main issue with this book, and the case against John Colt, is that there was no denying he killed his publisher, Samuel Adams, and attempted to dispose of the body. He was guilty of that, no question. The issue was whether it was premeditated murder or manslaughter in self-defence and the legal wrangling thereof, and this just failed to hold my interest. Regardless of whether he intended it or not, there was no doubt that he killed Samuel Adams, so there was no mystery to solve other than one of motive - and I felt this book entirely failed to penetrate John Colt's motives, indeed I felt it failed to illuminate very much about John or Sam Colt at all.
The book alternates the story of John Colt with the story of his brother Sam Colt's efforts to get official backing for his military experiments, from his reloading pistols and rifles to his early versions of the torpedo. I found this side of the story far more interesting, but once John Colt went to trial Sam's story was pushed to one side.
The main issue with this book, and the case against John Colt, is that there was no denying he killed his publisher, Samuel Adams, and attempted to dispose of the body. He was guilty of that, no question. The issue was whether it was premeditated murder or manslaughter in self-defence and the legal wrangling thereof, and this just failed to hold my interest. Regardless of whether he intended it or not, there was no doubt that he killed Samuel Adams, so there was no mystery to solve other than one of motive - and I felt this book entirely failed to penetrate John Colt's motives, indeed I felt it failed to illuminate very much about John or Sam Colt at all.