Book Review - A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger

In 1963, The Boston Strangler was on the loose and the women of Boston were in fear of any strange man ringing their doorbell. But in the quiet suburb of Belmont, where Junger and his family lived, people were not so alert - until the day Bessie Goldberg was strangled to death in her home. A black man, Roy Smith, who had been sent to the Goldberg’s the day of Bessie’s death to clean the house, was convicted of the crime, but Junger raises questions about this conviction. The most important red flag he raises is that Albert DeSalvo, the man who eventually claimed responsibility for the Boston stranglings, was working at the Junger house, right in the same neighborhood as the Goldberg’s, on the day of Bessie’s death. Could it be that Bessie had been another victim of the Strangler?

Junger expertly lays out the facts of the crime and examipossibilitiesties of who really killed Bessie Goldberg. He gives detailed backgrounds on the lives of Roy Smith and Albert DeSalvo and presents well-thought theories as to why Roy Smith was so quickly convicted of the murder and Albert DeSalvo was so hard to catch as the Boston Strangler. A well-researched book that is fast-paced and reads like a novel, Junger has scored another winner with a true-crime page-turner.

Keri Miller, Adult Services Librarian

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