In Cold Blood is a 1966 book by Truman Capote, an American author.

The book details the brutal 1959 murder of Herbert Clutter, a wealthy farmer from Holcomb, Kansas; his wife, and two children. When Capote learned of the quadruple murder before the killers were captured, he decided to travel to Kansas and write about the crime. Bringing his childhood friend and fellow author Harper Lee along, together they interviewed local residents and investigators assigned to the case and took thousands of pages of notes. The killers, Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Smith, were arrested not long after the murders, and Capote ultimately spent six years working on the book. It is considered the originator of the non-fiction novel and the forerunner of the New Journalism movement.

The plot weaves a complicated psychological story of two parolees who together commit a mass murder, an act they were not capable of individually. Capote's book also details the lives of the victims and the effect the crime had on the community where they lived. A large part of the story involves the dynamic psychological relationship of the two felons that culminated in this senseless crime. In Cold Blood is often regarded as a pioneering work of true crime.

 

Herb Clutter was a dedicated Methodist and a widely respected self-made man, who had established a successful farm from modest beginnings. He employed as many as eighteen farm hands, and former employees reportedly admired and respected him for his fair treatment and good wages. His four children, three girls and a boy, were widely respected in the community. The two eldest, Eveanna and Beverly, had moved out of their parents' home and started their adult lives. The two younger children, Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15, were high school students still living at home. Clutter's wife, Bonnie, a member of the local garden club, had been incapacitated by clinical depression and physical ailments since the births of her children, although this characterization of her has been disputed by surviving family members.

Two ex-convicts on parole from the Kansas State Penitentiary, Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, committed the robbery and murders on November 15, 1959. Richard Hickock had heard from a fellow prisoner, Floyd Wells, who had once worked for the Clutters, said that he thought there was a safe at the ranch where Herb Clutter kept large amounts of cash, but he couldn't be sure. Hickock later contacted Smith about committing the robbery with him. Hickock hatched the idea in prison to commit the robbery, leave no witnesses and start a new life in Mexico with the cash from the Clutter home. Hickock described his plan as "a cinch, the perfect score." The information proved to be false, since Herb Clutter did not keep cash on hand, had no safe, and did all his business using checks to better keep track of transactions.

After driving across the state of Kansas on Saturday, November 14, 1959, and discovering that there was no money to be found at the Clutters' home, Smith slit Herb Clutter's throat and then shot him in the head. As Smith recounted later, "I didn't want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat." Kenyon, then Nancy, and then Bonnie were murdered, each by single shotgun blasts to the head.

Smith claimed in his oral confession that Hickock murdered the two women. When asked to sign his confession, however, Smith refused. He wanted to accept responsibility for all four killings because he said he was "sorry for Dick's mother." Smith added, "She's a real sweet person." Hickock always maintained that Smith did all four killings.

Hickock and Smith were ultimately arrested in Las Vegas about six weeks after the murders. They pleaded temporary insanity during the trial, but local GPs evaluated the accused and pronounced them sane. After five years on death row, Smith and Hickock were executed by hanging just after midnight on April 14, 1965, in Lansing, Kansas, at the Kansas State Penitentiary (now known as Lansing Correctional Facility). The gallows from which they were hanged is now part of the collections of the Kansas State Historical Society.

 

Criticism

Tom Wolfe wrote in his essay Pornoviolence: "The book is neither a who-done-it nor a will-they-be-caught, since the answers to both questions are known from the outset ... Instead, the book's suspense is based largely on a totally new idea in detective stories: the promise of gory details, and the withholding of them until the end."

Despite the book's billing as a factual "True Crime" account, critics have challenged the authenticity of the book, arguing that Capote changed facts to suit his story, added scenes which never occurred, and re-created dialogue. Capote relied entirely on memorization when talking to subjects in the book, and did not use a tape recorder or take any written notes; this alone may have contributed to several inaccuracies in the book.

One of these critics was J. J. Maloney (d. 1999), a convicted murderer who upon release in 1972 became an investigative reporter for the Kansas City Star (he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize five times) and later a Web publisher (he launched www.crimemagazine.com). Maloney gave much thought in his crime writing to criminal intent. He surmised that Smith and Hickock had begun a homosexual relationship in prison, and that at the Clutter house Smith had “exploded” when he found Hickcock intent on raping the bound Nancy Clutter. At this point, in Maloney’s view, Smith challenged Hickock to kill the family, beginning with the father, as Hickock had previously bragged he would do when talking the future robbery in prison (though Smith expected Hickock to renege on his threat and thereby show himself humiliated, at least to the two of them, as an unmanly coward). When Hickock did back down, Smith killed the whole family, to show Hickock that he, Smith, the passive partner in their relationship, was even manlier than his active-role sex partner. Maloney felt Capote missed all of this; or rather, he believed Capote had ulterior motives for covering the true account up. His view of Capote's account was that it was, at its core, a dishonest book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Cold Blood        Truman Capote

 

The Last to See Them Alive: 1

 

 

Holcomb is a small town on the high plains of western Kansas. Herbert Clutter owns a farm in the area, River Valley Farm. On November 14, 1959, he wakes up, eats a light breakfast, and begins the day's work. It will be his last.

On the other side of the state, Perry Smith eats a breakfast of aspirin and cigarettes. His friend Dick Hickock comes to pick him up.

 

Back at the Clutter household, a phone call wakes Nancy Clutter. A local girl wants to learn how to make apple pies. Nancy rearranges her schedule to make time. Her friend Susan also calls. They talk about Nancy's date with Bobby the previous night and how Herb Clutter wants Nancy to slow down their relationship. Nancy also mentions that, inexplicably, she has been smelling cigarette smoke. Also, her father seems to be worried about something.

 

Dick is driving a black Cadillac. He and Perry take it to the shop where Dick works, where they tune the car, preparing for a long drive.

 

Nancy has finished teaching Jolene Katz how to bake apple pies. She leaves, and Bonnie Clutter talks with the girl. She shows Jolene her collection of miniatures. After Jolene leaves she goes to bed, very depressed, as usual.

 

Perry and Dick are getting cleaned up for their drive. Dick is athletic but small; Perry has a muscular upper body, but his legs were badly damaged in a motorcycle wreck. They are both tattooed--Dick in many places, Perry only in a few places, but his tattoos are polished and intricate.

 

Four hundred miles away, Herb Clutter is driving Mrs. Ashida home from a 4-H meeting. The meeting was in Garden City, a small city close to Holcomb. Mrs. Ashida and her young family are new to Holcomb, but they may have to move. Herb hopes that they do not move.

 

Commentary

 

The killers approach Holcomb, while the Clutters go about their wholesome, everyday business. This sequence is crafted so as to heighten the sense of suspense. Capote shifts quickly from scene to scene. It is like a film in which the scene shifts between simultaneous events in different places. The reader knows that the Clutters are going to die, but the Clutters are blissfully ignorant of this fact. Capote capitalizes on this irony. At the end of almost each chapter about the Clutters, Capote writes that this will be their last day, their last apple pie, etc.

 

It is obvious that Capote is the narrator, because the narrator is obviously more sophisticated than many of the characters in the book. His descriptions sound almost like anthropological investigations; he is aloof from his subjects. Although Capote had a rural childhood, his cosmopolitan experience comes through clearly as he describes "local color." In many ways, he is an urban sophisticate giving us a voyeuristic window into the "heartland" of America.

The Last to See Them Alive: 2

 

Driving across the state, Dick and Perry stop to buy rubber gloves and rope. Perry suggests buying stockings to wear over their heads, but Dick reminds him that no witnesses will survive.

 

Kenyon Clutter is in the basement recreational room, working on a hope chest for one of his older sisters. Kenyon is fifteen; he is interested in cars and tinkering with inventions, but not in girls. He and his best friend sometimes go out in his car, the Coyote Wagon, to round up coyotes. Kenyon goes outside and speaks to Mr. Helms, the husband of the housekeeper. They note that an insurance salesman is visiting Mr. Clutter.

 

Dick and Perry have paused once again, this time to try to get black stockings at a convent. Perry remembers the real reason he came to Kansas, which for him is a parole violation. He had hoped to meet up with Willie-Jay, who was a kind of religious mentor to him when he was in prison. Not finding Willie-Jay, he agreed to do a "score" with Dick.

 

Back at River Valley Farm, Mr. Clutter makes a deal for a large life insurance plan. The agent leaves with the first payment in his pocket.

 

Driving down the highway, Perry is playing songs on his guitar and the two are sharing a bottle of orange drink and vodka.

 

The next Monday, Bobby Rupp describes his last night with the Clutters to the police. He went over to the Clutters home and watched TV with the family. At eleven, he left.

 

Dick and Perry have a steak dinner. They move on to Garden City, where they buy a tank of gas. Perry's legs cause him great pain, and he spends a long time in the bathroom, trying to find the strength to stand up again. Dick thinks that his partner must be having second thoughts.

 

Nancy, in her bedroom, makes an entry in her diary.

 

Dick and Perry pull up to the Clutter home.

 

Commentary

 

In Cold Blood is divided into small chapters. In this part of the narrative, Capote uses the short chapter lengths to their full effect--the chapters come quicker, like brief, alternating glances as Dick and Perry near the River Valley Farm. This heightens the sense of simultaneity. It is as if the mind's eye were quickly toggling back and forth between a view of the Clutter home and one of the approaching black Cadillac, trying not to miss a thing.

 

Capote makes the most of the fact that he is telling a true story. To describe Billy's visit to the Clutter home, he simply uses Billy's testimony. He is calling attention to the fact that this is a true story. The factuality of his story becomes something like a gimmick.

 

As the killers race toward Holcomb, Capote sketches the developing working relationship between Dick and Perry. Perry wants to tell Dick about his dream that a giant parrot will come and rescue him, but Dick ignores him. Dick is practical; he does not understand the romantic side of Perry. Also, he underestimates Perry. Dick thinks that Perry may be having second thoughts when in fact he is trying to overcome excruciating pain so that he can carry on.

 

The Last to See Them Alive: 3

 

Nancy Ewalt, a schoolmate of Nancy Clutter, comes to the house the next morning. No one answers, so she and her father go to ask Susan Kidwell if she knows anything. Together, they return to the house and find the bodies.

 

The local mail messenger, Sadie Truitt, sees ambulances approaching the Clutter farm. Soon, she and her daughter (who is also the postmistress) Myrtle Clare hear news of the murders over the radio. Myrt is cynical about the news, but they are both shocked.

 

That morning the news was announced from Sunday morning church pulpits and over the radio. Many men converged on Hartman's Cafe, where Bess Hartman realizes that the killer was probably someone she knows, someone from the town. Susan and Bobby Rupp are hysterical.

 

Meanwhile, Perry is sleeping in a hotel, while Dick has sat down to dinner with his family. He told them that he and Perry were going to visit Perry's sister in Fort Scott. After dinner, Dick falls asleep, exhausted.

 

Commentary

 

Capote wisely leaves out the murder scene. Later, when the killers finally confess, Capote simply includes their description of what happened. Of course, he could have included those descriptions here, but that would detract from the novel. One of the most important plot elements of the novel is the race to discover who the killers are. And for the reader there is the mystery of exactly how the murders took place. Capote leaves the details of the murder out of the book, encouraging the reader to guess exactly what happened, as in a detective novel. He also chooses not to reveal the motive for the crime until the killers confess.

 

The final chapters of "The Last to See Them Alive" describe Holcomb's reaction to the murders. The main characters of the first chapters of the novel, Dick and Perry and the Clutters, recede, and various citizens of Holcomb come to the fore. Although Dick and Perry will remain important throughout the novel, they are not the heroes or even the anti-heroes of the novel, in the traditional sense of the word. Instead of having heroes, this "nonfiction novel" focuses on whatever figures are relevant to the murder case at any given time. For now, the public's reaction is important. Later, the focus will shift to the police.