Murder in Italy: Amanda Knox, Meredith Kercher, and the Murder Trial That Shocked the World

I think Murder in Italy will be the definitive account of the period just before and after the murder. It provides a wealth of detail while painting a picture of what it was really like in Perugia for foreign students in general, and Amanda and Meredith in particular. I've followed the case in considerable detail, not just read the press accounts, but I still learned all kinds of things that I've never heard reported elsewhere. For instance, that Amanda deliberately plunged herself into the real, Italian world, rather than seeking a sheltered, Americanized environment. She went there because she loved Italy, and wanted to immerse herself in the language, the culture, the people. This is also by far the best description of the amazing abuses in the trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. Candace systematically raises the accusations, the supposedly damning evidence, the false news accounts, and demolishes each in turn. There is so little viable evidence that the case would never have come to trial in the United States or any other place with an honest justice system. Apparently, in Italy if the prosecutor decides you are guilty, then you are. This is not a sensationalized, superficial account, unlike a couple other books on the subject. It is the product of an exhaustive, comprehensive, two year long effort to really develop the knowledge, interview the people, survey the scene. It is a serious effort to get at the truth. If you look at the negative reviews on the book, they are clearly written by people who have an agenda, and that agenda has nothing to do with learning the truth. They don't want people to read this, because they knowit makes a powerful case for innocence. They are obsessed, for who knows what reason, with keeping two innocent young people in prison, and that obsession is an absolute blight on the memory of Meredith. Their claims that the Knox family somehow paid for this effort is pure nonsense.

Candace Dempsey has written a thorough and in depth accounting of the Amanda Knox case. Her book will clear up much of the contrary information that has been presented in the press. She brings Perugia, the setting and the people into clarity for the reader. She explains well the relationships between the people involved and how they came into play. How Amanda Knox's behavior was seen differently depending on the country. How the police had declared the 'case closed' before they had back the forensics that would implicate local petty thief Rudy Guede. This book is very well written and a real page turner. It is a fascinating read all the way to the end. The author also explains the interrogation in detail. The reader will be left with a haunting image of an exhausted young woman surrounded by police officers screaming at her in a foreign language. The interrogation was not taped, no lawyer provided and police asking her to `imagine' that she was there. The lead investigator admitted that he heard her screaming. The described sound of the Perugia police dept. driving around town blowing their car horns in celebration that morning because they had `solved' the case was chilling. It is amazing that this case continues on after all the publicity it has received, considering the most damaging pieces of evidence against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito do not stand up to analysis. For example the kitchen knife and bra clasp evidence. Candace Dempsey has provided the clearest and most important book written on this case to date. Murder in Italy: The Shocking Slaying of a British Student, the Accused American Girl, and an International Scandal

Every parent who has a child who may travel/study outside of their country of origin needs to read this book. Thank you, Candace, for a measured presentation of how these events unfolded. This case will go down in history as the Salem Witch Trials of our time. The Kercher family needs to ask themselves the question if Meredith would have been capable of what Amanda has been accused of. The answer is clear. Giuliano Mignini??? Now, there lies the fodder for many books.

I have been waiting for Candace Dempsey's book for months and the wait has certainly been worth it. Ms Dempsey is the "sweet voice of reason" in a cacophony of ranting (sometimes abusively) voices online screaming for blood as well as other books written strictly for $$ and for the sensationalism of the story. Ms Dempsey presents this tragic case objectively and rationally. It is obvious that she is an experienced journalist, is not writing simply for profit and/or fame and has tried successfully to impartially present both sides of the story. Although I have been following this case for months (we happened to be in Italy at the time the murder occurred) her meticulous attention to detail has logically filled in several gaps for me. I started reading Ms Dempsey's book yesterday morning and continued reading to the end. I could not put the book down even though I knew many of the details and certainly the verdict. No matter how much verbiage (+ a wide assortment of bizarre myths and legends) those who would have Amanda's head on a platter produce online (as well as trying unsuccessfully to attack Ms Dempsey's credentials as a journalist), the bottom line remains that if three people committed such a bloody and brutal act together, their forensic material would be also be found together. It was not. The only forensic material found in Meredith Kercher's bedroom and body belonged to Rudy Guede. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants an honest and brilliantly researched version of the case. Read it and draw your own conclusions as I have.

Buy this book if you have any interest in this complex, fascinating, and often maddening case. It is easily the best book yet written on the murder of Meredith Kercher and the conviction of Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede. Among other very important virtues it gets the tone exactly right. Dempsey's instinct is to humanize and explain--not to sensationalize, sneer, and judge. In Murder in Italy you get valuable social context for the case (including perspectives from both Perugia and Seattle), a humane, presentation of all of the main characters, and, an intelligent and thoroughly objective analysis of the adequacy of the case against Knox and Sollecito. Most importantly, Dempsey never for a minute let's us forget the first victim in this case--Meredith "Mez" Kercher, a beautiful young British woman who was senselessly cut down right at the beginning of adult life.