Murder in the Adirondacks: An American Tragedy Revisited

Craig Brandon's "Murder in the Adirondacks" is the first complete nonfiction account of the Chester Gillette - Grace Brown tragedy of 1906. The case was front page news throughout the country and provided the inspiration for Theodore Dreiser's classic novel "An American Tragedy." Dreiser's tribute, however, was a double-edged sword. It revived public interest in the case, but the creative license that was necessary to tell a good story (and protect the author from a libel suit) altered the facts and, over time, came to be accepted as truth. In researching his book, Brandon, a former reporter and editor from upstate New York, went straight to the original sources, such as trial transcripts and newspaper coverage of the murder trial. He located previously unpublished information about Chester Gillette's early years as well as letters and photographs from private collections. The end result is a definitive account of Grace Brown's death at Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks and Chester Gillette's conviction for her murder. Brandon outlines the known facts of the case: Chester Gillette met Grace Brown, a farmer's daughter, at the Cortland, New York, skirt factory where both of them worked. When she became pregnant in the aftermath of a clandestine relationship, he refused to damage his growing social standing by marrying her. After she threatened to expose him, they traveled together to the Adirondacks. Grace thought she was going to be married, Gillette had other plans. On July 11, 1906, she ended up at the bottom of Big Moose Lake, and Chester Gillette was accused of murdering her. Public feeling against the accused was high, especially after Grace Brown's beseeching letters to him were read in the courtroom, and he was sentenced to die in the electric chair at Auburn. Despite fervent attempts by his devoted mother to have his sentence commuted, Gillette was executed in March 1908. Those who had read "An American Tragedy" have assumed that Chester killed Grace because he intended to marry a wealthy young socialite. Craig Brandon argues that Gillette had no plans to marry anyone- he simply didn't want to be forcibly connected to a woman who was his social inferior. The author also raises the uncomfortable question as to whether or not the youthful philanderer was really guilty of murder: Grace Brown had expressed suicidal thoughts to friends and in her letters, and Chester told the jury that she had jumped out of their boat after he declined to marry her. The district attorney pointed out that a gash had been found on the victim's head, suggesting that she had been struck and thrown overboard, but the defense team offered the plausible explanation that a grappling hook could have caused the injury when the lake was being searched for her body. Although "Murder in the Adirondacks" doesn't offer any final answer as to what really happened that July afternoon on Big Moose Lake, it dispells long-held assumptions about the case and its principal pla

Murder in the Adirondacks" tells the tale of the Gillette-Brown love triangle murder of 1906. MA is more of an historical novel than a tale of true crime. Author Brandon has a background as a newspaperman, so MA is written in the who-what-where-why-when-and how style of a hard and straight news feature. Its' strength lies in Brandon's very thorough research and the poignant photos which give full context to the story. As true crime, MA is fairly tame stuff, raising little emotion. Brandon also delves into Theodore Dreiser's "companion" novel, "An American Tragedy", and the Hollywood movie "A Place in the Sun", starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters. All the bases are certainly covered. This reviewer believes that the 4 star rating above is a tad generous, but author Brandon deserves his due for the sheer research effort he put forth. Folks from the Southern Tier/Central New York areas of Cortland-Utica-Herkimer should pounce. Those folks may wish to add a star to the rating above.

Murder in the Adirondacks:An American Tragedy Revisited is a must read. It captures and holds a readers attention while teaching them alittle bit about Central New York History. Through the book, a reader begins to "meet" the parties who were involved in this historic case, which was played out so many years ago. And then after getting to know the people, the reader is captivated by the trial and the events which surrounded Mr. Gillette's life immideatly after the verdict. All in all, a great read. I escpecially loved it as a Cortland County resident.

This is a great book about the Chester Gillette murder case of 1906. Gillette took his girlfriend up to Big Moose Lake in the Adirondacks and drowned her. He was later tried and executed. His story was turned into the novel 'An American Tragedy' and several movies. I am reading 'American Tragedy' now and it's interesting to see the parallels between the actual case and the fictionalized story.

I had thought I was well acquainted with the case but discovered many errors in my previous readings after reading this book. The author dispelled many myths about the case, but did not attempt to prove any position without solid facts. Recommend it to my fellow amateur "criminiologists."