The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago Book

The Girls of Murder City provides an interesting insight into the prohibition era murderesses who painted Chicago red with their wares and bullets throughout the 1920's; leaving blushed faces on the living and blood spatter on the dead.

Douglas Perry's true crime account of the real-life characters who inspired the Chicago musical is as entertaining as it is head-shake-inducing at the ludicrous laws which walked these dangerous dames.

Primarily centered around Chicago crime reporter Maurine Watkins, 'the prettiest woman ever charged with murder in Chicago' Beulah Annan, and 'queen of Chicago's cabarets..Cook County's most stylish murderess' Belva Gaetner, The Girls of Murder City chronicles a time where a murderess, if pretty could avoid conviction, shining a spotlight on the farce that was the justice system in the age of bootleggers, mobsters, and frustrated reporters (there were 6 daily newspapers in Chicago during this time).

The vast majority of the book is loaded with interesting factoids about the inhabitants of 'murderess row' while the later stages focus on the play Chicago developed by Maurine Watkins and her subsequent years away from Second City which I didn't find as interesting.

My rating: 4/5 stars. The Girls of Murder City is a book which can be read in isolation from the musical, Chicago. If you're looking for something a little different to the mobster tales of prohibition Chicago but still want the grit that comes with that era, then this one is for you.