Reviews for Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century

The average rating for Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-12-29 00:00:00 Matt Beman Having just finished another historical true crime book, Death at the Priory, The Devil's Gentleman suffers in comparison. Death at the Priory is focused and succinct; whereas, The Devil's Gentleman is broad and discursive. I wouldn't normally mind going off in other directions to give the reader a taste of the age, but the only time I was truly interested in this diversion was when the author made a connection from a lawyer in the case to President McKinley's assassination. Other than the extreme verbosity of the author, I enjoyed this glimpse into a turn of the century crime in New York in which a playboy scion of a rich, famous Civil War General commits not one, but two murders.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-11-01 00:00:00 Nick Bulmer Several things: 1. I was really not amused by the constant nudge-nudge suggestions that Roland Molineux might have been (stage whisper) gay. For one thing, there's no proof, and for another, who cares? Unless of course the writer is insinuating that Roland committed the crime BECAUSE he was (maybe, possibly, if you turn your head and squint) queer, which I'm sure Schecter would never do. Because that's terrible. 2. I also wasn't amused by the constant heavy-handed slaps at Blanche for being "frivolous" and "a golddigger" and not loving her husband. Blanche's only crime here was dating more than one guy and wanting to be rich and famous- which is not really a crime at all, especially compared with the actual crime of murdering two people and trying to murder a third. 3. Where exactly does Schecter get off hand-wringing about how awful tabloids and true crime books are given that he's basically made a career of WRITING true crime books with titles like "DERANGED: THE SHOCKING TRUE STORY OF AMERICA'S MOST FIENDISH KILLER!" Glass houses, dude.