Murder Among Friends: How Leopold and Loeb Tried to Commit the Perfect Crime

How did two teenagers brutally murder an innocent child...and why? And how did their brilliant lawyer save them from the death penalty in 1920s Chicago? Written by a prolific master of narrative nonfiction, this is a compulsively readable true-crime story based on an event dubbed the crime of the century.

In 1924, eighteen-year-old college students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb made a decision: they would commit the perfect crime by kidnapping and murdering a child they both knew. But they made one crucial error: as they were disposing of the body of young Bobby Franks, whom they had bludgeoned to death, Nathan's eyeglasses fell from his jacket pocket.

Multi-award-winning author Candace Fleming depicts every twist and turn of this harrowing case--how two wealthy, brilliant young men planned and committed what became known as the crime of the century, how they were caught, why they confessed, and how the renowned criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow enabled them to avoid the death penalty.

Following on the success of such books as The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh and The Family Romanov, this acclaimed nonfiction writer brings to heart-stopping life one of the most notorious crimes in our country's history.

Author: Candace Fleming
Publisher: Anne Schwartz Books
Published: 03/29/2022
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.40w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9780593177426
Audience: Young Adult


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2022
Publishers Weekly 01/31/2022
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 03/01/2022
Booklist 02/15/2022 pg. 43
Horn Book Magazine 03/01/2022
School Library Journal 05/01/2022 pg. 92

About the Author
Candace Fleming is the prolific and versatile award-winning author of many books for children and young adults. Her most recent title, The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh, received six starred reviews, was a Kirkus, PW, Booklist, and SLJ Best Book of 2020, and was hailed by the Wall Street Journal as a fascinating chronicle. Candace's The Family Romanov also received 6 starred reviews, and won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was recognized as a Sibert Nonfiction Honor Book. Amelia, Lost received 4 starred reviews and won the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction. Her many acclaimed picture books include Giant Squid, a Sibert Honor Book. Visit her on the web at candacefleming.com.