The Murderess: A Novel

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Laurie Notaro comes a haunting true-crime novel about Winnie Ruth Judd, one of the twentieth centurys most notorious and enigmatic killers.

Its October 1931. When Winnie Ruth Judd arrives at the Los Angeles train station from Phoenix, her shipping trunks catch the attention of a suspicious porter. By the time theyre pried open, revealing the dismembered bodies of two women inside, Ruth has disappeared into the crowd.

The search for, and eventual apprehension of, the Trunk Murderess quickly becomes a headline-making sensation. Even the Phoenix murder house is a sideshow attraction. The one question on everyones lips: How could a twenty-six-year-old reverends daughter and doctors wifepetite, pretty, well educated, and poisedcommit such a heinous act on two people shed called my dearest friends in the world? Everyone has their theories and judgments, but no one knows the whole truth.

What unfolds in this gripping work of true-crime fiction is a collision of jealousy, drug addiction, insanity, rage, and inescapable choices. At its heart, a condemned and tragic mystery woman whose trialand its shocking twistswill make history.