New in paperback

The Ghosts of Hopewell

Setting the Record Straight in the Lindbergh Case

Jim Fisher

August
paper, 0-8093-2717-1 $17.95
978-0-8093-2717-1
240 pages, 6x9, illustrated
True Crime

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Closing the book on the Lindbergh Case

In February 1935, following a sensational, six-week trial, a jury in Flemington, New Jersey, found German carpenter Bruno Hauptmann guilty of kidnapping and murdering the twenty-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. Although circumstantial, the evidence against Hauptmann was overwhelming, leaving few to doubt his guilt. After a series of appeals and stays, Hauptmann died fourteen months later in the electric chair. A confession would have spared him the death sentence, but Hauptmann chose to die maintaining his innocence.

            It was not until the mid-1970s that revisionists began to challenge the conventional wisdom in the case: that Hauptmann was the lone killer. Revisionist books and articles appeared, as did plays, TV shows, and a movie, all portraying Hauptmann as the victim of a massive police and prosecution frame-up.

Former FBI agent Fisher discusses the hard evidence—the ransom notes, the wood of the kidnapping ladder, and other evidence. He analyzes and debunks the various revisionist theories and presents new evidence that, coupled with the undisputed facts, proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Hauptmann was guilty as charged: he kidnapped and murdered the infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh.

         

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“Although of course it will not be so, this book deserves to be the last word on a tragic crime.”—Choice

“Fisher's approach is clear-eyed and compelling. He provides a fascinating insight into the cloud of confusion and disinformation that has surrounded the case. This book will certainly be on the ‘must read’ list of true-crime fans.”—Booklist

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Jim Fisher, who received Edgar nominations for Fall Guys: False Confessions and the Politics of Murder and The Ghosts of Hopewell, is a professor emeritus of criminal justice at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He is also the author of Ten Percent of Nothing: The Case of the Literary Agent from Hell. He was a special agent for the FBI from 1966 to 1972.