Overview

Justice is blind, they say, but perhaps not to beauty. In supposedly dispassionate courts of law, attractive women have long avoided punishment, based largely on their looks, for cold-blooded crimes. The Beauty Defense: Femmes Fatales on Trial gathers the true stories of some of the most infamous femmes fatales in criminal history, collected by attorney and true crime historian Laura James.With cases from 1850 to 1997, these 32 examples span more than a century, across cultures, ethnicities, and socioeconomic status. But all were so beautiful, as James demonstrates, that they got away with murder. When Madeline Smith, a Glasgow socialite, tried to end a relationship with one man to date another, her jilted lover proved difficult to shake. She solved the problem, James writes, with arsenic-laced chocolates. And in Warrenton, Virginia, mild-mannered heiress Susan Cummings gunned down her polo-playing husband, Roberto, following a disagreement. While these two women lived in different centuries and on different continents, both of their lawyers argued that they were too beautiful to be killers. And in both cases, the juries bought it. In telling the stories of Madeline Smith and Susan Cummings—and 30 others—James proves the existence of the so-called Beauty Defense and shines a spotlight on how gender bias has actually benefited femmes fatales and affected legal systems across the world.

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9781606353943

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Reviews

"I have long been a fan and devoted reader of Laura James. She writes with clarity and insight, turning over stones to find the details that resonate with today's readers. I absolutely devoured The Beauty Defense. An awesome book by one of my favorite writers."" — Gregg Olsen, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood"

Shows how gender bias has positively affected the outcome of defendants who, to name a few factors, are conventionally attractive, have no record, and appear not to have planned the crime. Literally... they get away with murder. - Publishers Weekly

Author Information

Laura James is a true crime author and reviewer whose literary website Clews, devoted to historical true crime, has earned millions of hits. She is an attorney in private practice in Michigan.

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