Scoundrel: The True Story of the Murderer Who Charmed His Way to Fame and Freedom

by Sarah Weinman

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

From crime fiction to true crime, Sarah Weinman has established herself as the 21st century’s expert in both genres. Scoundrel is centered around a wrongful conviction in reverse that engages in the world of politics and criminal justice. It’s real-world stakes tied together with well-plotted tension.

A Recommended Read from: The Los Angeles Times * Town and Country * The Seattle Times * Publishers Weekly * Lit Hub * Crime Reads * Alma

From the author of The Real Lolita and editor of Unspeakable Acts, the astonishing story of a murderer who conned the people around him—including conservative thinker William F. Buckley—into helping set him free

In the 1960s, Edgar Smith, in prison and sentenced to death for the murder of teenager Victoria Zielinski, struck up a correspondence with William F. Buckley, the founder of National Review. Buckley, who refused to believe that a man who supported the neoconservative movement could have committed such a heinous crime, began to advocate not only for Smith’s life to be spared but also for his sentence to be overturned.

So begins a bizarre and tragic tale of mid-century America. Sarah Weinman’s Scoundrel leads us through the twists of fate and fortune that brought Smith to freedom, book deals, fame, and eventually to attempting murder again. In Smith, Weinman has uncovered a psychopath who slipped his way into public acclaim and acceptance before crashing down to earth once again.

From the people Smith deceived—Buckley, the book editor who published his work, friends from back home, and the women who loved him—to Americans who were willing to buy into his lies, Weinman explores who in our world is accorded innocence, and how the public becomes complicit in the stories we tell one another.

Scoundrel shows, with clear eyes and sympathy for all those who entered Smith’s orbit, how and why he was able to manipulate, obfuscate, and make a mockery of both well-meaning people and the American criminal justice system. It tells a forgotten part of American history at the nexus of justice, prison reform, and civil rights, and exposes how one man’s ill-conceived plan to set another man free came at the great expense of Edgar Smith’s victims.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062899774
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/07/2023
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	271,455
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Sarah Weinman is the author of Scoundrel and The Real Lolita and the editor, most recently, of Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit & Obsession. She was a 2020 National Magazine Award finalist for reporting and a Calderwood Journalism Fellow at MacDowell, and her work has appeared in New York magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, and the Washington Post. Weinman writes the crime column for the New York Times Book Review and lives in New York City and Northampton, MA.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I The Sand Pit (1957)

1 "Where Is Vickie?" 15

2 The Mercury 27

3 "If You're Looking for a Fall Guy …" 37

4 Openings 56

5 "I Just Threw It Out the Window" 69

6 "Eddie and Don Aren't Friends Anymore" 79

7 "It Can't Be" 92

Part II The Death House (1958-1962)

8 Patricia 99

9 Divorces 117

Part III The Conservative (1962-1966)

10 A "Lifetime" Subscription 129

11 "My God, I Wish I Could Be Absolutely Certain" 146

12 Meeting in Trenton 156

13 Waiting for Death 168

Part IV Making the Brief (1967-1968)

14 Lunch at Paone's 187

15 "They Must Think I Am Houdini" 195

16 Blood, Nerves, Vibrations 208

17 Hatkic 216

18 March to Publication 227

19 The Breach 249

20 Brief Against Death 263

Part V Reasonable Doubts (1969-1971)

21 Rogue's Wake 277

22 A Reasonable Doubt 296

23 Bid for a New Trial 308

24 Conviction Overturned 321

Part VI Getting Out (1971-1976)

25 Non Vult 337

26 Freedom's First Dawn 347

27 The Celebrity Convict 357

28 Counterpoint 367

29 Paige 374

Part VII Boiling Over (1976-1979)

30 Rage, Revived 393

31 On the Run 400

32 Arrested Again 410

33 "The Saga of a Bad Man" 417

34 "Used and Betrayed" 428

Part VIII Staying In (1980-2017)

35 A Strange Triangle 439

36 Vacaville 447

Coda: 1948 463

Acknowledgments 473

Notes 479

Bibliography 577

Editorial Reviews

"Weinman, rightly acclaimed for 'The Real Lolita,” again examines the misogyny inherent in true-crime culture, then and now." — Los Angeles Times

"An in-depth exploration of how outside influence and support can affect the criminal justice system's slow-moving cogs, as well as the narrative of a con artist who managed to hurt a great deal of people." — NPR

"'Scoundrel' is about who receives the benefit of our doubt and the privileges that attend that trust, whether or not it is warranted…. Instead of wondering what will happen, the reader is asked to consider the more important question: how it did…. Her research is meticulous and extensive, allowing us to witness step by shocking step how Buckley and Wilkins chose to believe and then hand a microphone to a murderer.” — New York Times Book Review

"With the precision of an atom splicer, Scoundrel probes the psychological fallout for those in Smith’s orbit." — Vanity Fair

"Weinman explores how the sociopathic Smith manipulated and abused both the women he harmed and the naive do-gooders, like Buckley, who became his dupes." — New York Post

"Exhaustively reported and compassionately told, Scoundrel shows how the justice system is easily manipulated, and how it often fails vulnerable women. Like The Real Lolita before it, Scoundrel proves once again that Weinman is a modern master of the genre." — Esquire

“Riveting…. Weinman is able to tell the story in vivid detail.” — Boston Globe

“[A] tragic and gripping saga…. Weinman tells this lurid tale with all the narrative texture and tempo—and only some of the tawdriness—of a true-crime genre classic…. Scoundrel is an agonizingly intimate depiction of an unlikely epistolary love triangle—the bloody consequences of which would haunt its besotted principals for decades to come.”  — New Republic

"Provocative and unsettling. It compels the reader to ponder weighty questions: Did a savage thug exploit smart, decent people? Can altruism sometimes be as lethal as psychopathology? Evil pervades this book, but it makes for a terrific read." — Air Mail

"Meticulously researched, “Scoundrel” paints a portrait of a criminal adept at targeting people like Buckley who he could win over — but whose violent instincts eventually led to his downfall.” — Associated Press

"Compelling." — Wall Street Journal

"Weinman does an impeccable job with this wild story of murder, celebrity, politics, and the American ability to put unsavory characters on a pedestal." — Literary Hub

“In this mesmerizing account, Weinman (The Real Lolita) does a masterly job resurrecting a stranger-than-fiction chapter in American criminal justice….  [An] instant classic.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Enthralling…. The book is a must-read for true crime fans, but it will appeal to nonfiction readers across genres for its thrilling blend of crime, media, and politics in mid-century America…. An immediately absorbing story.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Superb…. Weinman paints a complete portrait of Smith in all his complexity, with an unsettling ending that left me breathless. A chilling and deeply satisfying read, Scoundrel injects life into a story nearly forgotten by time.” — Bookpage (starred review)

"In the court of public opinion, a woman who devotes herself to freeing an imprisoned murderer, only to regret unleashing a sociopath on society, is often judged a victim of her own desperation as much as a man's manipulation, but what about the eminent public intellectual who uses his platform to do the same thing? Sarah Weinman defies the genre of true crime in this extraordinary book about a cause célèbre gone terribly wrong." — Alexis Coe, New York Times bestselling author of You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington

"Sarah Weinman has taken a minor footnote in American history—conservative icon William F. Buckley’s strange friendship with (and advocacy for) a convicted murderer—and spun a breathtaking narrative about the criminal justice system, betrayal, and our culture of celebrity. Brilliantly reported and immensely readable, Scoundrel is a smart social commentary with all the twisted pleasures of a psychological thriller. I defy you to put it down." — Abbott Kahler, author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park

"Wholly compelling reading." — Kirkus Reviews

“Scoundrel is a thoroughly mesmerizing work of true crime and American history, and Sarah Weinman leaves no stone unturned in this extraordinary story of empathy, betrayal, celebrity, and the criminal justice system.”  — Gilbert King, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Devil in the Grove

Praise for Unspeakable Acts — ///

“Irresistible.”  — People

Praise for The Real Lolita — ///

“The achievement of [Weinman’s] impressive literary sleuthing is to bring to life a girl whose story had been lost.”  — New York Times Book Review

“Superb. . . . A compelling investigation.”  — NPR's Fresh Air

“Riveting. . . . Scrupulously researched. . . . Weinman’s dark and compulsively readable book will make readers aware of the absence of a nearly forgotten girl’s voice in discussions of one of the great works of American literature.”  — Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher

"Provocative and unsettling. It compels the reader to ponder weighty questions: Did a savage thug exploit smart, decent people? Can altruism sometimes be as lethal as psychopathology? Evil pervades this book, but it makes for a terrific read."

Air Mail

"Weinman explores how the sociopathic Smith manipulated and abused both the women he harmed and the naive do-gooders, like Buckley, who became his dupes."

New York Post

"Weinman, rightly acclaimed for 'The Real Lolita,” again examines the misogyny inherent in true-crime culture, then and now."

|Los Angeles Times

"With the precision of an atom splicer, Scoundrel probes the psychological fallout for those in Smith’s orbit."

Vanity Fair

"'Scoundrel' is about who receives the benefit of our doubt and the privileges that attend that trust, whether or not it is warranted…. Instead of wondering what will happen, the reader is asked to consider the more important question: how it did…. Her research is meticulous and extensive, allowing us to witness step by shocking step how Buckley and Wilkins chose to believe and then hand a microphone to a murderer.

New York Times Book Review

Riveting…. Weinman is able to tell the story in vivid detail.

Boston Globe

[A] tragic and gripping saga…. Weinman tells this lurid tale with all the narrative texture and tempo—and only some of the tawdriness—of a true-crime genre classic…. Scoundrel is an agonizingly intimate depiction of an unlikely epistolary love triangle—the bloody consequences of which would haunt its besotted principals for decades to come.” 

New Republic

"An in-depth exploration of how outside influence and support can affect the criminal justice system's slow-moving cogs, as well as the narrative of a con artist who managed to hurt a great deal of people."

NPR

"Meticulously researched, “Scoundrel” paints a portrait of a criminal adept at targeting people like Buckley who he could win over — but whose violent instincts eventually led to his downfall.

Associated Press

"Exhaustively reported and compassionately told, Scoundrel shows how the justice system is easily manipulated, and how it often fails vulnerable women. Like The Real Lolita before it, Scoundrel proves once again that Weinman is a modern master of the genre."

Esquire

★ 12/20/2021

In this mesmerizing account, Weinman (The Real Lolita) does a masterly job resurrecting a stranger-than-fiction chapter in American criminal justice. In 1957, unemployed veteran Edgar Smith was arrested for bludgeoning 15-year-old Victoria Zielinski to death in Mahwah, N.J. Smith, who testified in his own defense at his trial, was sentenced to death. In 1962, after conservative intellectual William F. Buckley learned Smith was an admirer of Buckley’s magazine, National Review, Buckley began corresponding with Smith, leading to an unlikely friendship and financial support for legal efforts to spare Smith’s life. Smith, who published both a book about his case and a mystery novel from behind bars, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder during a retrial, and in 1971 he was released for time served. In 1976, Smith stabbed a woman nearly to death in California. (During his testimony at the subsequent trial, he admitted to killing Zielinski.) Weinman’s dogged research, which included correspondence with Smith, who died in prison in 2017, and a study of Buckley’s papers, enable her to craft a deeply unsettling narrative about how a clever killer manipulated the justice system to his benefit. This instant classic raises disturbing questions about gullibility even on the part of the very bright. Agent: David Patterson, Stuart Krichevsky Literary. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"Sarah Weinman has taken a minor footnote in American history—conservative icon William F. Buckley’s strange friendship with (and advocacy for) a convicted murderer—and spun a breathtaking narrative about the criminal justice system, betrayal, and our culture of celebrity. Brilliantly reported and immensely readable, Scoundrel is a smart social commentary with all the twisted pleasures of a psychological thriller. I defy you to put it down."

Abbott Kahler

Praise for Unspeakable Acts

///

Superb…. Weinman paints a complete portrait of Smith in all his complexity, with an unsettling ending that left me breathless. A chilling and deeply satisfying read, Scoundrel injects life into a story nearly forgotten by time.

Bookpage (starred review)

"Weinman does an impeccable job with this wild story of murder, celebrity, politics, and the American ability to put unsavory characters on a pedestal."

Literary Hub

"In the court of public opinion, a woman who devotes herself to freeing an imprisoned murderer, only to regret unleashing a sociopath on society, is often judged a victim of her own desperation as much as a man's manipulation, but what about the eminent public intellectual who uses his platform to do the same thing? Sarah Weinman defies the genre of true crime in this extraordinary book about a cause célèbre gone terribly wrong."

Alexis Coe

Scoundrel is a thoroughly mesmerizing work of true crime and American history, and Sarah Weinman leaves no stone unturned in this extraordinary story of empathy, betrayal, celebrity, and the criminal justice system.” 

Gilbert King

"Compelling."

Wall Street Journal

Superb. . . . A compelling investigation.” 

NPR's Fresh Air

Irresistible.” 

People

"Compelling."

Wall Street Journal

"Weinman, rightly acclaimed for 'The Real Lolita,” again examines the misogyny inherent in true-crime culture, then and now."

Los Angeles Times

★ 12/01/2021

With this enthralling book, Weinman (The Real Lolita) details the twisted, extraordinary story of a murderer who manipulated his way to freedom and fame. In the 1960s, Edgar Smith, on death row for the murder of teenager Victoria Zielinski, began corresponding with William F. Buckley, the prominent conservative who founded the National Review. Weinman contends that Buckley's advocacy and friendship helped Smith to get a book deal, a release from prison, and a welcoming reception from the public. Weinman thoroughly covers Smith's deception and his eventual return to crime. She writes with empathy for Smith's victims, including those left in the wake of his lies, and a critical eye toward the systems that allowed him to continue committing offenses. The book is a must-read for true crime fans, but it will appeal to nonfiction readers across genres for its thrilling blend of crime, media, and politics in mid-century America. Readers looking for similarly page-turning true crime may be interested in Rebecca Rosenberg and Selim Algar's At Any Cost: A Father's Betrayal, a Wife's Murder, and a Ten-Year War for Justice. VERDICT An immediately absorbing story of crime, manipulation, and influence.—Kate Bellody, SUNY New Paltz

Library Journal

2021-12-07
The acclaimed author of The Real Lolita tells the story of how a convicted murderer manipulated his way out of death row and into the spotlight.

In 1957, Edgar Smith was sentenced to die for the murder of a 15-year-old girl. A decade later, he published a book proclaiming his innocence. That book, Brief Against Death, won the admiration of Truman Capote and William F. Buckley, a friend he made while in jail. Seeking to understand how Smith managed to hoodwink intellectuals as well as the women he claimed to love, Weinman, who writes the crime column for the New York Times Book Review, investigates his life and the crimes that brought him notoriety. She examines his life-changing friendship that developed in 1962 when Buckley, who had read of Smith’s fondness for the National Review in a newspaper article, personally offered him a permanent subscription. For the next nine years, the two men exchanged more than 1,500 pages of correspondence in which the wily convict showcased his charm and writing ability and revealed his intent to write a book demonstrating that the case against him was “riddled with holes.” Buckley believed Smith and later introduced him to a female editor who was similarly captivated by Smith’s “sweet-talking” letters. After the publication of his book, the now-famous convict kindled romantic connections, including “torrid epistolary affair[s]” with two other women. By 1971, Smith was not only a free man; he was a famous writer thanks to his friendship with Buckley. However, by 1976, after the celebrity had dissipated, Smith was finally sentenced for a kidnapping that nearly ended in the death of a second woman. Weinman’s book is not only a disturbing study in how “brilliant people” and the institutions they serve can be successfully conned. It is also a reminder of how society has always used talent as a way to excuse male acts of aggression and violence against women.

Wholly compelling reading from an author well versed in the true-crime genre.

Kirkus Reviews