In Cold Blood (Non-fiction) by Truman Capote

This book is a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences.

"...I have even heard on more than one occasion that the man, when found, should be hanged from the nearest tree.  Let us not feel this way.  The deed is done and taking another life cannot change it.  Instead, let us forgive as God would have us do.  It is not right that we should hold a grudge in our hearts.  The doer of this act is going to find it very difficult indeed to live with himself.  His only peace of mind will be when he goes to God for forgiveness.  Let us not stand in the way but instead give prayers that he may find his peace." - Mr Howard Fox, brother of Bonnie Clutter (murdered woman).

Paperback:  Controversial and compelling, In Cold Blood (1966) reconstructs the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife and children.

Truman Capote's comprehensive study of the killings and subsequent investigation explores the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime and the effect it had on those involved.

At the centre of his study are the amoral young killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, who, vividly drawn by Capote, are shown to be reprehensible, yet entirely and frighteningly human.

The book that made Capote's name, In Cold Blood is a seminal work of modern prose, a remarkable synthesis of journalistic skill and powerfully evocative narrative.

About the author:  Truman Capote was born in New Orleans in 1924 and was raised in various part of the South, his family spending winters in New Orleans and summers in Alabama and New Georgia.  He left school when he was fifteen and subsequently worked for the New Yorker which provided his first - and last - regular job.

In 1984, his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, was published to international critical acclaim, assuring Capote a place among the prominent postwar American writers.  His other works include The Grass Harp (1951), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958), In Cold Blood (1966), which immediately became the centre of a storm of controversy on its publication, Music for Chameleons (1980) and Answered Prayers (1986).

Summer Crossing was sold at Sotheby's, New York, in 2004, and published for the first time in the UK by Penguin Classics in 2005.

Truman Capote died in August 1984.

The 1967 film based on Truman Capote's book: