"A masterpiece – painful, terrible, obsessive." – New York Times Book Review
In November 1959, the four members of the Clutter family were brutally murdered in Holcomb, Kansas. A few weeks later, the perpetrators, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, were apprehended while on the run. Truman Capote learned of the crime from the New York Times and decided to investigate at the scene. He spoke with acquaintances and friends of the family, as well as with the police. Eventually, he was given the opportunity to speak with the two murderers. Over time, he managed to establish such a close relationship with them that they allowed him precise insights into their inner lives. Almost six years after their crime, he accompanied them to the gallows.
Capote's groundbreaking reconstruction of a murder became a sensation and established a new literary genre: the "non-fiction novel," the fact-based novel. In breathtaking prose, he recounts how people become murderers. With "In Cold Blood", Capote achieved international bestseller status.
About the author:
Truman Capote was born in New Orleans in 1924. His first novel, "Other Voices, Other Rooms," was published in 1948 and hailed as the sensational debut of a literary prodigy. "Breakfast at Tiffany's," published in 1958, achieved great fame, thanks in part to the film adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn. His "In Cold Blood," a true story that has been adapted for film several times, was published in 1966, followed by "The Dogs Bark (Stories and Portraits)" in 1973, and "Music for Chameleons (Stories and Reportage)" in 1980. Posthumously, his unfinished novel "Answered Prayers" was published in 1987, and his newly discovered, true debut, "Summer Crossing," was published in 2005. Truman Capote died in Los Angeles in 1984. The complete works of Truman Capote are published in German in the Zurich Edition, edited by Anuschka Roshani, by Kein & Aber.
Anuschka Roshani studied behavioral biology and attended the Henri Nannen School of Journalism before working for many years as an editor and reporter at Der Spiegel and the Tages-Anzeiger magazine. Born in Berlin, she has lived with her family in Zurich since 2002. She has edited Truman Capote's complete works for Kein & Aber, including the previously unknown early work *The Early Stories*, which she discovered in 2014. Her debut novel, *Komplizen*, was published in 2018, followed by *Gleissen* in 2022. She is currently writing her doctoral dissertation on Truman Capote.
