Em Kelton, the protagonist of my new BAD BOY BEAT, is a crime reporter with a nose for news – and a penchant for those on the wrong side of the law. This may prove useful when she suspects that a series of street-level killings are part of something larger. She’s too new to town to have covered some of Boston’s biggest crimes. However, these are certainly stories she would have loved to report on… or to solve!
The Swedish Nanny Murder
Roz, Em’s BFF, talks about the 1996 killing in which 20-year-old Karina Holmer was found dead in a downtown dumpster (or rather, half of her was found). The Swedish nanny had last been seen leaving a club intoxicated, and while more than 300 people were interviewed, nobody – including the Boston cop she had dated – was ever found responsible for this truly horrific crime. Read more about this crime here.
The Channel Killing
When Steven DiSarro vanished in May, 1993, his friends weren’t too surprised. The supposed owner of the Channel rock club – famous for its raucous all-ages punk shows and headliners ranging from George Clinton to the Go-Go’s – had been shooting his mouth off about his partners, including New England Mob boss Frank “Cadillac” Salemme. DiSarro’s body was found at a construction site in Rhode Island, but Salemme wasn’t convicted until 25 years later. Learn more about this murder here and here.
The Gardner Heist
They showed up at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum at 1:28 a.m., March 18, 1990, claiming to be cops. When they left, they took with them 13 priceless works of art, including three Rembrandts and Vermeer’s “The Concert,” one of only 37 existing works by the great Dutch artist. Although the recent death of the security guard who let the thieves in has revived interest in the heist, nobody has ever been charged, and the artworks – prized at half a billion dollars – have not been recovered. Follow the trail of the missing artwork here and here.
The Brinks Job
The 1950 “crime of the century” (and inspiration for the 1978 film of the same name) was the largest armed robbery in the history of the United States at the time and almost the perfect crime. Intense planning and research went into the heist, which netted $1.2 million in cash and $1.6 million in checks and securities. Although police and FBI cracked down on virtually every known criminal in New England (and beyond), the case was only solved six years later when one participant decided to talk. Only about $52,000 was ever recovered. Read what the FBI has to say about the heist here.
The Blackfriars Massacre
The Blackfriars was an Irish pub, but what happened there on June 28, 1978, had nothing to do with drinking. Rather, the right to sell cocaine most likely turned the popular nightspot into a bloodbath. Nobody knows how it started, but after the janitor found the first of five bullet-riddled bodies, the police discovered $15,000 in cash as well as traces of the drug. With four of the dead linked to organized crime, the fruitless investigation involved a who’s who of Boston crime, with suspects ranging from Whitey Bulger, Steve “The Rifleman” Flemme, and members of the Patriarca crime family to the notorious Winter Hall Gang. Also among the dead: a former journalist who was managing the bar. Read more about the crime here.
A former journalist, Clea Simon is the Boston Globe-bestselling author of three nonfiction books and 31 mysteries. including the new amateur sleuth BAD BOY BEAT. While most of these are cat “cozies” (most recently TO CONJURE A KILLER), she also writes darker psychological suspense, like HOLD ME DOWN and WORLD ENOUGH, both named “must reads” by the Massachusetts Book Awards.
