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In Cold Blood
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Read In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood (1965) (edit title/settings)

A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences

by Truman Capote (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues. Five years, four months and... read more

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

  • - A Kansas family is murdered and the killers are found and executed.

Summary edit see section history

This is the story of the fatal meeting of two criminals in prison. One of the men had worked for a Kansas farmer and his family and was sure the man had lots of money that the pair could get when they got out of jail. What follows is a devastating tale of horror when a robbery goes bad. The... read more

This is the story of the fatal meeting of two criminals in prison. One of the men had worked for a Kansas farmer and his family and was sure the man had lots of money that the pair could get when they got out of jail. What follows is a devastating tale of horror when a robbery goes bad. The story ends with the hanging of the two murderers and the weird feeling that chance played the major role in the crime - chance meeting, chance story, the combined chemistry of two men who would never have committed the murders if alone. This murderous tale will haunt the reader forever.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Perry Edward Smith: One of the two murderers of the Clutter family.
  • Richard 'Dick' Hickock: One of the two murderers of the Clutter family.
  • Alvin Dewey: Agent of the Kansas Bureau of Investigations (KBI) involved with the murder case.
  • Nancy Clutter: Teenage daughter of the Clutters.
  • Kenyon Clutter: Teenage son of the Clutters.
  • Bonnie Clutter: Mother of the Clutter family; married to Herb with four children.
  • Herb Clutter: Father of the Clutter household; married to Bonnie with four children.
  • Bobby Rupp: Nancy Clutter's boyfriend.
  • Marie Dewey: Alvin's wife; chagrined at Alvin's deep involvement in the case.
  • Harold Nye: One of three KBI investigator principally assisting Alvin Dewey on the case.
  • Roy Church: One of three KBI investigator principally assisting Alvin Dewey on the case.
  • Clarence Duntz: One of three KBI investigator principally assisting Alvin Dewey on the case.
Show all 12 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “"A mother is still the only one who can kiss a boo-boo and make it all well- explain that scientifically.”
    Barbara Smith
  • “"By the way, do you know what tomorrow is? Nancy Clutter's birthday. She would have been seventeen."”
    Dewey
  • “"Imagination, of course, can open any door- turn the key and let terror walk right in."”
    Garden City store proprietor
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • Imagination, of course, can open any door—turn the key and let terror walk right in.
    Highlighted by 166 Kindle customers
  • Nothing is more usual than to feel that others have shared in our failures, just as it is an ordinary reaction to forget those who have shared in our achievements.
    Highlighted by 113 Kindle customers
  •     “What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is a breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”—Said by Chief Crowfoot, Blackfoot Indian Chief.
    Highlighted by 87 Kindle customers
  • “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.”
    Highlighted by 78 Kindle customers
  • How was it possible that such effort, such plain virtue, could overnight be reduced to this smoke, thinning as it rose and was received by the big, annihilating sky?
    Highlighted by 77 Kindle customers
  • At the time not a soul in sleeping Holcomb heard them—four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives. But afterward the townspeople, theretofore sufficiently unfearful of each other to seldom trouble to lock their doors, found fantasy re-creating them over and again—those somber explosions that stimulated fires of mistrust in the glare of which many old neighbors viewed each other strangely, and as strangers.
    Highlighted by 74 Kindle customers
  • “Feeling wouldn’t run half so high if this had happened to anyone except the Clutters. Anyone less admired. Prosperous. Secure. But that family represented everything people hereabouts really value and respect, and that such a thing could happen to them—well, it’s like being told there is no God. It makes life seem pointless. I don’t think people are so much frightened as they are deeply depressed.”
    Highlighted by 68 Kindle customers
  • The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call “out there.”
    Highlighted by 59 Kindle customers
  • It was the first payment on a forty-thousand-dollar policy that in the event of death by accidental means, paid double indemnity.
    Highlighted by 50 Kindle customers
  • Until one morning in mid-November of 1959, few Americans—in fact, few Kansans—had ever heard of Holcomb. Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape of exceptional happenings, had never stopped there.
    Highlighted by 48 Kindle customers
Show all 13 quotes from this book

Organizations edit see section history

First Sentence edit see section history

The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call 'out there'.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Part 1 -- The Last to See Them Alive
Part 2 -- Persons Unknown
Part 3 -- Answer
Part 4 -- The Corner

Glossary edit see section history

  • unmarred: unblemished
  • lamentably: deplorably, regrettably, unfortunately
  • wan: very pale and sickly
  • reticent: bashful, reserved
  • penitentiary: (AmE) a correctional institution for those convicted of major crimes; a prison or jail
  • ineffable: unspeakable, inexpressible
  • agog: highly excited, eager
  • elocution: the study of formal speaking
  • ethereality: ethereal: heavenly, unusually delicate, light, lacking material substance, intangible
  • despondency: depression, dejection
  • Austere: strict, stern; unadorned, ascetic
  • fastidious: having a close attention to detail
  • intinerant: traveling from place to place to work
  • haranguing: giving an impassioned, disputatious public speech; giving a tirade or rant, whether spoken or written; giving a forceful and lengthy lecture or criticism to someone
  • coterie: clique, social group of people or animals
  • indemnity: An indemnity is a sum paid by A to B by way of compensation for a particular loss suffered by B. The indemnitor (A) may or may not be responsible for the loss suffered by the indemnitee (B). Forms of indemnity include cash payments, repairs, replacement, and reinstatement.
  • sojourn: a temporary stay, esp. a short one
  • delineating: showing the form or outline of
  • paltry: negligible, trivial
  • forlornly: hopelessly, miserably, lonesomely
  • betrotheds: the person to whom one is betrothed
  • netsuke: See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netsuke
  • muy simpatico: (Spanish) muy means 'very' and 'simpatico' can mean friendly or sociable
  • shotgun: effective gun against turkeys small game and intruders. also good murder weapon if your stupid
Show all 24 glossary entries

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 63 of 96 in Newsweek's Top 100 Books: The Meta-List. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Lord of the Flies, and followed by The Golden Notebook.

This book is in Modern Library Classics. (edition-based publisher list)
This book is in True Crime: Basis Of A Movie. (community list)
This is book 5 of 99 in NPR's Top 100 Killer Thriller. (community list)

Preceded by The Bourne Identity, and followed by The Da Vinci Code.

This is book 43 of 113 in Book Smart Reading List. (community list)

Preceded by The Master and Margarita, and followed by Crime and Punishment.

This is book 408 of 1271 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Trawl, and followed by The Magus.

This is book 54 of 100 in Top 100 Mysteries of All Time (Mystery Writers of America, 1995). (authoritative list)

Preceded by A Thief of Time, and followed by Rogue Male.

This is book 7 of 29 in Biblioteka XX. stoljeće (Jutarnji list). (edition-based publisher list)

Preceded by The Stranger, and followed by Heart of Darkness.

This book is in Penguin's Top 100 Classics. (authoritative list)
This book is in Penguin Modern Classics. (edition-based publisher list)
This book is in TIME Magazine's All-TIME 100 Best Nonfiction Books. (authoritative list)
This book is in Top American Novels of All Times. (community list)
This book is in Folio Society. (edition-based publisher list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Truman Capote (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Tere Loprete (Designer) - Cover design
  2. S. Neil Fujita - Jacket design
  3. Ellen F. Kane (Cover Artist) - Cover design

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Random House
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1965
ISBN: 0679443754
Page Count: 343

Awards edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: HV6533.K3 C3
  • Dewey: 364.15230978144

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

  • In Cold Blood Wikipedia Page: 1 Overview of the crime2 Capote's research3 Publication4 Criticism5 Adaptations6 See also7 References8 External links
  • Folio Society: On the morning of Sunday, 15 November 1959, two teenage girls went to River Valley Farm in Holcomb, Kansas, the home of their friend Nancy Clutter. They found Nancy lying on her bed, shot in the back of the head with a shotgun, her bedroom wall spattered with blood. Her mother, Bonnie, was also dead, her hands tied together and her mouth taped with adhesive. In the basement, her father Herb’s throat had been slit; her brother, Kenyon, had been gagged and bound and shot in the face. The telephone line had been disconnected. Forty dollars in cash was missing.

Movie Connections edit see section history

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history

   
  • House of Evil

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history

   
  • Bad Blood
  • Natural Born Celebrities

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