Homicide at Rough Point

The Untold Story of How Doris Duke, the Richest Woman In America, Got Away with Murder

By: Peter Lance

Narrated by: Peter Lance

Homicide at Rough Point, the new book by best-selling HarperCollins author Peter Lance, based on Lance’s piece in Vanity Fair's July/Aug 2020 issue, solves the 54-year-old cold case murder of Eduardo Tirella, a gay Hollywood set designer whose career was just taking off when he told the notoriously jealous and vindictive billionaire Doris Duke that he was leaving her employ. Moments later, on October 7, 1966, Duke crushed Tirella to death under a two-ton station wagon outside the gates of Rough Point, her Newport, RI, estate. Ninety-six hours later, the local police declared the death an “unfortunate accident”, and Duke began spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in Newport, which has a storied history, from pre-Revolutionary times, through the Gilded Age, up through the 1960s.

One of the nation’s wealthiest resorts, Newport - home to the America’s Cups Races, tennis championships, and jazz and folk festivals - was the site of President Kennedy’s unofficial summer White House. In the book, Lance uncovers heretofore missing forensic evidence that proves Duke - then the heir to a vast fortune funded with profits from American Tobacco Company, Alcoa Aluminum, and Duke Power (now Duke energy) and reigning scion of the family that founded Duke University - not only acted with intent in the homicide, but conspired with local police at the time to cover up the crime.

A five-time Emmy Award-winning former correspondent for ABC News, Lance started working for The Newport Daily News as a cub reporter eight months after Tirella’s death and was obsessed for more than 50 years with solving the case. The result is a book with 105 images and 915 end-note annotations that sets the record straight and restores the reputation of Tirella, a war hero whom Duke's attorneys shamelessly denigrated. On December 24, 2020, AppleNews+ called Lance's VF piece the best true crime story of 2020 and Homicide, the book, has been at the top of Amazon’s list of Coming in True Crime ever since.

More information at: peterlance.com

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Peter Lance (P)2021 Peter Lance

Thorough

Thorough coverage. I suggest updating the book and deleting references to Trump and woke comments. They’re distracting and dated. Just a suggestion.

Difficult to follow

I very much enjoy the history behind Newport's colorful community members, but I feel like I'm on a very stilted traipse through the author's mind and retelling. It can be difficult to weave everything together before forgetting earlier history in the book. Also, and this is just something that bugs me...........I'm not fond of the narrator's voice. Very much reminds me of having to read aloud in a history class. I want to like this book, but not sure I have the attention span to go along on his meadering storytelling style.

Well done! So well written & narrated.

Full of historical information collected & researched over years. Enjoyed Mr. Lance's connection to Newport. Thank you for such an insightful, intriguing & well put together audiobook.

One of the best books I have ever read.

This book is a mix of the murder Doris Duke committed, history of Newport R.I. and a little bit about the authors life (which since he is a local Newport guy goes hand in hand with the other two mentioned topics). This is only the second review I have written but I felt the need to tell the truth and correct the one review I read. Yes, the author goes into himself a bit but that’s because he lived in Newport, knew people directly related to the crime and reported on the crime itself. As far as politics, that’s an outright lie; this book is not political at all. Trust me, you won’t regret the purchase or credit.

The authenticity of the investigative work

This is an incredible investigation of a murder committed in 1966 that remained effectively cold until the year 2021. It rates five stars.