Three Sisters in Black
The Bizarre True Case of the Bathtub Tragedy
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Three Sisters in Black
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Narrated by:
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Gabrielle de Cuir
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By:
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Norman Zierold
About this listen
In 1909, a bathtub drowning became one of the most famous and bizarre criminal cases in American history.
On November 29, 1909, police were called to a ramshackle home in East Orange, New Jersey, where they found the emaciated body of 24-year-old Oceana "Ocey" Snead facedown in the bathtub - dead of an apparent suicide by drowning. There was even a note left behind.
But it would not take authorities long to discover that Ocey's death was no suicide. And Ocey's own mother and two aunts were far from the sorrowful caretakers they appeared to be.
In fact, behind the veils of their strange black mourning clothes, they were monsters, having tormented Ocey almost since birth in a sick pattern of both physical and mental abuse, after a lifetime of which the women planned to cash in on poor Ocey's sad and inevitable death.
An Edgar Award finalist, Three Sisters in Black is the true story of a gothic, gaslight nightmare that fascinated, shocked, and baffled the nation - and the disturbed women who almost got away with murder.
©2019 Norman Zierold (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 240
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 202
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 200
In this critically acclaimed true crime tale of "welfare queen" Linda Taylor, a Slate editor reveals a "wild, only-in-America story" of political manipulation and murder (Attica Locke, Edgar Award-winning author). Part social history, part true-crime investigation, Josh Levin's mesmerizing book, the product of six years of reporting and research, is a fascinating account of American racism, and an exposé of the "welfare queen" myth, one that fueled political debates that reverberate to this day.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very compelling story!
- By Marilyn on 06-24-19
By: Josh Levin
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Butcher's Work
- True Crime Tales of American Murder and Madness
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 110
A Civil War veteran who perpetrated one of the most ghastly mass slaughters in the annals of U.S. crime. A nineteenth-century female serial killer whose victims included three husbands and six of her own children. A Gilded Age “Bluebeard” who did away with as many as fifty wives throughout the country. A decorated World War I hero who orchestrated a murder that stunned Jazz Age America.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Another necessary work by Schector
- By Brandon on 12-27-22
By: Harold Schechter
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Furious Hours
- Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee
- By: Casey Cep
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,412
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,210
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,214
Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members for insurance money in the 1970s. With the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative shot him dead at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell's murderer was acquitted—thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend. Casey Cep brings this story to life, from the shocking murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great book, needs a Southern narrator
- By Joseph Wu on 06-06-19
By: Casey Cep
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The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream
- The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer
- By: Dean Jobb
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 137
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Story4 out of 5 stars 118
In the span of fifteen years, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream murdered as many as ten people in the United States, Britain, and Canada, a death toll with almost no precedent. Poison was his weapon of choice. Largely forgotten today, this villain was as brazen as the notorious Jack the Ripper. The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream exposes the blind trust given to medical practitioners, as well as the flawed detection methods, bungled investigations, corrupt officials, and stifling morality of Victorian society that allowed Dr. Cream to prey on vulnerable and desperate women.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Hard to Follow
- By Jessica on 08-26-21
By: Dean Jobb
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A Death in White Bear Lake
- The True Chronicle of an All-American Town
- By: Barry Siegel
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 129
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 106
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 107
In 1962, Jerry Sherwood gave up her newborn son, Dennis, for adoption. Twenty years later, she set out to find him - only to discover he had died before his fourth birthday. Harold and Lois Jurgens, a middle-class, churchgoing couple in picturesque White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had adopted Dennis and five other foster children. To all appearances, they were a normal Midwestern family, but Jerry suspected that something sinister had happened in the Jurgens household. She demanded to know the truth about her son's death.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Really, really good book.
- By Danette on 12-23-20
By: Barry Siegel
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The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns
- By: Mitzi Szereto - editor
- Narrated by: Holly Palance, Phil Thron
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Story4 out of 5 stars 50
Whether in Truman Capote’s detailed murder of the Clutter family or Ted Bundy’s small-town charm, criminals have always roamed rural America and towns worldwide. Featuring murder stories, criminal case studies, and more, The Best New True Crime Stories: Small Towns contains all-new accounts from writers of true crime, crime journalism, and crime fiction. And these entries are not based on a true story - they are true stories. Edited by acclaimed author and anthologist Mitzi Szereto, the stories in this volume span the globe.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Crime in other countries is not my cup of tea.
- By Brenda on 01-03-21
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A Cold-Blooded Business
- Adultery, Murder, and a Killer's Path from the Bible Belt to the Boardroom
- By: Marek Fuchs
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 369
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 335
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Story4 out of 5 stars 329
In 1959, Olathe, Kansas was made famous by the murder of the Clutter family and Truman Capote's ground-breaking book on the crime, In Cold Blood. But fewer know that Olathe achieved notoriety again in 1982, when a member of Olathe's growing Evangelical Christian population, a gentle man named David Harmon, was bludgeoned to death while sleeping - the force of the blows crushing his face beyond recognition.
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5 out of 5 stars
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GOOD TRUE CRIME STORY
- By The Louligan on 08-17-14
By: Marek Fuchs
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The Wrong Man
- The Final Verdict on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case
- By: James Neff
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
At 5:40 a.m. on July 4, 1954, the mayor of Bay Village, a small suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, received a frantic phone call from his neighbor Dr. Sam Sheppard. The news was too terrible to comprehend: Marilyn, Sam's lovely wife, was dead, her face and torso beaten beyond recognition by an unknown assailant who had knocked Sam unconscious and escaped just before dawn. In the adjacent bedroom, Chip, the Sheppards' seven-year-old son, had slept through the entire ordeal. Almost immediately, the police began to suspect Sam Sheppard.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding! But troubling
- By Tyree on 09-26-22
By: James Neff
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The Devil's Gentleman
- Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 195
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 179
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Story4 out of 5 stars 177
The wayward son of a revered Civil War general, Roland Molineux enjoyed good looks, status, and fortune - hardly the qualities of a prime suspect in a series of shocking, merciless cyanide killings. Molineux's subsequent indictment for murder led to two explosive trials and a sex-infused scandal that shocked the nation. Bringing to life Manhattan's Gilded Age, Schechter captures all the colors of the tumultuous legal proceedings.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Book Without an Accompanying Wiki Page Is Always A Treat
- By Carolina on 02-27-17
By: Harold Schechter
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The Ballad of Frankie Silver
- By: Sharyn McCrumb
- Narrated by: Sharyn McCrumb
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
One hundred years after a woman is hanged, the search for justice reveals a story of simple faith, obsession, and murder. In 1832, an 18-year-old Frankie Silver was charged with murdering her young husband. In 1833, she became the first woman in the state of North Carolina to be hanged for murder. But was she guilty? More than 100 later, Tennessee sheriff Spencer Arrowood is determined to reveal the truth behind this unanswered question.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Engrossing story!
- By SandyJ on 08-30-19
By: Sharyn McCrumb
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A Death in Belmont
- By: Sebastian Junger
- Narrated by: Kevin Conway
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 464
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 226
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 222
In 1963, with the city of Boston already terrified by a series of savage crimes known as the Boston Stranglings, a murder occurred in Belmont, just a few blocks from the house of Sebastian Junger's family, a murder that seemed to fit exactly the pattern of the Strangler. Roy Smith, a black man who had cleaned the victim's house that day, was convicted, but the terror of the Strangler continued.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
- By Susanna on 01-13-15
By: Sebastian Junger
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The Woman They Could Not Silence
- One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear
- By: Kate Moore
- Narrated by: Kate Moore
- Length: 14 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,746
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,553
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,546
1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is facing her own battle. The enemy sits across the table and sleeps in the next room. Her husband of 21 years is plotting against her because he feels increasingly threatened - by Elizabeth’s intellect, independence, and unwillingness to stifle her own thoughts. So Theophilus makes a plan to put his wife back in her place. One summer morning, he has her committed to an insane asylum.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Everyone should read this!
- By Lana S on 12-22-21
By: Kate Moore
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Dead Certain
- A Novel
- By: Adam Mitzner
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,653
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,384
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Story4 out of 5 stars 2,383
Ella Broden is living a double life. By day, Ella works as a buttoned-up attorney on some of the city's most grueling cases. By night, she pursues her passion for singing in the darkest clubs of Manhattan. No one knows her secret, not even Charlotte, the younger sister she practically raised. But it seems she's not the only one in the family with something to hide. When Charlotte announces she's sold her first novel, Ella couldn't be more thrilled...until she gets a call that her sister's gone missing.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Mixed Review
- By Amazon Customer on 06-16-17
By: Adam Mitzner
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Love Me to Death
- The Chilling True Story of WIlliam “Wild Bill Cody” Neal—The Vicious Denver Lady-Killer
- By: Steve Jackson
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
William Neal, who called himself "Wild Bill Cody," was seductive and skillful at separating love-struck women from their money, and ultimately, their lives. Apprehended by police, Neal, who proclaimed himself “better than Ted Bundy,” pleaded guilty to three murders then insisted on representing himself at his death penalty trial. But the psychopathic killer found himself up against the incredible courage of his one surviving victim.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Disappointed
- By donald on 02-09-23
By: Steve Jackson
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Last Woman Hanged
- The Terrible True Story of Louisa Collins
- By: Caroline Overington
- Narrated by: Jennifer Vuletic
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
In January 1889, Louisa Collins, a 41-year-old mother of 10 children, became the first woman hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol and the last woman hanged in New South Wales. Both of Louisa's husbands had died suddenly and the Crown, convinced that Louisa poisoned them with arsenic, put her on trial an extraordinary four times in order to get a conviction, to the horror of many in the legal community. Louisa protested her innocence until the end.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enlightening, entertaining and exceptionally done
- By Karol Heim on 02-09-24
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The Want Ad Killer
- By: Ann Rule
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 426
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 396
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 391
After his first grisly crime, Harvey Louis Carignan beat a death sentence and continued to manipulate, rape, and bludgeon women to death - using want ads to lure his young female victims. And time after time, justice was thwarted by a killer whose twisted legal genius was matched only by his sick savagery. Here, complete with the testimony of women who suffered his unspeakable sexual abuses and barely escaped with their lives and of the police who at last put him behind bars, is one of the most shattering and thought-provoking true-crime stories of our time.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Paul Booooomer
- By Murder Fancier on 04-08-17
By: Ann Rule
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Conviction
- The Murder Trial That Powered Thurgood Marshall's Fight for Civil Rights
- By: Denver Nicks, John Nicks
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 111
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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Story5 out of 5 stars 93
On New Year's Eve, 1939, a horrific triple murder occurred in rural Oklahoma. Within a matter of days, investigators identified several suspects: convicts who had been at a craps game with one of the victims the night before. Also at the craps game was a young black farmer named W. D. Lyons. Political pressure mounted to find a villain. The governor's representative settled on Lyons, who was arrested, tortured into signing a confession, and tried for the murder. The NAACP's new Legal Defense and Education Fund sent its young chief counsel, Thurgood Marshall, to take part in the trial.
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5 out of 5 stars
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What a piece of history 💕
- By Private on 01-12-21
By: Denver Nicks, and others
What listeners say about Three Sisters in Black
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 06-23-19
Bizarre case
This was enjoyable for the subject matter. If you don't like true crime or are just dipping your toe in, you might not like this. It was certainly a strange case.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Marsha L. Woerner
- 01-17-24
Frustrating event
(As posted in Goodreads)
A complex and constantly changing story. Due to the facts consistently changing and being added to, it's really difficult to come up with a true conclusion to what actually happened.
Seeing the officials and lawyers going through back bends and contusions to actually discover the true realities of the case was both frustrating and encouraging.
The whole case is less than satisfying, but that's what reality is.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ashley Floyd
- 09-28-20
part of my hometown's histoy
everyone should have a good urban legend in their hometown. this was ours in Christiansburg, Virginia
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- mona berrier
- 07-20-22
Fascinating
A very peculiar story with lots of intrigue. I would love to see it made into a movie. It would probably be as fascinating as Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Debbra J. Beckman
- 11-08-22
Details. Details
Too many details. Reads like a legal document. Story COULD be interesting.. I'm disappointed, because I love a good mystery.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Diana Huffer
- 01-18-23
Not my cup of tea...
I don't normally read nonfiction and I struggled to finish. I still don't understand it. I had difficulty following it but expected it to end just as it did. I won't be revisiting it.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- SEVEN
- 06-19-19
Dry.
Do not enjoy the readers voice at all,would not recommend to anyone!Read the book yourself.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- TARA
- 05-15-20
Should be a shorter book
The story was too long and drawn out and could have been told in a couple of hours at most.
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