A Death at Crooked Creek

Book 22 of my 2018 Reading Challenge

**I received an electronic copy of this book via NetGalley and would like the thank the author and/or publisher for the opportunity to read and honestly review it**

A Death at Crooked Creek: The Case of the Cowboy, the Cigarmaker, and the Love Letter by Marianne Wesson 

Summary (via Goodreads)
One winter night in 1879, at a lonely Kansas campsite near Crooked Creek, a man was shot to death. The dead man's traveling companion identified him as John Hillmon, a cowboy from Lawrence who had been attempting to carve out a life on the blustery prairie. The case might have been soon forgotten and the apparent widow, Sallie Hillmon, left to mourn--except for the $25,000 life insurance policies Hillmon had taken out shortly before his departure. The insurance companies refused to pay on the policies, claiming that the dead man was not John Hillmon, and Sallie was forced to take them to court in a case that would reach the Supreme Court twice. The companies' case rested on a crucial piece of evidence: a faded love letter written by a disappeared cigarmaker, declaring his intent to travel westward with a "man named Hillmon." 
In A Death at Crooked Creek, Marianne Wesson re-examines the long-neglected evidence in the case of the Kansas cowboy and his wife, recreating the court scenes that led to a significant Supreme Court ruling on the admissibility of hearsay evidence. Wesson employs modern forensic methods to examine the body of the dead man, attempting to determine his true identity and finally put this fascinating mystery to rest. This engaging and vividly imagined work combines the drama, intrigue, and emotion of excellent storytelling with cutting-edge forensic investigation techniques and legal theory. Wesson's superbly imagined A Death at Crooked Creek will have general readers, history buffs, and legal scholars alike wondering whether history, and the Justices, may have misunderstood altogether the events at that bleak winter campsite. 

My Opinion
I wasn't familiar with this case at all so it was all new to me.  As I was reading I was hoping there would be some sort of resolution or answers to at least some of the questions but was concerned there wouldn't be any payoff.  What I can say without spoilers is the book wasn't a waste of time.

It made me uncomfortable that they could continue to try the same case and the number of trials everyone had to go through (didn't get the verdict you wanted?  try it again!) was crazy.  It was definitely an improvement to the justice system to add the laws about "double jeopardy".

The author also has a website dedicated to this case with more photos and details that I plan to explore.