A Murder in My Hometown

By: Rebecca Morris

Narrated by: Lee Ann Howlett

On a fall evening in Corvallis, Oregon, in 1967, 17-year-old Dick Kitchel, a senior at the high school, disappeared after attending a party. Ten days later, his body was spotted by two children as it floated down the Willamette River. He had been beaten and strangled.

The investigation into his murder played out during one of the most dramatic years in America. Life in Corvallis, a college town, had offered a protective, idyllic life to many. But in 1967 to '68, Vietnam, a presidential campaign, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, and the murder of Dick Kitchel changed that.

His friends thought his death was ignored because Dick was from the wrong side of the tracks. Police and the district attorney thought they knew who had murdered the boy but never made an arrest. Decades later, a cold-case detective believed he, too, had solved the case. However, once again, justice was elusive.

Now, nearly 50 years later, a classmate, New York Times best-selling author Rebecca Morris, returns to her hometown to write about how the murder changed the town and the lives of Dick Kitchel's friends.

©2018 WildBlue Press (P)2018 WildBlue Press

Good!

Well narrated true crime! Highly recommend!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. The fact that I was gifted this book had no influence over my opinion of it.

Dead in the Water

I enjoyed learning about Dick Kitchel, but felt really sorry for him. Based on the story that was told he seemed more like an outcast and a burden to his family, with his constant fighting with his dad and having to compete with several different sets of step-parents...it seems to me that he might have been trying to get attention, since it sounds like it was lacking in his home environment and while trying to get the attention he needed, caused him not to be such a nice guy. Heck, even the author could not just share the story of this young man, without incorporating her own life and her own issues in the story. If you are doing a story on an individual and their death, then that is what the story needs to be about-not your personal life, parents, eating habits, being a widow multiple times, etc. It really took away from what I thought the true meaning behind writing the book was supposed to be.



This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom

Can't decide if it's memoir, history or true crime

This book is difficult to categorize. It's part memoir, part history, and part true crime. It jumps among these genres in a disorganized jumble of seemingly unrelated details. The story lacks cohesiveness. I learned some interesting facts, but did not find the story all that interesting as a whole.

Lee Ann Howlett performed well, although the material did not give her much opportunity to demonstrate her talents.

NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Hometown Revisited

A Murder in My Hometown
: Rebecca Morris

A true life crime story from 1967. At first I was wondering why the author took off on tangents that had nothing to do with the case. After thinking about it, I assume she was telling us that life moves on. Not my favorite in this genre, but not the worst.



The narration was well done. Lee Ann Howlett give a nice performance.



I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Intriguing True Crime

I wasn't in the Pacific NW in the late 60's, I was still down south with my parents, being a baby ;) .

I now live in Clark County, WA, a couple dozen miles north of Portland, Oregon, so I now know the area fairly well.
I hadn't heard of this story, and it's so sad and shocking to hear of something like this happening. But, as we know, this kind of thing has happened since the beginning of time. As much as we want the world to be filled with only good, it just keeps going more and more to the dark side.

A lot of other big news was happening in 1967 & 68, and for this to be at the top of the news speaks volumes.
Enjoyed both writing and narration, I think it's a great true crime book :)

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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This book was all over the place

Sorry just could not get into this book. To me it actually sounded like a bunch of rambling instead of a true crime book.