Fetch the Devil 364.152 Ric

In 1938 Hazel Frome and her 23-year-old daughter, Nancy, took a road trip across Texas. The women never reached their destination and were later found dead in the Sierra Diablo desert - apparently victims of a robbery gone wrong.

At least that's what everyone assumed until certain facts came to life.  Such as ....

• The women had been tortured but were not sexually assaulted or robbed.

• While stranded in El Paso for a few days awaiting minor car repairs, a mysterious envelope was delivered to them. The contents are unknown but they caused the women to rush out of town.

•  Hazel was the wife of a high-level executive of a San Fransisco explosives company - a fact she was not shy about telling everyone she met.

• Several known Nazi spies and con men were operating in the area.

• In 1938 the Nazis were very interested in Mr. Frome's explosives company.  In fact, they were quite eager to find a way to get to him.

The case was botched from the beginning. The crime scene was trampled by gawkers and a mysterious stranger assisted the coroner. Law enforcement agencies fought for jurisdiction, refused to cooperate or share evidence.  Eventually the case went cold and the Texas Rangers - who having won the fight to have control of the physical case files decided to shred them.

Seventy-five years later journalist Clint Richmond gathered what evidence remained, investigated old leads, and published his conclusions in the new nonfiction book Fetch the Devil: The Sierra Diablo Murders and Nazi Espionage in America.

If you like meticulous true crime nonfiction, this is a top-notch book.  Richmond investigates each angle thoroughly (in some cases to an exhaustive length, dragging down the narrative).  However, he's greatly hampered by the fact that the investigators and witnesses have now died and the complete set of files were destroyed.  While his conclusion makes sense given the evidence he puts forth, it stretches thin in some places.  

Read it yourself and comment below on this blog with your conclusions.  You can find Fetch the Devil in the adult nonfiction section under 364.152 Ric.