Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
Full of political intrigue and forensic details, Finding Chandra is the true-crime story of events leading up to the murder of Chandra Levy and the botched investigation that followed. Each chapter focuses on a different person, providing personal histories and motivations, then explaining how he or she fits into the bigger picture. We learn of Chandra’s interest in older men, Gary Condit’s meteoric rise to power, and similar attacks on other women that weren’t connected until it was much too late. A fascinating read reminiscent of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. My take on this is that it's really easy to laugh at the mistakes made by journalists after the fact. In this case, Chandra Levy went missing a few days before she was scheduled to move from Washington D.C. to her family home in California. She was an intern with the Justice Dpartment and when it came out that she was having an affair with her Congressman, everyone assumed he had something to do with her disappearance. The authors' view is that the media just jumped on the obvious answer and made this poor man's life a living hell without enough justifiable cause. My other complaint is that at the time of the book's publication, the accused murderer hadn't even gone to trial yet, and there was no real closure to the story.
What do You think about Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery (2010)?
such a tragic story of a botched investigation filled with deceit and utter incompetence.
—tnzwelk
