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Sign up todayBoston Tabloid
The Killing of Robin Benedict
Narrator
Patrick Lawlor
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Length
10 hours 13 minutes
Language
English
The disappearance of a twenty-one-year-old woman from a Massachusetts suburb became one of the most discussed crimes of the twentieth century.
The discussion intensified when the public learned that Robin Benedict worked as a prostitute in Boston’s notorious red-light district, the “Combat Zone,” and was linked by a trail of blood to a famous professor from Tufts University. When Robin Benedict vanished, the investigation and media circus that gripped the city of Boston hadn’t been seen since the days of the Boston Strangler case.
On a Sunday morning in March 1983, a small-time pimp walked into a police station and claimed his girlfriend was missing. He said she had been on her way to visit a client named William Douglas. In the year that followed, the case drew in detectives, state troopers, scores of journalists, and even psychics. But Robin was never found.
Boston Tabloid reconstructs a grisly murder and explores one man’s bizarre obsession. In revisiting this legendary crime, Don Stradley consulted journalists involved in the media frenzy, prison authorities, arresting officers, and psychiatrists, all in an effort to unravel a most tangled story.
Why was the city, and the nation, swept up in this sordid tale? It remains a grim and fascinating moment in Boston’s history.
Don Stradley is the author of several books of nonfiction, including The War: Hagler-Hearns and Three Rounds for the Ages, named one of The Progressive magazine’s Favorite of Books 2021, and Slaughter in the Streets: When Boston Became Boxing’s Murder Capital, named by CrimeReads in 2020 as one of the Classics of Boxing Literature. His work has also appeared in The Ring, Cinema Retro, and on ESPN.com
Patrick Lawlor is an accomplished audiobook narrator, stage actor, director, and combat choreographer. The recipient of an AudioFile Earphones Award, he was also a finalist for an Audie Award.
Reviews
“Boston Tabloid is everything a top-notch true-crime book should be and more.”
“In captivating prose that may just keep you up at night…Stradley exposes Boston’s seedy history in a way that reimagines true crime and contemporary American history.”
“Stradley’s restraint and interest in getting details right combine to elevate true crime writing to a level that turns it into something brand new.”
“Recounts the sordid but undeniably fascinating case…and how the shifting tides of public perception in the 1980s could turn a perpetrator into a victim.”
“An exceptionally well written, organized and presented study of a notorious homicide and the mysteries that surrounded it…A riveting read from cover to cover."
“This thorough book includes some recent interviews, including a 2021 conversation with the state trooper first assigned to the case, and…is just one of the ways that Stradley weaves engrossing new details and dimensions into this account of a rather well-known true-crime story…The author convincingly argues that this event gave rise to the modern tabloid era.”
“With a brisk, newsreel-like manner, Patrick Lawlor delivers Stradley’s meticulous research…He judiciously uses tone, volume, pacing, and well-timed pauses to build each person’s voice.”
“This case was the subject of the 1986 television movie The High Price of Passion and Teresa Carpenter’s late ‘80s book, Missing Beauty. Well-researched and a page turner, this book fills in the void since those works…Ideal for true crime collections, especially for libraries in the New England region.”
“A true page-turner, it brings the reality of Boston’s underbelly to the forefront for perhaps the first time.”
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