Bluegrass

October 13, 2008
In 2003, college student Katie Autry was brutally raped, stabbed and set on fire in her dorm room at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky. Returning to his hometown, journalist Van Meter explores Autry's murder, and the subsequent investigation and trial. But his scattershot approach leaves the account as full of holes as the suspects' alibis. Authorities tracked down several people who'd been at a fraternity party Autry had attended before focusing on Stephen Soules, a high school dropout who at first said he'd had consensual sex with the drunken girl in her dorm. But Soules blamed the murder on Luke Goodrum, a 21-year-old with a history of domestic violence. Despite mounting evidence implicating Soules, Goodrum was tried for the crime, while Soules—who now claimed Goodrum forced him to rape Autry—agreed to testify in exchange for life in prison, thus avoiding a capital trial. Instead of exploring the glaring legal errors that ran rampant during the investigation and Goodrum's trial, Van Meter instead cobbles together a melodramatic narrative that doesn't do Autry's tragic death justice.

March 2, 2009
Verdict: Journalist Van Meter's prose is serviceable at best, but the story he tells about a tragic crime and a bungled prosecution makes the book compulsively readable. Essential for regional libraries and a good choice for most public libraries. Background: On May 4, 2003, Katie Autry, a student at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, was savagely raped, stabbed, and set on fire. Investigators eventually drew a confession from Stephen Soules, who later claimed he had been forced to rape and murder Autry by Lucas Goodrum, a drug dealer acquaintance. Goodrum's trial for capital murder, solely on the word of Soules-the only suspect whose DNA was actually found at the scene-proved to be a gross miscarriage of justice.-Deirdre Bray Root, Middletown P.L., OH

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2008
The murder of Katie Autry would seem to have it all, true-crime-wise. Attractive coed is raped and killed in her dorm room, and her corpse set afire. Authorities quickly determine she was at a frat party the night before, so the always-enjoyable drunken witnesses and suspects come into play. Then DNA evidence points to a high-school dropout who claims to have had consensual sex with her but later contends to have been forced to rape her by a pal he also fingers for the murder. Oddly, the coppers believe him. Unfortunately, Van Meters disorganized chronicle dissipates much of the excitement and prosecutorial glee one might expect. What could be a scathing look at a prosecution gone awfully wrong turns into a weepy narrative with more to say about the quaint college-town setting than the carnival of investigative and prosecutorial missteps that would seem to be the real story here. Imperfect though it is, Bluegrass should still satisfy dyed-in-the-wool true-crime fans, if not much of anyone new to the genre.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)