Fetch the Devil

March 31, 2014
Former newspaper reporter Richmond (The Good Wife) uses recently declassified FBI files and other sources to revisit “the biggest unsolved mystery in the Southwest”: the 1938 abduction, torture, and murder of Hazel and Nancy Frome, the wife and daughter of a Bay Area munitions company executive, who disappeared near El Paso, Tex., during a cross-country car trip. Despite painstaking efforts by the El Paso sheriff, Chris Fox, the culprits were never found and the authorities couldn’t determine a motive. Richmond relates “Pop” Frome’s affair with a Hollywood showgirl; the activities of a con artist and Russian fascist, Romano Trotsky; and, most importantly, the role of Nazi spies based in San Francisco and spreading into the American southwest, including one disguised as an El Paso doctor. After discussing the Fromes, the significance of the munitions company, circumstances of the murder, and modus operandi of the spy network, Richmond offers a plausible theory of why the Fromes were killed. He provides ample “atmospherics” of the era, such as the cost of a Packard car, and what the Fromes might have listened to on the radio during their trip. The result makes for a well-paced, engrossing true crime story. B&w photos. Agent: John Talbot, John Talbot Agency.

July 1, 2014

Richmond (The Good Wife; coauthor, Red Star Rogue) brings to light the unsolved investigation into the brutal torture and murder of a California executive's wife and daughter in rural Texas in 1938. Richmond's theories about this intriguing and complicated case are based on the files of El Paso sheriff Chris Fox's exhaustive investigation into the crime, which he worked on even after being taken off the case. This invaluable source, combined with many other resources, helps Richmond to effectively solve the crime and walk readers through piecing together the numerous facts and people overlooked at the time of the killings. The inclusion of Nazi spies in the murder plot makes this nonfiction book read like a fast-paced novel. VERDICT Well written and well documented, this is a fascinating glimpse into pre-World War II espionage and the limits of 1940s law enforcement. Recommended for mystery lovers, true crime fans, Texas history buffs, and those who enjoy World War II spy books.--Amelia Osterud, Carroll Univ. Lib., Waukesha, WI

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2014
The most shocking conclusion to come from the autopsies of the mother and daughter found brutally murdered in Texas in 1938, after their car trip alone was mysteriously interrupted, was that they had been missing for four days but dead for only two. Someone had not just murdered Hazel Frome and her 23-year-old daughter, Nancy, but tortured them first. But who? Richmond, delving deeply into an extremely cold case, has found evidence that Nazi agents, believing these women held information about Atlas Powder Company, a San Francisco explosives manufacturing firm, targeted and stopped the women, interrogated them brutally, and then left their bodies in the desert. Richmond uses recently declassified FBI files to, if not solve the case, point a finger at an international Nazi spy ring operating in the U.S. and the fact that the Roosevelt administration was aware that American industry was being spied upon. This is a detailed portrait of two independent women's demise, a dogged but thwarted investigation, and the prewar infiltration of U.S. industry by a ring of German spies.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)