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Loading... Murder in the family: how the search to my mother's killer let to my fatherby Jeff Blackstock
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  overlycriticalelisa | Feb 4, 2023 |   This is a great, intriguing and disturbing read by the eldest child of George and Carol Blackstock. When Jeff and his siblings Doug and Julie were young, their mother died suddenly and unexpectedly while the family was on a diplomatic posting in Argentina. As the children age, they become increasingly suspicious that their mother was murdered....by their father. As adults, Jeff and his sister Julie, investigate their mother's death by visiting doctors, friends, and going through their maternal grandparents' and their father's papers. They come to the conclusion that their father literally got away with murder. At the end of the book, the author says "I hope only that this book will speak, however belatedly and inadequately, of my love for her, and of the love she inspired in my sister, Julie, and my brother, Doug, and that its publication will fill a decades-old void by bearing witness to the beauty and tragedy of our mother's life." The book is well written and, I think, more than fair in the treatment of his father. A fascinating look at a family dealing with a terrible crime. (  ) LynnB | Oct 28, 2022 | While doctors in Montreal at first could not figure out what she had died of, they quickly suspect toxic poisoning and her husband was the prime suspect. It is thought that the government officials especially in the foreign affairs department did not wish to risk a scandal and the case was never pursued. Carol's parents kept asking questions for years without too much success and eventually they passed on their suspicions to their granddaughter, Julie, that her father had killed her mother. Julie told her brother Jeff and the search for evidence was on. It took years of searching and even interviews with their father that led to the three children concluding that their father killed their mother. To be sure their mother's story was told, Jeff decided to write this book. It contains great detail on the children's' lives, their father's career and the pain and suffering of their mother suffered during the illness and describes how friends and relatives who were abused by their father during his lifetime. This is a fascinating read done in a very entertaining fashion. ( )1  lamour | Oct 22, 2020 | no reviews | add a review
"Diplomat father. Murdered mother. Emotionally neglected children. An elaborate cover-up. Family dinners will never be the same. "I think that my father murdered my mother." That is the nagging suspicion that has haunted Jeff Blackstock, a retired Canadian diplomat, for years. Blackstock's father, George, was also a diplomat, posted in Buenos Aires in the 1950s with his wife Carol and their three children. Blackstock's parents had been married when Carole Gray was only 15 and George Blackstock 17--forced to wed when she became pregnant. He was an upper class scion and she a high school dropout from modest beginnings. Nine years later, she died at 24 from a mysterious illness never fully explained to her bereft children. In fact, her cause of death was kept secret for decades--until an autopsy report revealed that Carole had died of arsenic poisoning. Six months after Carole's death, George Blackstock brought a woman named Ingrid to meet his children and married her three months later. Carole's parents had kept the autopsy report but had been unable to get justice for their murdered daughter. Class privilege, power, and an aversion to scandal all figured in the apparent cover-up, both official and unofficial. But secrets have a way of eventually disrupting all families. When their maternal grandmother dies, Blackstock's sister discovers the damning autopsy report among the effects. Together, Jeff and his sister confront their father, who is mostly silent and evasive, offering vague explanations that don't add up. His career had plateaued, and his marriage to Ingrid eventually failed. George died a broken man, mostly abandoned by his adult children, who have been left to deal with a shocking legacy. A compelling story of a high society murder, a heartbreaking tale of emotionally neglected children, and an inquiry into the power and privilege of the Anglo upper classes of the time, Murder in the Family confronts the repercussions of deeply buried secrets and betrayal in one's own family."-- No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)364.152Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Criminology Crimes and Offenses Offenses against persons HomicideRatingAverage: (3.5)
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Wikipedia in English
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interesting, for sure. (