Review: The Mysterious Murder of Martha Moxley: Did the Political and Financial Power of the Kennedy/Skakel Families Trump the Truth? by Joe Bruno

Title: The Mysterious Murder of Martha Moxley: Did the Political and Financial Power of the Kennedy/Skakel Families Trump the Truth?
Author: Joe Bruno
Publisher: Knickerbocker Publishing
Publication Date: August 6, 2016
Edition: Kindle (390 pages)
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• True Crime

My Rating: 2 of 5 stars

On the night of October 30, 1975, fifteen-year-old Martha Moxley was brutally murdered, on her own property, as she was returning home from her neighbor's home, after spending time with friends. Her body was discovered the next afternoon. Thus began a murder investigation that would last for decades, and is still not fully resolved. Joe Bruno details this investigation from beginning until 2016, when he published this book. The chronology and detail are impressive, as is the depth of this investigative work.

So, you might ask why, having said this, I only rate this book 2 stars? The answer is somewhat complex. Let me say that I have been following Martha Moxley's murder case since I first heard about it in 1975. For a reason not totally clear to me, this case has been a part of my consciousness since the first moment I became aware of it. Perhaps because Martha and I are not that far apart in age, and because we lived in so-called "safe" communities, I've felt an affinity with her. I have read several books about Martha's case, and each year around October 30, I reread Mark Fuhrman's book, "Murder in Greenwich: Who Killed Martha Moxley." This book provided me with a few details I had not previously known, and the scope or it was full and complete. However, I felt the effect was minimized by the author's often repeated editorial comments about the Skakel and Kennedy families--referring to them as "filthy rich" and other derogatory terms, including a reference to Senator Ted Kennedy making love to his drink. These editorial comments, in my view, took the focus away from Martha's case and was most off-putting to me. To be clear, I do not disagree with Mr. Bruno's premise, that money and power served to delay and derail the progress of the investigation and ultimately justice for Martha Moxley, time and time again. But the facts of the case speak, eloquently, for themselves, and yet I was left thinking more about editorial comments than the facts.