Sebastian Junger revives a hometown murder mystery
Junger reads from A Death in Belmont on June 13
Sebastian Junger has written about a fishing tragedy in Gloucester and a war in Afghanistan, but for his most recent book, he turned to his hometown of Belmont, Mass.
A Death in Belmont examines the 1963 murder of Bessie Goldberg and the black handyman, Roy Smith, who was convicted of the crime — despite the fact that Albert DeSalvo, who eventually confessed to being the infamous Boston Strangler, was doing carpentry in the area on the day of the murder. He was, in fact, working at the Junger house.
“It was a family story that I was curious about,” says Junger, who will read from the book at the Barnes & Noble at Boston University bookstore on Tuesday, June 13, “and it was an example of how the justice system works. I grew up hearing about DeSalvo, and I decided to write about it because I was always curious what the real truth of the matter was.”
Junger is best known for 1997’s The Perfect Storm, which re-created the sinking of the Gloucester fishing boat Andrea Gail, and has also published Fire, a collection of magazine articles on topics ranging from forest fires in the United States to the diamond trade in Sierra Leone to guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan.
His latest book explores both the personal and the political, raising questions about what role Smith’s race played in his conviction and also recounting DeSalvo’s connection to Junger’s family — his mother was at times alone in the house with DeSalvo, who later admitted to 13 murders. A family photo, including the author as an infant, shows DeSalvo posing with Junger’s parents.
While A Death in Belmont technically brought Junger closer to home, he says, “journalism is the same process, whether it’s in Belmont or Afghanistan.” He notes that in this particular case, however, the murder was no longer “freighted with political baggage, because everyone was dead.”
Junger will read from A Death in Belmont on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Kenmore Square bookstore, 660 Beacon St.