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Closing Time: The True Story of the "Goodbar" Murder
The true story of the 1973 murder of Roseann Quinn (Katherine Cleary in the book) in New York City.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
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December 24, 2020
4 Stars!
February 12, 2010
FINAL:
HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!: A deeply moving crime book, which turns out largely to be about the killer; and it's amazing how the perpetrator of such a savage crime can gain reader sympathy, but Fosburgh goes deep into his life story, life's loser who finally erupts at the last straw. The final line packs an incredible wallop and is full of multiple irony. It is the last word of a dead man, and it bespeaks another incredible failure. This was a page turner, meticulously and superbly told and a great read.
----
(EARLIER COMMENT)
I read Judith Rossner's beautiful fictionalization of this murder case a few months back, "Looking for Mr. Goodbar," (and saw the film some years ago; sufficiently disturbed by the experience) and was curious about the real case. Rossner in her novel attempted to enter the mind and world of the woman, to understand her, to delve into her motivations, conflicts, desires. The quiet, dedicated, upstanding school teacher who did everything right by day, paid her bills and taxes and stayed out of people's way; who by night hit bars looking for one-night-stand noncommittal sex. Fosburgh, for her part, admits she didn't learn as much about her real protagonist, Katherine Cleary, because the family would not cooperate and grant interviews. This book is half about the murderer, Joe Willie Simpson, and half about Cleary. In the novel and film, the killer more or less comes out of nowhere and is an ill-defined monster (though Rossner does to a small degree attempt a rationale for the killer's rage; he was set off by aspersions about his manhood; his sexuality ambiguous). Fosburgh digs deeply into Simpson's life, finding out how a good boy turned bad. How he attempted to escape from phantom physical and mental illnesses and a repressive Midwestern upbringing to see America and be independent, a path that led him to peddle his handsome ass on 42nd street -- to many willing buyers. He was a hustler and con man, but largely not seen as a bad person; a survivor, but one storing up unexpressed rage. The night of the killing brought it to the fore with a vengeance. Cleary's own insecurities often led her to joke sarcastically with people about things they didn't find funny (Diane Keaton captured this well in the film). This is no excuse for murder, but one does need to watch what one says to a psycho, especially a total stranger brought home for a one-night stand. Simpson was heterosexual, apparently, but found homosexuality lucrative and even enjoyable eventually. He took up with a sugar daddy of the Park Avenue set in NYC. Sexual confusion was part of his volatile mix. As recent high-profile mass shootings have shown, perceived slights or dissing by a particular class can turn perceived humiliation into rage.
This book reads like lightning. It is minutely detailed but not in a way that bogs you down in the minutiae. There was something about the way books were written in the '60s and '70s, especially nonfiction ones like this, that bespoke clarity. I'm beginning to appreciate the less pretentious and the simplicity and precision of the reportage as presented here.
A lot of it takes the form of a police procedural. Fosburgh modulates the time-shift structure and narrative very well--something at which a lot of historical writers falter. She goes back and forth in time; covering both the pasts of the victim and killer, the aftermath as the latter went into hiding, and the forward movement of the investigation; blending them and cutting back and forth effortlessly. We see the inexorable meeting of two people who just a day before the fatal meeting were thousands of miles from each, strangers destined to meet one cold New York City night; both from similar repressive backgrounds, both damaged parts of the American grain, both with desires and perceptions that clash. There's a moment of epiphany, a masterstroke of Fosburgh's, when she found out that Simpson as a child was chastised by a teacher and reassured by his mother, "teachers think they're better than everybody else anyway." A nugget that must have stayed in his disturbed mind until the fatal day. The book also is about class, social and intellectual differences that breed conflict, sometimes even in the so-called melting pot, where the boil can explode into a thousand murders a year.
Fosburgh and Rossner converge a bit at points, especially in the matter of Cleary's childhood scoliosis, and the effect it had on her psyche and self image and her abandonment of the comforts of religion; the seeking of comfort in pleasure. Another motivator was Cleary's own attempt to realize her potential as a woman, free of traditional domestic and marital expectations. Fosburgh does show novelistic tendencies often; getting into her subject's head, having her railing at God for her plight and so on, with internal monologues. Fosburgh does advise us at the beginning that this an "interpretive biography." It's no surprise then that Capote praised this book.
HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!: A deeply moving crime book, which turns out largely to be about the killer; and it's amazing how the perpetrator of such a savage crime can gain reader sympathy, but Fosburgh goes deep into his life story, life's loser who finally erupts at the last straw. The final line packs an incredible wallop and is full of multiple irony. It is the last word of a dead man, and it bespeaks another incredible failure. This was a page turner, meticulously and superbly told and a great read.
----
(EARLIER COMMENT)
I read Judith Rossner's beautiful fictionalization of this murder case a few months back, "Looking for Mr. Goodbar," (and saw the film some years ago; sufficiently disturbed by the experience) and was curious about the real case. Rossner in her novel attempted to enter the mind and world of the woman, to understand her, to delve into her motivations, conflicts, desires. The quiet, dedicated, upstanding school teacher who did everything right by day, paid her bills and taxes and stayed out of people's way; who by night hit bars looking for one-night-stand noncommittal sex. Fosburgh, for her part, admits she didn't learn as much about her real protagonist, Katherine Cleary, because the family would not cooperate and grant interviews. This book is half about the murderer, Joe Willie Simpson, and half about Cleary. In the novel and film, the killer more or less comes out of nowhere and is an ill-defined monster (though Rossner does to a small degree attempt a rationale for the killer's rage; he was set off by aspersions about his manhood; his sexuality ambiguous). Fosburgh digs deeply into Simpson's life, finding out how a good boy turned bad. How he attempted to escape from phantom physical and mental illnesses and a repressive Midwestern upbringing to see America and be independent, a path that led him to peddle his handsome ass on 42nd street -- to many willing buyers. He was a hustler and con man, but largely not seen as a bad person; a survivor, but one storing up unexpressed rage. The night of the killing brought it to the fore with a vengeance. Cleary's own insecurities often led her to joke sarcastically with people about things they didn't find funny (Diane Keaton captured this well in the film). This is no excuse for murder, but one does need to watch what one says to a psycho, especially a total stranger brought home for a one-night stand. Simpson was heterosexual, apparently, but found homosexuality lucrative and even enjoyable eventually. He took up with a sugar daddy of the Park Avenue set in NYC. Sexual confusion was part of his volatile mix. As recent high-profile mass shootings have shown, perceived slights or dissing by a particular class can turn perceived humiliation into rage.
This book reads like lightning. It is minutely detailed but not in a way that bogs you down in the minutiae. There was something about the way books were written in the '60s and '70s, especially nonfiction ones like this, that bespoke clarity. I'm beginning to appreciate the less pretentious and the simplicity and precision of the reportage as presented here.
A lot of it takes the form of a police procedural. Fosburgh modulates the time-shift structure and narrative very well--something at which a lot of historical writers falter. She goes back and forth in time; covering both the pasts of the victim and killer, the aftermath as the latter went into hiding, and the forward movement of the investigation; blending them and cutting back and forth effortlessly. We see the inexorable meeting of two people who just a day before the fatal meeting were thousands of miles from each, strangers destined to meet one cold New York City night; both from similar repressive backgrounds, both damaged parts of the American grain, both with desires and perceptions that clash. There's a moment of epiphany, a masterstroke of Fosburgh's, when she found out that Simpson as a child was chastised by a teacher and reassured by his mother, "teachers think they're better than everybody else anyway." A nugget that must have stayed in his disturbed mind until the fatal day. The book also is about class, social and intellectual differences that breed conflict, sometimes even in the so-called melting pot, where the boil can explode into a thousand murders a year.
Fosburgh and Rossner converge a bit at points, especially in the matter of Cleary's childhood scoliosis, and the effect it had on her psyche and self image and her abandonment of the comforts of religion; the seeking of comfort in pleasure. Another motivator was Cleary's own attempt to realize her potential as a woman, free of traditional domestic and marital expectations. Fosburgh does show novelistic tendencies often; getting into her subject's head, having her railing at God for her plight and so on, with internal monologues. Fosburgh does advise us at the beginning that this an "interpretive biography." It's no surprise then that Capote praised this book.
March 21, 2022
Fictionalised account of the very real murder of young teacher, Roseanne Quinn, by John Wayne Wilson in New York in 1973. The story - also the inspiration for the movie, Looking For Mr Goodbar - is pretty interesting, though harrowing, definitely not for the faint of heart. It made me sad, a chance meeting between two very lost, damaged people, both looking for something they could never seem to find, then tragedy following quickly on behind.
October 15, 2016
In 1975, Judith Rossner released a fictionalized account of a 1973 murder called LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR. This, in turn, spawned a 1977 movie of the same name. I have strong memories of sitting in the theater at the end of the movie and hearing the chorus of "Boo" coming from the male attendees, most of whom probably realized that their choice of a "date night flick" with a chance to see popular Diane Keaton naked had not only ended badly, but had effectively squelched any passionate desires in their companions.
The Rossner novel kept many of the crime's facts, but was fictionalized because so much of the details leading up to the murder were unknown. It is natural for people to want to "fill in the gaps" in a story, so motivations were provided. Although I am guessing she didn't know it, her analysis was accurate in many ways.
The true crime book by Lacey Fosburgh picks up where the movie ends, with the discovery of the body and the investigation into the murder. The writer was a newspaper journalist and uncovered more resources for additional details. There were still significant gaps, however, so the writer chose an IN COLD BLOOD approach ... keeping to the facts that were known while adding dialogue and thoughts for the "characters" involved.
The result is an engrossing tale. Essentially, we have two people with very deep emotional and psychological scars who chance to meet in a bar over the New Year holiday with a result that effectively ends both of their lives.
Using the James Patterson format of many very short chapters ... one of which is one sentence long ... the writer propels the story forward. Details of past events appear to reinforce impressions and provide motivations. By the end, we have a full picture of the tragedy and a sense of closure. Most of all, the reader learns this is much more than a titillating story of a woman who balanced two lives ... that of a prim and proper schoolteacher who liked dangerous men and rough sex. It is the story of people who could not find the help they needed to save themselves.
By the way, there is no mention in this book as to the relevance of "Mr. Goodbar." According to Wikipedia, Judith Rossner's account did have a candy bar theme, but Goodbar was also the fictionalized name of the local pub where the killer and victim met.
As a true crime book, this is one of the better ones.
The Rossner novel kept many of the crime's facts, but was fictionalized because so much of the details leading up to the murder were unknown. It is natural for people to want to "fill in the gaps" in a story, so motivations were provided. Although I am guessing she didn't know it, her analysis was accurate in many ways.
The true crime book by Lacey Fosburgh picks up where the movie ends, with the discovery of the body and the investigation into the murder. The writer was a newspaper journalist and uncovered more resources for additional details. There were still significant gaps, however, so the writer chose an IN COLD BLOOD approach ... keeping to the facts that were known while adding dialogue and thoughts for the "characters" involved.
The result is an engrossing tale. Essentially, we have two people with very deep emotional and psychological scars who chance to meet in a bar over the New Year holiday with a result that effectively ends both of their lives.
Using the James Patterson format of many very short chapters ... one of which is one sentence long ... the writer propels the story forward. Details of past events appear to reinforce impressions and provide motivations. By the end, we have a full picture of the tragedy and a sense of closure. Most of all, the reader learns this is much more than a titillating story of a woman who balanced two lives ... that of a prim and proper schoolteacher who liked dangerous men and rough sex. It is the story of people who could not find the help they needed to save themselves.
By the way, there is no mention in this book as to the relevance of "Mr. Goodbar." According to Wikipedia, Judith Rossner's account did have a candy bar theme, but Goodbar was also the fictionalized name of the local pub where the killer and victim met.
As a true crime book, this is one of the better ones.
February 25, 2017
Roseann Quinn was a 28-year-old teacher of deaf children in New York City. Friendly and easygoing, she was a popular teacher and had a large, diverse group of friends. Unfortunately, she also had a side that few people knew, even those closest to her - she would pick up men at bars and take them home. These men were often abusive to her. One neighbor heard screams coming from Quinn's apartment and intervened. She saw a man yelling obscenities flee the apartment, leaving behind a crying Quinn, who was disheveled and had a black eye. This dangerous taste in men finally proved fatal on January 1, 1973. Roseann Quinn picked up John Wayne Wilson and took him home. There was a disagreement and he stabbed her to death. Wilson fled to another state, but was eventually captured. This crime was the basis of Looking for Mr. Goodbar by Judith Rossner, which was itself the basis of the movie, "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" with Diane Keaton and Richard Gere in 1977. There's also an excellent TV movie about the hunt for John Wayne Wilson starring George Segal as the lead detective.
Lacey Fosburgh's account of the crime is considered a classic of the true crime genre, and was nominated for an Edgar Award. It's certainly the most definitive history of what happened, but there are some serious issues with this book. On a minor note, she changed the names of key players for no apparent reason. I can understand protecting the privacy of friends and relatives, but the names of Roseann Quinn and John Wayne Wilson were splashed across New York newspapers for months. Their identities were not secret, but Fosburgh changed their names to Katherine Cleary and Joe Willie Simpson anyway.
More importantly, though, Fosburgh fictionalized quite a bit of her account. Quinn's family refused to cooperate with her like Wilson's did, so she simply made up details to fill in the blanks. She excuses this in her foreword to the book:
You don't know what really happened and what is purely her imagination. The more I read, the more this bothered me. In Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker, everything is based on facts. This is what causes the book to pack such a punch - it's real horror, not fictional.
In the end, I didn't know what to believe in Fosburgh's account of the Roseann Quinn case.
Lacey Fosburgh's account of the crime is considered a classic of the true crime genre, and was nominated for an Edgar Award. It's certainly the most definitive history of what happened, but there are some serious issues with this book. On a minor note, she changed the names of key players for no apparent reason. I can understand protecting the privacy of friends and relatives, but the names of Roseann Quinn and John Wayne Wilson were splashed across New York newspapers for months. Their identities were not secret, but Fosburgh changed their names to Katherine Cleary and Joe Willie Simpson anyway.
More importantly, though, Fosburgh fictionalized quite a bit of her account. Quinn's family refused to cooperate with her like Wilson's did, so she simply made up details to fill in the blanks. She excuses this in her foreword to the book:
"Out of all this research and time and travel I have written what I call an interpretive biography.
******
In addition, a few times I have stepped in where full and accurate accounts do not exist and created scenes or dialogue I think it reasonable and fair to assume could have taken place, perhaps even did.
What I have done, then, is give myself the liberty to go beyond proven fact to probe the internal and private lives of the people involved in this story. That is why I call it an interpretive biography."
You don't know what really happened and what is purely her imagination. The more I read, the more this bothered me. In Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker, everything is based on facts. This is what causes the book to pack such a punch - it's real horror, not fictional.
In the end, I didn't know what to believe in Fosburgh's account of the Roseann Quinn case.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 6, 2016
Fascinating read. I really loved the writer's approach in telling this true-crime story. It really humanized the victim and her murderer. While there's no understanding why things like this happen, this book tried to give as much insight as possible. It was written in the 70s and has authentic details from that time period in New York. New York is a glitzier place now, but maybe the dark spaces are just hiding a little better.
February 27, 2019
So I don’t get why the names were changed - it’s called “The True Story of the ‘Looking for Mr. Goodbar’ Murder”, after all.
I ended up skimming most of the second half of the book - I found I cared little for the details about the killer, his upbringing or his pregnant wife. I was much more interested in Roseann Quinn.
I ended up skimming most of the second half of the book - I found I cared little for the details about the killer, his upbringing or his pregnant wife. I was much more interested in Roseann Quinn.
September 20, 2016
I'd heard vaguely that "Looking For Mr. Goodbar" was based on a true story, and here it is. It's a sad, rather mysterious story about a sad, mysterious woman -- the story raises more questions than it answers. Reading this made the title of the movie version 100 times more offensive than it was already.
May 1, 2019
All the names in the world to change names to and she chose Joe Willie. Drove me batty the whole time! Otherwise it was engaging.
December 18, 2024
I can see how this earned a glowing blurb from Truman Capote. It's very well, even beautifully written for true crime. The writer's style is so calm and clear that the book would almost be soothing if it wasn't also so dreadful. It's a very dark book about a single, but famous, sex murder that took place back in the 1970s in New York. It seems unusual in it's refusal to demonize the perpetrator (he was a lowlife who may not have been a lowlife if it wasn't for a suspected childhood head injury) or portray the victim as an exemplary human being. I felt that sometimes it took the latter too far, though. The victim (called Catherine in this account for some reason - her real name was Roseann) was 28 when she died and had normal young woman problems, working as a teacher of deaf children and living in a studio apartment on the upper west side. She had had scoliosis as a child and had minor deformities as a result which affected her self-esteem. In her downtime, she went to bars, slept around, and sometimes smoked pot. She had a lot of friends but was also moody and had a bad temper and was a little self-absorbed. She was of course, unmarried, and this would have been a bigger deal at the time. For this she is described as a "loser" by the author, and the book is set up as watching a random trainwreck resulting from the life trajectory of two "losers". I found this to be a pretty harsh assessment even if perhaps that was the way the victim thought of herself.
December 7, 2025
"They were just two people who should never have met.”
That is the truest line in this true crime book about the real life 1973 murder of Roseann Quinn in NYC, which inspired the novel Looking for Mr. Goodbar and a film of the same name. If you enjoy reading true crime I can definitely recommend this one, it is a fast paced, compelling, deeply sad story about the fatal coming together of two badly damaged people, who's meeting turned out to be the "perfect storm" in their already off the rails life.
The author advices us in the prologue that this book is what she calls an "interpretive biography", that is to say that "she has kept the facts of the case that were known, while adding dialogue and thoughts to the characters involved". This interesting dramatized approach makes this true account of a fascinating case, immensely readable.
That is the truest line in this true crime book about the real life 1973 murder of Roseann Quinn in NYC, which inspired the novel Looking for Mr. Goodbar and a film of the same name. If you enjoy reading true crime I can definitely recommend this one, it is a fast paced, compelling, deeply sad story about the fatal coming together of two badly damaged people, who's meeting turned out to be the "perfect storm" in their already off the rails life.
The author advices us in the prologue that this book is what she calls an "interpretive biography", that is to say that "she has kept the facts of the case that were known, while adding dialogue and thoughts to the characters involved". This interesting dramatized approach makes this true account of a fascinating case, immensely readable.
August 18, 2016
I was caught up in this powerful true story quickly, but left disappointed. It was published in 1977, the same year of the famous movie, (based on the book), "Looking For Mr. Goodbar". They both deal with the murder of Roseann Quinn, a teacher of the deaf, in her apartment a day after New Year's, 1973. It is brutal and sad story, changed and altered for story telling effect.
Lacey Fosburgh's 'Closing Time' is said to tell the true story, but many of the facts, names, and stories have been altered to give it the 'In Cold Blood' effect: true facts with some fictionalized thoughts and scenes. In my reader rules, a big NO-NO. Tell me like it was, or write Judith Rossner's 'Looking For.." and call it adapted fiction. Sadly Ms. Fosburgh, even after telling us, assumes thoughts of Ms. Quinn, (she called Katherine Leary), and the killer, John Wayne Wilson, (Joe Willy Willis). From Wikipedia: (Ms. Fosburgh)...told the New York Times in 1980 that she had "created scenes and dialogue I think it is reasonable or fair to assume could have taken place, perhaps even did." She also changed murder and investigation details that make this attempt at true crime greatness into a nice try. One advantage: short, snippet chapters.
Lacey Fosburgh's 'Closing Time' is said to tell the true story, but many of the facts, names, and stories have been altered to give it the 'In Cold Blood' effect: true facts with some fictionalized thoughts and scenes. In my reader rules, a big NO-NO. Tell me like it was, or write Judith Rossner's 'Looking For.." and call it adapted fiction. Sadly Ms. Fosburgh, even after telling us, assumes thoughts of Ms. Quinn, (she called Katherine Leary), and the killer, John Wayne Wilson, (Joe Willy Willis). From Wikipedia: (Ms. Fosburgh)...told the New York Times in 1980 that she had "created scenes and dialogue I think it is reasonable or fair to assume could have taken place, perhaps even did." She also changed murder and investigation details that make this attempt at true crime greatness into a nice try. One advantage: short, snippet chapters.
September 28, 2014
Darn. I did not write a review for this book and now I only know I really liked it.
s a fan of Looking for Mr Goodbar by Judith Rossner I was thrilled to hear there was another book written about this murder of Roseann Quinn.
With his book the author told us much more about the murderer John Wayne Wilson.
(The author again used aliases of both the victim and the killer and I am not sure why)
She paints his life of being of a young man who tried desperately to fight his demons by running away but in the end losing the battle. So in this book the killer is much more sympathetic.
She did use her imagination apparently as she also admits to in this book by making up conversations.
Normally U do not like that but this time I did not mind at all.
Not sure if I have to give it 4 or 5. I will give it 4 because the 5 stars is perhaps a bit prejudiced by me. ;)
s a fan of Looking for Mr Goodbar by Judith Rossner I was thrilled to hear there was another book written about this murder of Roseann Quinn.
With his book the author told us much more about the murderer John Wayne Wilson.
(The author again used aliases of both the victim and the killer and I am not sure why)
She paints his life of being of a young man who tried desperately to fight his demons by running away but in the end losing the battle. So in this book the killer is much more sympathetic.
She did use her imagination apparently as she also admits to in this book by making up conversations.
Normally U do not like that but this time I did not mind at all.
Not sure if I have to give it 4 or 5. I will give it 4 because the 5 stars is perhaps a bit prejudiced by me. ;)
December 6, 2017
This book is a disappointment. The writing is disjointed, confusing at times, and there are no indications about where Ms Fosburgh got her information, so... can I trust that what she writes is the truth?
I dislike true crime written from the point of view of the (dead) victim because it can't be verified. If that part of the content was told to Ms Fosburgh by someone who knew the victim, or diary entries, etc., she ought to attribute it properly. Otherwise, why include it?
The story itself, if it is to be believed, is compelling; the ending is unexpected and ultimately, sad in it's appropriate-ness.
I dislike true crime written from the point of view of the (dead) victim because it can't be verified. If that part of the content was told to Ms Fosburgh by someone who knew the victim, or diary entries, etc., she ought to attribute it properly. Otherwise, why include it?
The story itself, if it is to be believed, is compelling; the ending is unexpected and ultimately, sad in it's appropriate-ness.
October 13, 2016
If you saw the movie, you didn't get the real story
This is a true story. The names have been changed to protect ... well, everyone. Partly truth and partly fiction, it's an easy read and delves as much as possible into the lives of the two essential characters.
It's a tragedy on every level.
This is a true story. The names have been changed to protect ... well, everyone. Partly truth and partly fiction, it's an easy read and delves as much as possible into the lives of the two essential characters.
It's a tragedy on every level.
December 13, 2022
Trying to hard to be Capote
For the reporter assigned to the original case, she fictionalized a lot. I understand from her author's note that she didn't talk to "Katherine Cleary's" family but she romanticized "Joe Willie" way too much. She also left the implication that "Katherine " deserved what happened to her.
For the reporter assigned to the original case, she fictionalized a lot. I understand from her author's note that she didn't talk to "Katherine Cleary's" family but she romanticized "Joe Willie" way too much. She also left the implication that "Katherine " deserved what happened to her.
October 13, 2016
Good read
Only thing I hated was the made up, single short conversation, listed as such. Otherwise, riveting. Recommend it to others.
Only thing I hated was the made up, single short conversation, listed as such. Otherwise, riveting. Recommend it to others.
April 30, 2019
Hard to follow
I really did not enjoy reading this book. Admittedly i skimmed many pages. I was interested in the subject but not the writing style
I really did not enjoy reading this book. Admittedly i skimmed many pages. I was interested in the subject but not the writing style
March 6, 2019
Well. The film version of this story has always haunted and intrigued me, so I thought I should read the true story it was based on. The book is short and easy to read, while still being well written and engaging from page one.
It was fascinating getting to know the people involved, and how much information was available about the killer. This can not be said of the murder victim herself, which shows how isolated she was despite being regularly seen in her neighborhood.
All around an eye-opening read. I removed one star for a "speculated" scene between the killer and victim on the last night of her life. I found it unnecessary and a waste of a few pages. Still highly recommended.
It was fascinating getting to know the people involved, and how much information was available about the killer. This can not be said of the murder victim herself, which shows how isolated she was despite being regularly seen in her neighborhood.
All around an eye-opening read. I removed one star for a "speculated" scene between the killer and victim on the last night of her life. I found it unnecessary and a waste of a few pages. Still highly recommended.
November 30, 2023
Often startlingly good and insightful, but sometimes cringe to the point of offensive...I can't exactly recommend it but I was not bored, god knows. https://open.substack.com/pub/blotter...
May 16, 2018
Interesting way to write a true crime book.
August 27, 2024
Page turner about the 1973 murder of a schoolteacher on New York City's Upper West Side by a troubled drifter. I haven't read the book or seen the film Looking for Mr. Goodbar, which immortalized the case, and didn't know much about the case itself. One detail had always stuck with me from whatever little I'd read about it - that the woman begged him to kill her during the attack. I also remembered that she'd seemed depressed and living a double life of some sort and always wondered if that little detail was true or fabricated by the murderer to make himself seem less culpable. It's mentioned in his retelling of events here, but never concluded.
This book sets out to separate some of the fact from fiction, but as the author admits, it's difficult to get to the bottom of much of it. What she does have to work with is very interesting, if very bleak. The ending of the book is like a slap in the face. The truth is really sad, for pretty much everyone involved in this story. But it's fascinating nevertheless, and I loved the way the author painted such a vivid picture of New York City at the time (72nd street today would surely be unrecognizable in appearance and culture to all of the key players in this story!) and the cultural norms and expectations of the time. It was very well done and provides a good explanation of the "double life" factor of Roseann Quinn (Katherine Cleary in the book). I would have liked a little more of the author's interpretation of some of the events, rather than only her admittedly engaging retelling of the facts.
I wasn't crazy about the "interpretive biography" aspect. She explains in the intro that where blanks in the story came up, she filled them in with what she imagined to have happened, particularly to have been said. I'm sure this happens often in narrative nonfiction and sometimes is necessary, but it was a little too speculative without serving a purpose, like guessing that someone thought of the smell of flowers. I'm not sure why she felt the need to invent when this was supposed to be the true story of a case made famous in its fictionalized form. But overall a very compelling read, I love when vintage true crime is rereleased like this!
This book sets out to separate some of the fact from fiction, but as the author admits, it's difficult to get to the bottom of much of it. What she does have to work with is very interesting, if very bleak. The ending of the book is like a slap in the face. The truth is really sad, for pretty much everyone involved in this story. But it's fascinating nevertheless, and I loved the way the author painted such a vivid picture of New York City at the time (72nd street today would surely be unrecognizable in appearance and culture to all of the key players in this story!) and the cultural norms and expectations of the time. It was very well done and provides a good explanation of the "double life" factor of Roseann Quinn (Katherine Cleary in the book). I would have liked a little more of the author's interpretation of some of the events, rather than only her admittedly engaging retelling of the facts.
I wasn't crazy about the "interpretive biography" aspect. She explains in the intro that where blanks in the story came up, she filled them in with what she imagined to have happened, particularly to have been said. I'm sure this happens often in narrative nonfiction and sometimes is necessary, but it was a little too speculative without serving a purpose, like guessing that someone thought of the smell of flowers. I'm not sure why she felt the need to invent when this was supposed to be the true story of a case made famous in its fictionalized form. But overall a very compelling read, I love when vintage true crime is rereleased like this!
September 18, 2014
If one were to read this after skipping the introduction (in which the author confesses to changing the names and inventing a heavy amount of dialogue between the people involved), he would probably enjoy it best because it's a compelling story, a compelling read and a fascinating situation. It does lose just a bit of its luster for me because of the fictionalization of the conversations and the conjecture injected throughout. (This wouldn't have mattered to me quite so much had the title of the book not referred to it being "the true story." Yes, we rarely, if ever, know an absolute truth, but it surely can't be present when someone is creating dialogue and situations out of their - admittedly informed - imagination!)
All that aside, it is still a captivating saga and is remarkably even-keeled, considering how easy it might have been to become one-sided against and demonize a man who savagely murdered a young female schoolteacher. (I suspect that in today's tabloid-riddled world, an already sensational story would have been delivered even more sensationally rather than the often sensitive, fair and plain-spoken account found here.)
It's a sad, tragic story all around and really did not have any happy endings come of it (the real life scenario of the participants and sideline players continued further than the book even goes because of the early date in which it was published.) Most readers will have a hard time brushing off the feelings of dread that comes from these troubled people.
All that aside, it is still a captivating saga and is remarkably even-keeled, considering how easy it might have been to become one-sided against and demonize a man who savagely murdered a young female schoolteacher. (I suspect that in today's tabloid-riddled world, an already sensational story would have been delivered even more sensationally rather than the often sensitive, fair and plain-spoken account found here.)
It's a sad, tragic story all around and really did not have any happy endings come of it (the real life scenario of the participants and sideline players continued further than the book even goes because of the early date in which it was published.) Most readers will have a hard time brushing off the feelings of dread that comes from these troubled people.
November 23, 2021
Years ago, I saw the movie "Looking For Goodbar". Like the book, it was very sad. Ms. Fosburgh's version was interesting. She calls it an interpretive biography. It sounds more like embellishment and speculation. Wouldn't a biography include real names like Roseanne Quinn instead of Katherine. Much of her information was accurate but painted the victim as "slut". Ms. Quinn from Ms. Fosburgh's description sounded like she was bipolar. It would have been interesting if that aspect was explored rather than blaming the victim. For example, she had highs and lows, and was on mood stabilizing medications. The book was entertaining and enlightening. Both Roseanne (Katherine) and John Wayne Wilson (Willie) were both tragic individuals. Like two trains heading on a collision course.
I think the book would have been more interesting, if the author had taken a more direct and honest approach to this story. It was worth a read for the criminal component but there have been much better books written and more open
I think the book would have been more interesting, if the author had taken a more direct and honest approach to this story. It was worth a read for the criminal component but there have been much better books written and more open
January 25, 2023
I feel a bit skeevy about giving this book a five-star rating, but if I am being honest, I was hooked from start to finish. Fosburgh does a good job, as much as she could, of giving the reader insight into who Roseann Quinn "Katherine Cleary" and John Wayne Wilson "Joe Willy Simpson" were and what happened the night of January 2, 1973.
This book is going to receive criticism from people who believe that the author is more sympathetic towards the killer than the victim. But I would say that the killer's friends and family cooperated more with the author than the family of the victim. In terms of friends, Roseann Quinn did not really have someone she strongly confided in. She was, in a way, more mysterious than the drifter who killed her.
What you come away with after finishing this book is that two lost souls who should have found comfort and understanding in each other, instead found their doom. This is a tragic but relatable story about two people who never felt like they fit in to society.
This book is going to receive criticism from people who believe that the author is more sympathetic towards the killer than the victim. But I would say that the killer's friends and family cooperated more with the author than the family of the victim. In terms of friends, Roseann Quinn did not really have someone she strongly confided in. She was, in a way, more mysterious than the drifter who killed her.
What you come away with after finishing this book is that two lost souls who should have found comfort and understanding in each other, instead found their doom. This is a tragic but relatable story about two people who never felt like they fit in to society.
September 19, 2017
This apparently started out as a magazine article and it shows. Expanding it to book length (albeit a very short book) required the author to recount trivial actions in tedious detail and manufacture many scenes out of whole cloth. Fosburgh (who died in 1993) seems more than a little repulsed by the victim, her murderer, and the world they lived in. She's much more comfortable around the police and the lawyers. Consequently there's a distinct lack of sympathy in the narrative, as if the author thought both of them got what they deserved.
October 8, 2019
This is a semi-fictionalization of the murder of Katherine Quinn, the basis for the book and movie Looking for Mr. Goodbar. The writer, Lacey Fosburgh wrote for the NY Times at the time of story and knew the story well. We get in-depth story telling of both the killed and killer. While not the best in it's genre, it reads quickly. In an odd twist, the author changes the name of the victim and the killer (and perhaps others involved).
October 17, 2016
Thought provoking and tragic
What seem to be senseless killings sometimes have roadmaps leading to that terrible event. We read headlines and gasp. we don't understand. even when we read about the journey these lives were on to eventually come to this horrible climax, we can't see how it could have been rerouted.
What seem to be senseless killings sometimes have roadmaps leading to that terrible event. We read headlines and gasp. we don't understand. even when we read about the journey these lives were on to eventually come to this horrible climax, we can't see how it could have been rerouted.
October 29, 2016
Well written account of the crime. I couldn't put it down. So sad and heartbreaking it makes one wonder about the
crux of fate. It seemed as though these two souls were careening towards each other and nothing could block the advance.
crux of fate. It seemed as though these two souls were careening towards each other and nothing could block the advance.
November 6, 2016
Terrifying true crime fiction. This case tells of the 1973 murder of a young school teacher in West Side Manhattan. The book gives a well researched account of this horrific crime. A recommended read for true crime buffs.
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