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Murder On Youngers Creek Road
On January 13, 1975, the enterprising community of Elizabethtown, Kentucky (a few miles from Fort Knox and the gold vault) was rocked with the news that one of their own, Peggy Rhodes-beloved housewife, mother, and grandmother-was killed when a bomb exploded in the family barn.
An hour south along I-65 lies Bowling Green, a city known for small town values, a burgeoning industrial complex, the expanding Western Kentucky University campus, and as "Home of the Corvette". However, the city was also just one generation removed from earning the nickname "Little Chicago," a regional hotbed for car thefts, bootlegging, gambling, prostitution-and worse still-bombings and horrific murders.
Murder on Youngers Creek Road is the true story of a murder-for-hire gone wrong that involves a well-known automobile dealer, two hit men hired to kill him, and a pair of high-profile business partners. The product of more than two years of research and interviews and writing, this book details one of the most complex murders of the decade and how it brought together two Kentucky towns in an unflattering way.
It is a "tale of two cities" mired in the muck of greed, violence and murder, and of local efforts to bring the guilty parties to justice. In the end, both the innocent and the guilty would lose their lives.
In the beginning investigators were baffled. Why would anyone want to kill a 57-year-old woman, who by all appearances did her part in community activities, loved her family and enjoyed her time playing bridge with friends?
Two weeks into the New Year of 1975, a horrific explosion ripped through the body of Peggy Rhodes and her pet horse, Tony. Who could possibly have wanted her dead?
On a cold dark January night, a sudden blast interrupted the stillness of freshly fallen snow and with it, the lives of several Kentucky families were changed forever.
An hour south along I-65 lies Bowling Green, a city known for small town values, a burgeoning industrial complex, the expanding Western Kentucky University campus, and as "Home of the Corvette". However, the city was also just one generation removed from earning the nickname "Little Chicago," a regional hotbed for car thefts, bootlegging, gambling, prostitution-and worse still-bombings and horrific murders.
Murder on Youngers Creek Road is the true story of a murder-for-hire gone wrong that involves a well-known automobile dealer, two hit men hired to kill him, and a pair of high-profile business partners. The product of more than two years of research and interviews and writing, this book details one of the most complex murders of the decade and how it brought together two Kentucky towns in an unflattering way.
It is a "tale of two cities" mired in the muck of greed, violence and murder, and of local efforts to bring the guilty parties to justice. In the end, both the innocent and the guilty would lose their lives.
In the beginning investigators were baffled. Why would anyone want to kill a 57-year-old woman, who by all appearances did her part in community activities, loved her family and enjoyed her time playing bridge with friends?
Two weeks into the New Year of 1975, a horrific explosion ripped through the body of Peggy Rhodes and her pet horse, Tony. Who could possibly have wanted her dead?
On a cold dark January night, a sudden blast interrupted the stillness of freshly fallen snow and with it, the lives of several Kentucky families were changed forever.
- GenresNonfictionTrue Crime
208 pages, Hardcover
Published March 20, 2020
7 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 15, 2021
Interesting hometown story but the bowling green stuff felt pretty disconnected and it made for a convoluted narrative
March 8, 2023
I like that the murder of Peggy Rhodes has been told and her death not forgotten.
However, there is A LOT of backstory. I can see how the author finds it all relative, BUT the chapters bleed into one another about who blew up what and where and when that Peggy's death and who did it seems to get overshadowed by Bowling Green's criminal understory of the 60's and 70's. And it's overwhelming and confusing! I also would have liked a timeline of events that led to her death, not a timeline of bombings that culminate with her death. There was just too many names and bombings to keep track of that for awhile I thought I was reading a history of unfortunate events in and around Bowling Green, KY. I think the author should have stuck to the principal players in Peggy's death and their roles not matter their backstories and how many hundreds of people they did shady business with, since that's what the title/book is supposed to be about. Instead, the book should have been titled something referencing the criminal element living in and bombing the area around Bowling Green, KY that just ALSO happened to have led to the death of an innocent woman.
However, there is A LOT of backstory. I can see how the author finds it all relative, BUT the chapters bleed into one another about who blew up what and where and when that Peggy's death and who did it seems to get overshadowed by Bowling Green's criminal understory of the 60's and 70's. And it's overwhelming and confusing! I also would have liked a timeline of events that led to her death, not a timeline of bombings that culminate with her death. There was just too many names and bombings to keep track of that for awhile I thought I was reading a history of unfortunate events in and around Bowling Green, KY. I think the author should have stuck to the principal players in Peggy's death and their roles not matter their backstories and how many hundreds of people they did shady business with, since that's what the title/book is supposed to be about. Instead, the book should have been titled something referencing the criminal element living in and bombing the area around Bowling Green, KY that just ALSO happened to have led to the death of an innocent woman.
April 10, 2021
An eye opener on events that occurred in the not so distant past within two communities in Kentucky that had far reaching effects after a bombing gone wrong.
Author Gary West did extensive personal research and interviews for several years to present facts for this novel. With good photos accompanying the interesting story, West draws the reader into times of bootlegging, car theft rings, bombings, and murder for hire.
Author Gary West did extensive personal research and interviews for several years to present facts for this novel. With good photos accompanying the interesting story, West draws the reader into times of bootlegging, car theft rings, bombings, and murder for hire.
June 14, 2021
I was excited to read this as I've lived in Hardin Co. almost my whole life. It started out good with the murder, but the middle felt overwhelming as many names were thrown out in quick succession with quick histories of most of them. The last quarter of the book did a good job of wrapping things up.
One thing I did not like was that the introduction basically laid out the whole crime and kind of gave away the ending.
It wasn't a great book, but it was ok.
One thing I did not like was that the introduction basically laid out the whole crime and kind of gave away the ending.
It wasn't a great book, but it was ok.
June 20, 2021
The bones of this story are solid. It's wild, twisty & I see why the author said the time-line was hard to nail down. What I found frustrating was the actual wording. I'd like someone who can really spin a story tackle this & see how good it could be.
If you've got deep roots in Bowlin Green then I would recommend reading this, 100% I was shocked at some of the things I read about someone I know. That's eye-opening!
If you've got deep roots in Bowlin Green then I would recommend reading this, 100% I was shocked at some of the things I read about someone I know. That's eye-opening!
January 2, 2022
This was my favorite book I read in 2021. The tragic story of a murder for hire gone wrong in Hardin County, Kentucky about at a site I drive past weekly without knowing what had happened there decades ago. The story was made even more interesting by a history of parts of the Bowling Green underworld that I had heard stories about throughout my life growing up in a neighboring small town. The book kept my attention and was an easy read.
January 4, 2024
I found this interesting since I have lived in both Bowling Green and Elizabethtown. I personally think the story could have been better told if the back stories had been told up front and leading up to the murder instead of starting with the murder and filling in the back story. The back story was very confusing and convoluted... difficult to follow. At times it felt more like reading the trial records.
September 11, 2025
I think this story was super interesting having live in bowling green and upton, KY, going to high school in Elizabethtown. I would have started with the backstory that led up to the murder instead of the other way around. It was a little repetitive but all around a good read that I could picture having been from there.
January 23, 2021
I was fascinated by this book because I live in Elizabeth town and know the woman whose mother was killed. I did not know about this until this book came out. It was a horrible complicated crime justice was not entirely done.
June 24, 2021
I live less than half an hour from where this all happened so it was made more interesting before I even started.
Wow. Cannot believe this all happened around here.
Wow. Cannot believe this all happened around here.
October 29, 2023
The story was full of facts. Written similarly to a report. Interesting but would enjoy more if less reportlike but more like a story.
January 24, 2024
Loved the history the book told of local city I love..Bowling Green ,Ky
March 4, 2024
I didn't finish. I thought it was about the murder but it had a lot of back history that I was not interested in. My husband read it though and would have given it 3.5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews