Simple, Safe & Secret

The 1981 Murder of Joan L. Webster

Non-Fiction - True Crime
305 Pages
Reviewed on 08/25/2022
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro for Readers' Favorite

“Every crime has a solution. Sometimes the answers are obvious, but other times, layers of deceit cover up the truth,” opines Eve Carson at the inception of Simple, Safe and Secret: The 1981 Murder of Joan L. Webster. Thanksgiving had passed, and the holiday season was in full swing. Joan Webster had come home from graduate studies at Harvard to spend time with her family. She was on a flight back from Newark to Boston on November 28, 1981, and was last seen with a bearded stranger getting into a car. Her remains wouldn’t surface until 1990. The search for a possible suspect would dovetail with a criminal trial involving murder and bankruptcy fraud. Despite the weak circumstantial evidence, the defendant in the case was convicted of that murder but was never indicted for Joan’s death.

Simple, Safe and Secret is a riveting true crime narrative where the emotions never dissipate even after justice has taken its course and the case is considered closed. As Joan's sister-in-law, Eve Carson had an intense connection to the case, but her detached third-person narrative keeps the account of the inquiry and related trial relatively neutral. Readers will find themselves mesmerized by the slapdash investigation's ins and outs, the prime suspect's railroading, and the cool demeanor of most of the victim’s family. This book will appeal to the true-crime pundits who enjoy a real mystery, but also to those desiring to learn more about the cracks in the flawed justice system. Carson has written a harrowing tale dealing with injustice and loss.