Customer Reviews

A Family Cursed: The Kissell Dynasty, a Gilded Fortune, and Two Brutal Murders (St. Martin's True Crime Library)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This fascinating book is a thorough analysis of two sensational crimes. The author maintains a jounalistic objectivity that allows you to draw your own conclusions. The photographs are a help in keeping the complex characters straight. It also provides an insight into the current business environment. One brother invests in distressed debt and the other in real estate.
Glimpses into the rarefied communities of NY's upper east side, Stratton, Vt, Greenwich, Ct and the expatriate community of Hong Kong provoke a delicious sense of schadenfreude.
You do not have to be a true crime aficionado to enjoy this book.

The poor Kissell family who had it all but was cursed by it's own success. The poor brothers, Robert and Andrew Kissell, were murdered. Robert was murdered by his wife, Nancy, in Hong Kong. She was sentenced to life in prison there. Their three children would face a custody battle among in-laws. Andrew had lots of legal problems because he acted illegally and immorally in most business and finance transactions not like his brother Robert who graduated college, married, and rose up the financial ladder as being one of the hardest working financiers even in Hong Kong. Regardless, Robert and Andrew did not deserve their fate. Robert's wife, Nancy, was lonely and was having an affair with a blue collar television repairman in Vermont where they had a second winter home. Sadly, Robert and Andrew were laid beside their mother Elaine Kissell at Riverside Cemetery in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. Robert's children are being raised by the only surviving Kissell child, Jane Kissell Clayton, in Seattle, Washington with her two children. The Kissell patriarch is still alive and living in Florida. It's still a sad story but I think the writer's inexperience at writing true crime stories surfaces here and will get better in the future.

I recently read another book about this very same family and murders, "Never Enough" by Joel McGinnis. The story was so intriguing that I could not resist reading another author's perspective. I am delighted that I did so, as this is an excellent true crime book with a somewhat different focus from that of the McGinnis book, which was also excellent.

The book is about the Kissel murders, in which two wealthy, well-educated brothers are both murdered on different occasions and by different people. One was bludgeoned to death, and the other was stabbed to death. What are the chances of that?

The author skillfully outlines the events that led to the murders. In Robert's case, his wife's infidelity and her obsession with Michael Del Priore, her blue-collar lover, prompted her to do the unspeakable. Her guilt was never really in question, and the book highlights the most interesting aspects of her trial and its aftermath.

A couple of years later, Andrew, a well-heeled real estate investor, also followed in Robert's footsteps, having been stabbed to death just as he was getting ready to face the music for the real estate fraud that he had perpetrated. As to who killed Andrew, the police certainly found a suspect, but it is clear that the author believes that suspect to be innocent. The author's point of view is pretty persuasive, as the Greenwich police who were investigating the case are not known for their investigative prowess. You be the judge.

All in all, however, the story of the Kissel brothers is a fascinating one and a true American tragedy on many fronts. Theirs is, indeed, a family cursed. Those who enjoy the true crime genre will not be disappointed by this book, as it is well-written and well-researched. It is also a good companion to "Never Enough", as it is sufficiently different as to be fresh.

A Family Cursed: The Kissell Dynasty, a Gilded Fortune, and Two Brutal Murders (St. Martin's True Crime Library)

Kevin McMurry strikes again! This story of real life power, wealth, greed, desperation and yes murder, will captivate you. You do not need to be a lover of true crime stories to get hooked on this compelling story by Kevin. The author's vivid descriptions of desperate people doing the unthinkable in order to retain & gain wealth will capture your imagination. Two perfect American Families that any of us would love to be a part of or maybe not. Kevin's investigative reporting & analysis mixed with a true Irishman's uncanny ability to tell a story makes this read a real winner!

This is an incredible true story about the tradgedy of the Kissel family. However, the author did not do the story justice. The book reads like a file from the crime scene, detectives unit. It is bland, tedious,and boring. The author had no creativity in his writting. At times I felt as though I was reading police files. Too bad because this is one amazing story.

While this story is interesting mainly because of the similar fates of two brothers, this book is not very well written. The author elaborates on very minor issues but fails to explain and reveal details on the relevant facts of these murders. I am an avid true crime reader but I found it difficult to finish this book, instead turning to the internet for more information on both of these cases. It is unfortunate because I think a good author could have written a great book about these murders.

I don't usually read true crime books, but I picked up this one on a long plane trip and could not put it down. Kevin McMurray really knows how to tell a story! This has to be one of the best examples of its genre.

Kevin F. McMurray's A FAMILY CURSED is a summary of the murders of brothers Robert and Andrew Kissel, the grown sons of a wealthy manufacturer. Robert was drugged and then bludgeoned to death by his wife Nancy in Hong Kong in 2003. Andrew was bound and stabbed to death by persons unknown, at the time the book was written, in his home in Connecticut in 2006.
The two brothers had taken very different paths. Robert was a rich and successful employee of various top brokerage houses specializing in "distressed debt" and at the time of his murder was working at a very high level job in Hong Kong for Merrill Lynch. He is reported (by McMurray, ad nauseum, rather than presenting much real insight into his persona) to have been a nice, friendly, and honest guy. But life was not perfect, as his wife Nancy (who, though blonde, bears a striking resemblance to Sarah Silverman) was carrying on a long-distance - and occasionally not so long distance - affair with a man in Vermont who lived near and had worked at the Kissel's vacation home. Murderous hi-jinks ensued.
Andrew, on the other hand, was a con man - but a relatively high level con man - a thief with a pen who dealt in double books and forged real estate documents. His life was a swirl of drug fueled illegalities and apparent chaos.
But both brothers ended up neighbors in the same cemetery.

A FAMILY CURSED is mediocre true crime. The first section - about Robert and Nancy Kissel - is little more than salacious gossip. While there is a reasonable amount of background on Robert, there is none whatever on Nancy, who is potentially the most interesting player in the account, and the book suffers greatly for that lack.

The third section is about Andrew and is to my mind the most successful part of the book. Andrew's life and crimes and his situation right up until the point of his death are well researched, and Andrew's section is considerably more successful than the one on Robert and Nancy. There is far less unsubstantiated gossip and more hard documentation, and the reader gets more of a sense of who Andrew really was than he does about Robert or, especially, about Nancy.

Then there is the second section - an account of Nancy's murder trial in Hong Kong - which is an by any standard an unmitigated disaster. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to McMurray's presentation in this segment, with testimony being introduced almost at random. There is no flow and little continuity, and choppiness is the word of the day. The volume of forensic material presented here is not only really boring - as is often the case in true crime - but due to the way it is written, also often incomprehensible.
An example:
On page 153, Prosecuting Attorney Chapman produces Rob Kissel's travel itinerary for September 14, "and it showed that he had been out of town at that time." On page 154 McMurray writes, "Again the victim's travel itinerary was introduced," (by the defense), "but this time it proved that that he had been in town..." So in the space of two pages the mute testimony of an inanimate object has proved the deceased was either in or out of town. And while McMurray provides this "information", he does not explain it further. It does seem to beg a question.

Also, the writing in A FAMILY CURSED, is, while not actively irritating, is pedestrian and frequently substandard in regards to modifier placement and syntax.
"From Kissel's web page, Walkley got a list of the LLC's (limited liability companies) that he did business under the name of...."
"Up to this time, lawyers who represented the couple contended the divorce had gone from being amicable to contentious."

I have read another book, NEVER ENOUGH by Joe McGinnis, about the Kissels, and while it's hardly exceptional either, its initial section about the lives of Nancy and Robert and Robert's death, while also little more than salacious gossip, is better-researched and more entertaining salacious gossip. But there is very little information in NEVER ENOUGH about Andrew, and A FAMILY CURSED is far superior in that aspect. I feel that if these two books were combined and the deadly (in both) trial sections were pared to a bare minimum, a 4 star book might result. But since they're not, I cannot recommend A FAMILY CURSED.

Kevin F. McMurray missed his calling. This investigative reporter should have been a detective. With him it just the facts. His research is SUPERB! Not a rehash. He doesn't embellish the case with his own speculation. He leaves that up to you. McMurray lifts the dark veil of the Kissel Dynasty, and what he reveals is the dark side of their high society, Wall Street, power, fame, wealth, fraud, sex and murders. McMurray extensive interviews paint a portrait of the Jekyll and Hyde within each personality. His work is thorough and yet he treats each suspect and victim with respect. This style makes his books page turners. It would make one hell of a movie. A real life who-dun-it?

I also read his fascinating book, "Deep Decent" about his dives on the infamous Andrea Doria sunk in 1955. His hair raising adventures of deaths and near death experiences makes great reading. This guy seems like the real deal.

A fascinating story told in such a gripping way that I couldn't put down. I highly recommend it.