The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son: Murder, Sin, and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James [Hardcover]

Laura James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2009

Sparks flew when gold digger Dr. Zeo Zoe Wilkins and Jesse James, Jr.—the son of America’s most legendary outlaw—crossed paths. The result: a tale of sex, deceit, money, and murder, grippingly told by noted true-crime blogger Laura James.

The beautiful Wilkins—a scheming and oft-married osteopath—was no shrinking violet; she married and probably buried five husbands (or six, according to some reports), some decades older, and all much wealthier, than she. But she was no match for the nefarious Jesse Jr., whom the author argues stabbed Zeo to death in her Kansas City home in 1924. (The murder was never officially solved.) Laura James maps out the childhood, career, and marital machinations of this ravishing “love pirate” before charting the promising but invariably disappointing life of the bandit’s only son. In the book’s third section, the two indelible characters collide, with lethal consequences for Wilkins.

 Ably mixing historical conjecture with forensic fact, Laura James conducts a blow-by-blow reconstruction of their tumultuous relationship, including evidence that she believes convicts Jesse James, Jr.

 

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a remarkable, rich, almost cinematically compelling story of greed. James does an excellent job...A top-flight true-crime story."--Booklist (starred review) 

 

“Laura James knows as much about historical true crime as anyone living. Her auspicious debut is a terrific treat for lovers of American true crime.” --Harold Schechter, editor of True Crime: An American Anthology

 

“A mesmerizing book, brilliantly researched and compellingly written, The Love Pirate is classic American crime: a toxic brew of love, lies, mystery and murder. Author Laura James serves it up with smarts and panache. I loved every word of it.”--Gregg Olsen, New York Times best-selling author of Starvation Heights

 

“A ruthless mixture of sex and greed ending inevitably in bloody violence, told in an engaging and intelligent narrative style. Compelling and fascinating, The Love Pirate combines astute historical speculation with contemporary forensics in an entertaining and riveting manner.” --Paula Uruburu, author of American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White—The Birth of the “It” Girl and the Crime of the Century

 

“Covering one of the most fascinating yet little-known murders of the Jazz Age, James makes a convincing case that the killer was the son of Jesse James. The Love Pirate is researched with a true historian’s eye for rich detail and is enlivened with flashes of dry, dark humor.”--Keven McQueen, author of Cruelly Murdered and Murder in Old Kentucky

 

“[A]n enormously riveting story, told with a bracing, fast-paced and biting narrative. The dramatic and ultimately tragic lives of these two extraordinary, flawed individuals rivals those of any fictional characters.” --Kathleen A. Cairns, author of The Enigma Woman: The Death Sentence of Nellie May Madison

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Union Square Press; Complete Numbers Starting with 1, 1st Ed edition (May 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402760698
• ISBN-13: 978-1402760693
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,124,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth IS Stranger Than Fiction, May 16, 2009

By 

Jeri Westerson (Menifee, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son: Murder, Sin, and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James (Hardcover)

Truth is stranger than fiction, and never is this made so clear as it is in Laura James' absorbing new true crime book THE LOVE PIRATE AND THE BANDIT'S SON. The "Love Pirate" in question was scheming seductress Zeo Zoe Wilkins. She married often and toyed with the affections of many more men, callously forcing her way into the echelons of society in early twentieth century America. The "Bandit's Son" is Jesse James, Jr. Yeah, that one. But this Jesse James became a criminal defense attorney and joined forces with the winsome but destructive Zeo in plot after plot. At the end of it, she was ruthlessly murdered. But whodunit? Laura James thinks she knows, and with the intricate retelling of this lost story, she reveals clue by clue who the murderer might be. If this story weren't for real it would make a great novel! Kudos to Laura James for bringing this fascinating tale into the limelight where it belongs.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average, August 24, 2009

By 

Richard A. Mitchell "Rick Mitchell" (candia, new hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son: Murder, Sin, and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James (Hardcover)

Here's this true crime book in nutshell: Zeo Zoe Wilkins was a gold-digger who ultimately is murdered. Jesse James' son met her and represented her under some sketchy circumstances. Wilkins' murder was never resolved despite its notoriety.

But unfortunately there is not much more there. More than half the book is devoted to Wilkins' gold digging. The bottom line actually is that she really only got a lot of money from one of her four husbands. She used that money to drink heavily and party for several years. Most of the remainder of the book is devoted to Jesse James' son who made a good living as an attorney, although he apparently was not very competent.

The saving grace of the book is the small portion where their two lives meet. Especially good was the account of the inquest and James' questionable practices.

I finished the book wondering why these two lives were so compelling as to warrant a book. That's a pretty empty feeling. I could see how either one could make for a good feature magazine article. The combination of the two did not add much. Surprisingly, the author did not do much to capture the era and the flavor of the times. Wilkins lived through the oil booms of the Indian Territory and the roaring twenties in Kansas City - amazing times not really delved into much here. James was the son of one of the main characters of the end of the old west who transitioned into the roaring twenties.

Overall a fair book that gave a good account of a true crime without much depth.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great true crime book, July 9, 2009

By 

Robert A. Waters (Author of The Best Defense: True Stories of Intended Victims Who Defended Themselves with a Firearm) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son: Murder, Sin, and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James (Hardcover)

The case is as cold as the long-dead bodies of Zeo Zoe Wilkins and the men she drove to early graves. In 1924, Zeo was murdered. It wasn't particularly surprising. In fact, Zeo had predicted that she would be dead within the week. When Kansas City, Missouri police entered her blood-soaked rental home they found her safe missing. According to witnesses, it was filled with diamonds and valuable bonds. They were the dead woman's last remnants of wealth. Sired and raised in poverty, she had accumulated more than three million dollars in her life, but had lost it through lavish spending, hooch, and dope.

What's surprising is that she wasn't murdered sooner. Zeo was indeed a love pirate. The brazen beauty married six times (five times to different men)--each time she added to her bank account and left her victims' hearts, souls, and pocketbooks shattered. One husband was shot by the schemer, another committed suicide, one lost his bank and his fortune and his sanity, one fled the state to be rid of her.

In addition to her marriages, Zeo was a nymphomaniac, as her affairs with hundreds of men would attest. Cops investigating her murder had so many suspects that they could never get a grasp on the case. Three men were arrested but there was never any real evidence against them and they were released. The crime was never solved.

Jesse James, Jr. was six-years-old when his father was murdered by the dirty little coward Robert Ford. Junior heard the gunshot and ran to the living room to find the famous outlaw lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Jesse James, Jr. would be forever scarred by the scene.

Junior went to law school. Like many attorneys of yesteryear and today, slime oozed from his every pore. Junior represented denizens of the underworld. For a while, he prospered, but eventually lost all his money and self-esteem when he invested in a disastrous movie about his father. He was adjudged insane and temporarily admitted to a doctor's care.

Zeo Zoe Wilkins was unaware of his problems when she came to Junior for legal advice. She wanted someone to fence her diamonds and bonds. Who better than an underworld attorney whose father had "stole from the rich and gave to the poor?" Zeo brought Jesse James, Jr. to her house, bedded him, and showed him the contents of her strong box. Two weeks after they met, Zeo was dead and her last remaining valuables missing. They were never seen again.

Did Junior murder her? He was never considered a suspect by police, but historian James has presented a case against him. Is it compelling? You read the book and decide.

Buy The Love Pirate and the Bandit's Son and add it to your true crime library. It's well-researched, well-written, well-edited, and will keep your fingers moving. What more can you ask in a book?