Customer Reviews

True Stories of Crime from the District Attorney's Office

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I will start by saying that this book was actually written in 1908. It is a collection of stories of true crime about various cases that went through the New York District Attorney's office while the author was an Assistant D.A. Arthur Train is masterful at telling these stories in a way that is as germane today as it was when he wrote the book over 100 years ago. Aside from an occasional phrase (e.g. "...Jesse started on a toilsome stage journey to Brownsville...") that betrays the era, one could believe that he or she is reading about events that occurred just yesterday. I found it an amazing and fascinating testament to the constancy of the human psyche.

All that being said, buyers should be aware the entire text of this book is freely available at either Project Gutenberg or on Google Books. Since the copyright has already expired, it is in the public domain. If you want the print version to carry with you, you may decide it worthwhile to buy the hardcopy. However, I was perfectly happy downloading the text and reading it as an ebook on my cell phone.

We are the publishers of this book. Please note that the negative comments about this book do not refer to our version.
I don't know why Amazon posts negative comments of other publishers' books who were not careful about their product, but we take good care to present the reader with the nicest book we can.

This. Book. Was. Horrible. Both as to the gilded writing style and the impossibly boring story lines. On the other hand, if you truly enjoy overly-written hundred year-old crime stories, this may be your cup of tea and crumpet. For me, I couldn't delete it fast enough.

As you read this, you must keep in mind that it was written in the very early 1900s, about events ranging from the late 1890s to the early 1900s. I found it very intriguing, and felt it was well-written. Especially for the price, you cannot go wrong. If you like true-crime stories, and stories set in "simpler times", you should surely enjoy this title.

I download the "Sample" of "True Stories of Crime From the D.A. 's Office" expecting a bit of Ann Rule's short story form of a book. Boy, was I wrong!! Mr. Train has badly executed true crime to the point that he gives the genre a dispecable name!! It is impossible to tell if the author is writing about American crimes from a seemingly British point of view or if the crimes covered are of decades (or perhaps centuries) ago...nothing in this "book" is clear and it screams, "Do not even download me for Free!! It is not worth the trouble!!". I stopped at the end of the "Sample," hit delete, and wrote the 30 minutes the entire process wasted up to experience. I hope you do the same...I cannot imagine the boredom of the actual task of trying to work my way through this book...Mr. Train needs to practice and practice before he takes another foray into writing....seriously!! How disappointing!!

Don't do it...this book contains cases from forever ago. Silly reader, you download this thinking it's going to be something modern day but nope, you are wrong. If you miss your Hardy boy novels, go for it.

I love old stories like this. A few of them were kind of tedious and drab but not all. The most memorable ones for me were the second and the last stories.

Did not get beyond the first crime. It was not the crime itself, but the writing. A first grader could have done better. DO NOT DOWNLOAD!!!

when i saw the cover, i thought that it was late 20th century to early 21st century, but i guess that it is from the early 20th century, which is okay, but i was hoping for murders and kidnappings more than forgeries and model t's.

I'm one of those who have read true crime books for years. This is one of those books that was rough to trudge through. I rarely give bad reviews so I thought I'd meet in the middle. It wasn't all that bad, but it wasn't great either.