The fates of socialite Ann Woodward and author Truman Capote collided when he made the accused murderess the star of the book that destroyed his career.

I knew about the case of Ann Woodward before I picked up this book. I watched the episode about in on A Crime to Remember (which is by the way an excellent show). As such, this book held no surprises for me plot-wise, though it is indeed a very twisty story. instead.

The author does an excellent job of bringing the setting to life – the rural, rather hardscrabble towns where Ann and Truman grew up, and the cloistered, scandalous world of New York City “high society” that they joined. The story is a fascinating one, populated with clearly defined personalities, and I liked that the author remained ambiguous on the subject of whether Ann’s shooting of Billy was a murder or an accident.

However, I did think the two parts of the story didn’t always mesh together very well. We were simultaneously following Ann and Truman, who led very different lives, so the transitions between them were not very smooth. Also, I did feel that Ann’s history after the immediate aftermath of the shooting was rather thin on the ground – I would have liked to know more. That her story ends before Truman’s also made the book feel unbalanced.

Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books, and Roseanne Montillo for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! This book follows a very unique topic and is well-researched. It gives a good understanding of the time period and the setting while explaining more about Truman Capote and Ann Woodward. This is a great book for history and true crime fans and it includes a lot of interesting information.

Interesting perspective of the intersecting worlds of Ann Woodward and Truman Capote with concise and pertinent details of their lives.

What a great story, I can't believe I hadn't heard of this before. Full review to come in time for pub date.

This true-crime story had it all!! Rich people behaving badly, poor people behaving badly, prowlers, race-horses, (Triple Crown winners!!) murder and the ever colorful Truman Capote! Well researched, good details and well told. Thank-you to #netgalley and #simonandschuster for the early copy. Hoping the physical book has pictures!

I was absolutely fascinated with the way Ms. Montillo employed the parallel lives of Ann Woodward's entire life from semi-poverty to the elite stratum of New York society with her marriage into the great banking Woodward family through her whirlwind marriage to the heir, Billy Woodward just before he enlisted in the Navy and almost died when his ship was hit during WWII. Through all the ups and downs during the marriage which produced two sons and tragically ended in the fall of 1955 after they both went to separate bedrooms after returning from a party where Ann was very talkative about a real set of break-ins in the wealthy community of Oyster Bay Cove, Long Island.Around 2 in the morning Ann thought she heard an intruder and with the shotgun by her bedside went through the bedroom door and shot twice in the dark hitting Billy fatallyas he was just leaving his shower..

Her mother-in-law, Elsie Woodward made a deal with Ann, The deal consisted of letting Ann off from the charge of murder, if she promised to never see her sons again and have them raised by Elsie permanently and that Ann leave immediately fly to Europe and stay there.

Several years later at a posh resort in Switzerland a fatal encounter ensues between Ann and Truman Capote where both throw insults at each other. That encounter remains permanently embedded in Truman's mind and he makes up his mind that he will get his revenge on Ann through a future novel.

Truman, who was born in Alabama also had a tough upbringing being tossed around from home to home while his mother searched for her ""place in society:. But Truman was a great creative writer and this talent was nurtured and developed as he grew to adulthood.. With a series if successful books, in particular In Cold Blood, he broke into N.Y high society and that is how he met his ""swans".who included Babe Paley, Lee Radziwill, Slim Keith, Kay Graham, C.Z. Guest and Maria Agnelli. But when Truman wrote :"La Cote Basque 1965" and it was published in Esquire magazine the chapter contained the lurid details of the 1955 Woodward murder, which resulted in Ann Woodward's suicide. After that his swans began turning against Truman, realizing that over the many years of their acqaintance with Capote they had shared many secrets and overheard gossip about other swans that could end up in a book about them. Truman became a lonely alcoholic who never finished his opus Answered Prayers and died of a combination of various drugs and alcohol. In Truman's world Deliberate Cruelty is the one thing that is unforgiveable. Many thanks to Net Galley, the wonderful authoress Roseanne Montillo and Simon and Schuster for giving me this amazing view into another world.

So many people and do much information. I found myself using Google to do research on various people named in this book just to try and keep them relevant in my mind. I am old enough to remember some of these famous and infamous characters but certainly not all. I did get a better understanding of 'New York Society' through the eyes of Trunan Capote and a better understanding of Truman Capote himself. I read IN COLD BLOOD many years ago and did some research and reading about Truman Capote but this book goes into so much more detail and puts him more in context to his ultimate goals in life. The book was truly interesting but so hard to follow. So much information. Ann Woodward became secondary to the theme even though the title of the book would indicate otherwise. And, if I had it to do over, I would definitely read this book again.

Based on the subtitle of Deliberate Cruelty, I believed that Ann Woodward and Truman Capote had had some sort of relationship that somehow was connected with the murder of Woodward’s husband. I also thought the semi-mystery of Billy Woodward’s death must have been solved by the author. Either or both of those premises for a book would be enough to keep me reading for awhile...but I feel this book is a long run for a short jump. I did learn a lot about Billy Woodward’s family, especially his mother and his marriage to Ann, and I now know a great deal about Ann’s difficult growing-up and commitment to a better life. Do I know whether Ann shot Billy because she was drunk and taking sleeping pills and believed he was the burglar who had stolen from neighbors...or did she shoot him because he was going to divorce her? I have no clue. Do I know why a joint biography was written about Ann and Capote? Nope. He heard her refer to him as a “fag” and a “toad” at a social gathering and years later got his revenge by portraying her as a “white trash” murderer of her husband (calling her by a pseudonym, of course).
What happened between Ann and Truman in the time between her purported act of murder and his thinly-veiled calumny? Pretty much nothing. They had parallel lives of social climbing and hiding humble beginnings and both made inroads into the world of the New York beautiful people. Ann and Truman both committed slow-motion suicide and Truman’s cruel piece in Esquire could have pushed Ann the last few inches off the cliff where she had been existing for decades. But this book has no “aha” moments. Dominic Dunne already wrote Ann’s (again, thinly veiled) story in The Two Mrs. Grenvilles in 2012. To fill the pages between Billy’s death and Capote’s cruel hit piece in Esquire, the author does provide interesting biographies of Capote’s “swans” and descriptions of the mating rituals of the ultra rich. I DID read this book fairly quickly because I got caught up in the gossipy aspects of the life stories, and because I kept expecting that Deliberate Cruelty was SOMEHOW going to solve a mysterious death and show the important connection between Ann and Capote that had inspired an entire book. So, I’m giving it three stars for entertainment value.

*Thank you to Roseanne Montillo, Atria books, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

As a big fan of Dominick Dunne, I first read "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles" back in the 90s when I was living on the Upper East Side on the same block as their old residence on 86th Street. I was fascinated by the Woodwards, and the mystery surrounding the murder. So I was overjoyed to see another book that told of this family, with the added bonus of Truman Capote and result of his obsession with society women in the 50s and 60s, with his eventual downfall of society. This seemed to be two books in one as there doesn't seem to be a strong connection between Ann's suicide and Truman, other than he wrote a story about her that was never finished. There is one part that tells the background and marriage of Ann and William Woodward and what happened on that night in 1955, and there is another that talks about Truman Capote's obsession on writing about the story of the Woodwards, which he either never completes or it is never found after his death. I enjoyed both "stories" but felt they could have been different books.

This was quite a nice book full of facts and questions about this high profile murder case. It was delightful to read while still being factually correct and educational.

I have read a couple of books about Truman Capote and this time period and find both endlessly fascinating... The glamour and high drama. The excess and shocking amount of violence both casual and intentional. It's a wild era that definitely reinforces the adage that truth is stranger than fiction.

This was an interesting addition to my reading about the time period, but I must confess that I did not find it as engaging a narrative style or as entertaining a read as others I've previously read. There's a little more history and a little less drama than I expected given the tagline and blurb - and, frankly, the subject matter. That's not a bad thing, it just means it was a different read than I was expecting.

You have to stick with this one. The drama is there, it just takes a little longer to get the ball rolling. I also didn't exactly see a huge interplay between Truman Capote and Ann Woodward such that it felt that their stories blended seamlessly. It felt almost like two books were merged into one. This contributed to the slower nature of the read for me.

I have just read Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century, by Author Roseanne Montillo .

This is a true crime, nonfiction story about the socialite Ann Woodward who shot and killed her husband Billy Woodward who was a wealthy banking heir. The year was 1955.

Ann Woodward claims that she thought he was a prowler, who had broken into their home late one night, as there was a great deal of talk of one being in their neighborhood.

The book is also about Truman Capote, who was an icon and bestselling nonfiction Author of the book “In Cold Blood.”

I really do not read a lot of true crime books, and thought the Author did a good job with this one, but I did become a little bored with the storyline about two thirds into it.

#NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley, the Author and Atria Books for my advanced copy to read and review.

A fascinating true crime--and its consequences--story. Did Anne Woodward accidentally shoot her husband--or was it murder? And, in reporting the events, did Truman Capote trigger a woman's suicide? Fascinating and vivid as a novel.

Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for the opportunity of an early read.

I really liked reading about Ann Woodward (again) in this book. Learning a lot about Truman Capote’s life and career was very enlightening. Having the lives of both compared and contrasted at times turned out to be an unusual idea, but ultimately a good one. Both were so eager to be part of high society, which eventually brought them down and cast them out. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

As I sit down to write this review, I feel as though I just completed reading two books and therefore, should write two reviews. Deliberate Cruelty is the story of Ann and Billy Woodward and Truman Capote's desire to pen the book that will describe the murder of Billy at the hands of Ann. The first half of the book details Ann's young life growing up in Kansas with her divorced mother. Ann soon learns the tricks of seducing men through watching her mother and sets her sights on New York. While there, Ann meets and has a relationship with Billy's father, but later, is encouraged to help Billy "become a man." Billy likes the idea of Ann, especially since his mother is definitely not a fan of their relationship. They eventually marry, have two children and several years later, Ann shoots and kills Billy, thinking he is an intruder.
The second half of the book chronicles Truman's early years which mirror Ann's upbringing. He, too, travels to New York and there encounters a group of women who will eventually become his confidantes. They find Truman compelling and look forward to juicy gossip sessions with him. While Truman had met Ann, he was put off by her homophobic slurs towards him, and she was not considered one of "the swans." The story continues with details of Truman's experience writing In Cold Blood and his attempt to write the story of Billy Woodward's murder in a book titled Answered Prayers. This book, however, never materializes and he instead publishes an excerpt which ultimately results in his downward spiral as an author.
While each of these stories is fascinating, I didn't find a distinct connection between the two. There was a passing mention of the encounter between Ann and Truman and the supposed resentment he carried with him regarding the slur she used. But surely this is not the only time he had heard such words and I found myself wondering what else had occured during their meeting that would make him hang onto these words so fiercely. And when the excerpt from Answered Prayers was published, this was supposedly what drove Ann to die by suicide, but again, I didn't see a clear connection between the two acts. So while I enjoyed reading both stories, I found myself wanting to learn more about the connection between these two fascinating people.

This was a great true crime book, I could tell that Roseanne Montillo knew what she was talking about. I was never bored when reading this and I enjoyed the information that was going on through this. I really didn't know anything about this crime and really enjoyed learning about it.

"As Paul Wirths told his story, Ann slept in her room at Doctors Hospital. Dr. Prutting had come to believe that she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and so he’d injected her with another massive dose of sedatives. During her few moments of lucidity, she spoke of her husband, having convinced herself that Billy was not really dead but off somewhere on one of his affairs."

A captivating story from start to finish. I never heard of Ann Woodward before but certainly knew who Truman Capote was. The parallel telling of their lives and the ultimate tragedy that took place, you can't make this stuff up. This book goes to show that the pen is truly mightier than the sword. An excellent read. Thank you to the author, publishers and Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. Deliberate Cruelty is an excellent true crime, historic biography of sorts. Ms. Montillo's work is meticulously researched but never dry or boring. I knew very little about the life of Truman Capote, other than the fact that he wrote In Cold Blood and was friends with Harper Lee. This book begins with the story of Ann Woodward, a former showgirl who wanted to climb out of poverty and into high society. She married Billy, a trust fund baby but was despised by her mother-in-law and most of the high society that she wanted to enjoy. When Ann kills Billy at their home, believing him to be a prowler that had been in the area, she is vilified by the socialites she wanted to be part of. At the same time, Truman Capote is climbing the social ladders in the same circles. Ann makes disparaging remarks regarding Truman's sexuality and he never forgets and exacts his revenge years later, in the form of a story published in Esquire and manages to include all the gossip told to him over the years by the socialites. His downfall, Ann's death, are scandalous and simultaneous. Well-written and very fast paced for a study in history and society, Deliberate Cruelty has been one of the most fascinating books I've read so far this year.

Such an interesting book. I happened to have read “Capote’s Women “ recently, and this was the perfect companion to that book. I have always been fascinated by Capote and his Swans and this book speaks about his Swans and his ugly duckling,Ann Woodward.

Though I knew the general story, this excellent retelling was fascinating. For those that are interested in Ann’s story, I urge you read “The Two Mrs Grenvillles” by Dominick Dunne. It is also an excellent TV miniseries with an incredible cast.

Montillo captured the stories of Capote and Woodward and I enjoyed reading this book. Thierry are several other books that will help the reader delve further into these fascinating characters, as well as movies.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this interesting ARC I think my readers will enjoy it and will follow up with more books on these fascinating subjects.

This one was really interesting. Sometimes I just had to stop reading a take a breath. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book