“Daddy’s Girl” by Clifford Irving

.OMG…the author murdered no one, did not pretend to be someone else, was nowhere around the crime scene. Yet this book is ALL ABOUT HIM!

The Houston murder of James and Virginia Campbell by their daughter, Cindy, and her boyfriend, David West, was the subject of Jack Olsen’s Cold Kill ( LJ 12/87). Irving’s and Olsen’s treatments differ in style and judgment. Irving focuses on the trialsWest pled guilty, and after one hung jury, Cindy was convicted although he doubts Cindy’s guilt. Olsen ignores the trials and portrays Cindy as the instigator. Clearly, Cindy is unlikable and unbalanced; Irving’s sympathy for her may be unpopular. He was a defense witness at one trial, and his thorough account is personal in tone, whereas Olsen’s novelistic style is more readable and dramatic.

So I read a few reader reviews of this book at the Amazon web site and was happy to know that quite a few or the reviewers note, with varying emotions, that the author insinuated himself into the story quite a bit.

My reaction, at the first paragraph detailing the author’s involvement in the investigation was to mentally utter “WTF?”

I am a writer, amateur at that. But one of the worst things a writer can do, particularly in the true crime genre, is to insert his or her self into the narrative.

Ann Rule, mistress of true crime books, would never do such a thing.

Oh authors will detail their interactions with the investigators, give their impressions of the victims, perhaps advance a theory as to motive and logic of the crime. Clifford Irving was all in this book so much and I don’t know if I liked it or hated it.

An argument could be truthfully made that the author had to include himself as the guys spent many hours with the prosecutor, the defense lawyers, even the court room judge!

This as the trial was ongoing and again, at times I found Irving’s inserted thoughts and actions annoying, at times I found them fascinating.

Another famous true crime author, a fellow I know personally and who I once interview, Mr. Jack Olsen, is also very much a part of this book. Olsen, no longer with us alas, too wrote a book about this trial. I haven’t read it but Jack Olsen would NEVER insert his own august self into a true crime story.

The author, I hasten to add in the interest of fairness, DID actually testify in the trial and for this, and other, reasons, there was reason for him to include himself in the story.

Still, it unnerved me. And I for sure didn’t like the author’s interpretation of what really happened the night James and Virginia Campbell were murdered in their beds, as they slept.

I’d give this book a solid B+ in terms of writing and trial intrigue. It was, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, EXTREMELY long.

I’ve never been known as a miser with words but Irving stretched this story out until I wanted to slap him silly.

This is the story of a nut job, David West, who admitted to killing the two victims, for the damn dumbest reason I can possibly imagine.

The daughter of the victims was charged also with accessory to murder as West alleged Cindy Campbell accompanied him the night he did the deed.

You will read lots of paragraphs about Cindy’s weight, something that again made me want to slap the author….it was just soooo boring.

You will hear stories of the juries, personality profiles of the prosecutor, bed habits of the defense lawyers, tales of an unusual sting, even details of the court stenographer’s need for constant breaks.

If you’ve got a couple of weeks to devote to a book, and are a true crime book aficionado, consider giving this book a read.

A lot of words is not necessarily a bad thing, Consider Stephen King.

So if yon reader is up to it, give it a try. It’s one hell of a story.