Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Deadly Triangle:
Canadian murder, eh!
Quick synopsis:
The 1935 murder of famous Canadian architect Francis Mawson Rattenbury.
Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like:
Francis Rattenbury had a major windfall in creating a government building by negotiating his profits to be tied to the final cost. He then went over budget by twice the original amount. Canadians are trusting people.
Fun Fact for History Nerds:
That same government building didn’t have a press area and the lieutenant governor didn’t even have their own bathroom.
My Take on Deadly Triangle:
Deadly Triangle by Susan Goldenberg is unfortunately one of those stories that should just stay a Wikipedia entry. Goldenberg recounts the murder of a famous Canadian architect by his wife’s much younger lover and the aftermath.
There are some twists and turns I won’t spoil here, but the narrative breaks under the weight of a story that is not long enough for a book. Goldenberg is forced to speculate, repeat, and define very simple things just to reach book length and the whole thing is still very short. The second half of the book is mostly direct court testimony and newspaper articles. As a reader, I just couldn’t connect with anyone in the book or with the murder/scandal as a whole.
(This book was provided to me as an advance copy by NetGalley and Dundurn Press.)
Verdict:
A good writer doing their best, but the story can’t sustain the whole book. It’s not without some good twists. Buy it here!
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