In Cold Blood: Truman Capote's Chilling Non-fiction Crime Novel

In Cold Blood is a non-fiction novel by author Truman Capote, published in 1966. It chronicles the 1959 murders of four members of the Herbert Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas. Herb Clutter was a wealthy farmer in western Kansas. He employed as many as 18 workers, who admired and respected him for his fair treatment and good wages. Two elder daughters, Eveanna and Beverly, had moved out and started their adult lives; Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15, were in high school. Two ex-convicts recently paroled from the Kansas State Penitentiary, Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, committed the robbery and murders. It happened in the early morning hours of November 15, 1959. The plan was hatched by Hickock who learned about Mr. Clutter from Floyd Wells, a former cellmate (yes, Hickock had a “jacket”). Wells had worked for Herb Clutter and told Hickock that Clutter kept large amounts of cash in a safe at his home. Hickock hatched the idea to steal the saf