Saturday Dad Reads Week of April 18

Welcome to this week’s AND OUR FIRST EVER edition! Here’s what we’ve got lined up:

• 📕 This week’s Book Summary and Review: In Cold Blood 

• 🧑‍🦳 Author Bio: Truman Capote

• 💣️ Dad’s Knowledge Bomb: Holcomb, Kansas and the Clutter House

• 🎻 This week’s Dad Rant: Spring Concert Season

• 🥇 Saturday Dad’s Top Reads List and Archive

• ☕️ Overview of the Saturday Dad rating scale

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Summary

A non-fiction story split into four parts, In Cold Blood details the brutal murders of the members of the Herbert Clutter family, who were killed at close range by shotgun blasts in the middle of a November night in 1959. The book begins with a detailed portrait of each member of the Clutter family as they were when they were alive along with a profile of the perpetrators, Dick Hickok and Perry Smith. The book further details the reaction of the local Holcomb, Kansas community to the crimes, the exploits of the perpetrators, the search for them, and their ultimate capture and trial.

Review

At my previous school, the AP Language and Rhetoric students read this book every year. The kids hated it and I could see why. The cover of their edition was extremely bland and minimalist, an homage to the bleakness of the Kansas prairie where the story takes place (I wouldn’t expect high school students to appreciate the simplicity of the cover art - I fully didn’t appreciate it until I had finished the book). There are also no “chapters” to speak of, just spacing and indentation on certain pages where the focus of the narrative shifts. Lastly, the text is incredibly dense, detailed and crammed onto the page in a tiny font. The kids complained about reading it so much that I finally decided to check it out for myself.

What I encountered was, and is, an absolute masterwork of synthesis and reportage. Vivid in its detail and compelling enough to make you think critically about criminal behavior and the justice system. Further, I spent a lot of time listening to the Audible version of the book and Scott Brick is phenomenal on the narration.

While I’ve never read any of Capote’s other work, I was hooked from the start and can appreciate why many place him in the pantheon of American authors.

As the book unfolds in its four parts, Capote gives an intimate portrait of the book’s primary cast. We get to know each member of the Clutter family on their last day alive in so much detail that they could be sitting in the room next to us as we read and we’d be able to stop reading and ask them questions about their day without giving pause. We come to know the twisted inner-workings of the psyche’s of Dick and Perry, the perpetrators. We chain smoke cigarettes and guzzle black coffee with the law enforcement agents tasked with solving the murders and bringing the murderers to justice.

Capote paints this portrait with the objective eye of a seasoned journalist, albeit with the novelist’s flair for figurative language. For example, on multiple occasions, he refers to two stray cats prowling the streets of Garden City, Kansas looking for dead birds and other food scraps inside of still warm car bumpers and engines before transitioning to talking about the criminals themselves. Its as if metaphorically, Dick and Perry are those mangy cats lurking at the outskirts of society.

Capote also forces us to draw our own conclusions about the murders and perpetrators themselves. Could the Clutter family murders have been a “psychological accident” (as one expert will comment during Dick and Perry’s trial)? Were Dick and Perry “insane” or just “scumbags” who knew what they were doing? Could Perry “match sob stories with 100 other people” (as yet another individual would weigh in)?

Beyond these questions, through the latter quarter of the book we’re forced to reckon with how a confession can impact the circumstance of a fair trial and whether or not capital punishment is warranted. Capote manages to do all of this without, in my opinion, forcing his own thoughts or bias on us. The true magic of the book is how he forces the reader to join the jury of their peers to determine the guilt and fate of Dick and Perry.

Nevertheless, as I closed this one out, I couldn’t help but think about an old Arab proverb I once read: “Evil is of old date.” Those who would do evil will continue to be among us. But, as Capote shows us in this book, we have to capacity to choose good or evil and likewise have the capacity to condemn when evil acts occur.

For the inaugural “Saturday Day Reads” rating, I give this one a 5/5 cups of coffee. Send the kids to grandma’s house and call off work. You’re not going to be able to put this one down. Make a whole pot and settle in for the long haul!

Author Bio

Truman Capote wasn’t always Truman Capote. If my legal name was “Truman Streckfus Persons”, I’d try to find something that ran a bit more easily off the tongue, too. I’d also probably consume myself with books and writing at an early age if my parents shipped me off to live with relatives in Alabama. Although, moving back in with them in New York City and graduating from a swanky private school could be cool. Working for the New Yorker would be a pretty sweet gig and I think I’d purposefully try to piss off Robert Frost. “Whose woods are these? I think you know. They’re mine, Bobby.” Everyone would think I’m a nut for angering a poet laureate, then I could get out of serving in World War II for being “too neurotic.”

Since I wouldn’t be serving in the armed forces, I’d spend my time writing and publish some dope short stories like, “A Christmas Memory” and then write some fiction that’s way out there for my time like Other Voices, Other Rooms. I’d also take advantage of the fact that Harper Lee is my friend and get advice at how to live off of one great book.

I’d play the Broadway game and eventually drop Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Holly Golightly on the world. Then I’d become fascinated by a true life murder mystery and spend 6 years going back and forth to Kansas and writing about it, resulting in In Cold Blood. My literary reputation would carry me to the circles of the elite and get me involved in relationships I’d regret, but I’d never publish any other books after In Cold Blood. I’d then fall into a relentless cycle of substance abuse and alcoholism, causing me to eventually die young.

However, that’s not me. I’m not Truman Capote.

This Week’s Knowledge Bomb 💣️ 

Holcomb, Kansas: Your Next Vacation Destination

Having grown up in small town America, there is something that appealed to me in the form of Holcomb, Kansas. If you’re looking for places that are quite literally off the beaten path, look no further. Here’s a couple of quick facts about Holcomb and its environs:

• As of the 2020 census, the town’s population stood at 2,245. For reasons unlisted, the town experienced at nearly 200% population growth between 1970 and 1980. It did not cross the 2,000 person threshold until 2000.

• The Longhorns of local Holcomb HS, have won multiple state championships in multiple sports: football in 2015 and 2017, boys basketball in 2015 and 2017, and baseball in 2017. Oh, to be a Longhorn sports fan in 2017! (For those of you who know and love ball, here’s a clip of some Holcomb HS highlights from their 2015 run.)

• If you’re hungry while you’re in town, check out the Thirsty Dawg. Looks like an awesome spot with great bar food at reasonable prices and an average review score of 4.6 on Google. They don’t have a website, but you can find them on Facebook or Travel Kansas.

• Most likely though, if you’re coming to Holcomb, Kansas, you’re a huge Capote and In Cold Blood fan because the Clutter homestead, where the murders chronicled in the book took place, still stands today. To see the house itself and to get a feel for the endless Kansas prairie, check out this video here, courtesy of Frontiersman Adventures. While the video is a few years old, it looks like the house and land are currently occupied as evidenced by the German Shepherds that accost the gentleman in the video.

This Week’s Dad Rant: Spring Concert Season

My kids’ school district has a great music program. Students get exposed to playing an instrument in elementary school and, if they’re interested and enjoy it, they can continue it throughout their academic career until they graduate. Now, 2 of my 4 kids currently play instruments and they have opted to go the orchestral route: 1 plays the violin and 1 plays the viola. Lucky. Me.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of listening to a 4th and 5th grader (1st and 2nd year orchestra students, respectively) practice the violin and viola you are missing out on a sonic treat. I liken it to the sounds of multiple cats fighting in an alleyway late at night: Multiple loud screeches, followed by a pause and then multiple screeches. Repeat.

When they practice at home they always end up picking the most inopportune times to do so. In my house, it never fails that they want to practice as soon as I sit down in the chair to unwind. I get the obligatory: “Dad, listen to this.” Followed by: “Dad has it been 10 minutes yet? Will you sign my practice sheet?” Sure buddy.

Then, two weeks ago, we have the annual “String Fling” concert where all the orchestra students from across the whole district gather to perform. It’s a rousing affair. My kids played a total of 4 songs. 3 of which were at the very beginning of the concert. The 4th was the final song. This too, was a delight. “Bile ‘Em Cabbage Down",” is a hell of a banger. Really gets the people going.

That all being said, I have to say this concert was worth it. The kids got dressed up, we took corny pictures with the grandmas, and it was a proud moment to see them up on the stage. Was it the first thing I wanted to do on a Thursday night after a long day at work? No. Was it going to be a pain in the ass to rush around to get them to the school by 6 and then sit in the auditorium until the concert started at 7? Yes. Was I going to be pissed that I couldn’t eat dinner until 8:30PM? Yes. Was the concert worth it? Hell yes.

I got to see the fruits of their labor firsthand. All those screeching practices now sounded like actual music. The work that the kids put in and the work of the teachers to get them to this point was nothing short of spectacular. I could see the growth and I was so proud. Further, there was a window into what things could become. If my kids stick with it, they could be the ones playing the Star Wars Main Theme (as the high school orchestra did) at their high school “String Flings.”

With that, for all of you dads, moms, and parents out there with a kid just learning to play an instrument - hang in there. Its worth it to see the growth in the end.

Saturday Dad’s Top 5

• Current Top 5 Reads of 2025 (in no particular order - just the best books I’ve read so far this year):

  • Small Town Sins - Ken Jaworowski

  • Bird Box - Josh Malerman

  • Bound by Blood - Shawn David Brink

  • Death Without Company (Walt Longmire #2) - Craig Johnson

  • In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

• Saturday Dad Archive - an ongoing list of what I’ve read in the past. Coming soon!

  *Disclaimer: yes these are links to Amazon. No I’m not signed up for the affiliate program - yet.