AND
EVERY
WORD
IS TRUE
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Gary McAvoy
––––––––
––––––––
2019
Copyright © 2019 by Gary McAvoy
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please contact the publisher at the addresses below.
Hardcover ISBN 978-0-9908376-0-2
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9908376-1-9
ebook ISBN: 978-0-9908376-3-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018911995
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: McAvoy, Gary, author.
Title: And Every Word is True / Gary McAvoy.
Description: Includes bibliographical references and index. | Bremerton, WA: Literati Editions, 2019.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018911995 | ISBN 978-0-9908376-0-2 (Hardcover)
| 978-0-9908376-1-9 (pbk.) | 978-0-9908376-3-3 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH Murder—Kansas—Case studies. | Murder—Kansas—Olathe. | Crime—United States—History—20th century. | Kansas Bureau of Investigation—History. | Law enforcement—Kansas—History. | Capote, Truman, 1924-1984. | BISAC TRUE CRIME / Murder / Mass Murder | TRUE CRIME / Historical
Classification: LCC HV6533.K3 M3 2019 | DDC 364.1/523/0978144—dc23
Published by:
Literati Editions
PO Box 5987
Bremerton, WA 98312-5987
Email: info@LiteratiEditions.com
Visit the author’s website at www.garymcavoy.com
Cover design by John Burgess/2Seventy
Printed in the United States of America
Every effort has been made to determine legitimate ownership of all copyrighted material, including photographic images for which copyright protection has expired or was never registered. The author and publisher regret any inadvertent errors and offer to make corrections in future printings.
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NOTE TO THE READER
This book is the result of over six years of research relying on a generous collection of source material, including the personal investigative notebooks of Kansas Bureau of Investigation Special Agent and former director Harold R. Nye; official State of Kansas law enforcement reports, prison records, photographs, and other largely-inaccessible documents published here for the first time, as permitted by Kansas court ruling; reports found in the preserved files of the Finney County Sheriff’s office, including photos, copies of KBI investigation reports, copies of memoranda written by local police and KBI investigators; the original research papers of Truman Capote and Nelle Harper Lee archived in the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress, and the product of that research, Capote’s nonfiction novel In Cold Blood; Richard Hickock’s Death Row letters; Perry Smith’s personal journals and correspondence; publicly available records and news reports; books and articles published over the past 60 years specific to the subject matter; and extensive interviews with scores of individuals related to the events or hypotheses contained herein. Where appropriate—and without revealing the identity of certain sources who have requested anonymity—all references are cited in the narrative or in endnotes. Unless otherwise attributed, opinions expressed in this work are solely those of the author.
— Gary McAvoy
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This book is dedicated to
the career and memory of
Harold R. Nye
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“In Cold Blood is the story of these six people—the Clutters, who died together November 15, 1959, and Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, who were hanged April 14, 1965. And my book is the story of their lives and their deaths. It’s a completely factual account and every word is true.”
– Truman Capote
“Capote has, in short, achieved a work of art. He has told exceedingly well a tale of high terror in his own way. But, despite the brilliance of his self-publicizing efforts, he has made both a tactical and a moral error that will hurt him in the short run. By insisting that ‘every word’ of his book is true he has made himself vulnerable to those readers who are prepared to examine seriously such a sweeping claim.”