John Taylor is the author of "The Count and the Confession," a true crime novel surrounding the prosecution and conviction of Beverly Monroe. The book is set for widespread publication in May, but Taylor talks here about his motives and interests behind the writing of this psychologically complex unsolved mystery.
Cavalier Daily: Recently, you have been noted for your publication of both "Falling," a story of your own divorce, and "Storming the Magic Kingdom," a history of the Disney Empire. Does "The Count and the Confession" mark a shift in your chosen subject matter?
John Taylor: Well it's a shift in subject matter in a certain sense, but there's a similarity in them because what really interests me is conflict - and a conflict where you can see the sides of both people. And it makes more of a conflict where both sides are sympathetically or understandably portrayed, makes for some of the most compelling drama. It's also illuminating. People in dangerous conflicts reveal who they are. It's when you're faced with a crisis - the takeover of your company or disillusion with your marriage or being charged with a crime - that really reveals who you are. So all of the books that I've done have involved crises.
CD: Beyond the concept of the crisis, what was it about this particular story, which you read in a newspaper in the early 1990s, that really compelled you to write this book?
JT: Just reading it in a newspaper account, it was obviously one of the most fascinating and strangest crimes that I'd ever come across. The idea that this woman could implicate herself or confess to a crime that she later said that she hadn't committed because she'd been told that she had blocked the memory of it, blocked the memory of what had happened. Just the idea that you could be persuaded into believing something like that about yourself [drew me to the story].
CD: With the concept of the story in your mind and the very general background information from the newspaper accounts, how did you go about accumulating the histories and accounts for the book version?
JT: Once I had acquired their trust, once I had convinced people that I was sympathetic to their situation and that I was going to try and write the subject as fairly and honestly as I could, they would talk. It's a process, an interview technique of drawing people out, being patient and sympathetic, listening carefully, being non-judgmental. I felt that the background and the life histories of all of these people involved in the book were a very important part of the book - because it was who they were, what they had done in the past that had created their character and was decisive in influencing how they behaved when confronted with this crisis.
CD: These are very personal and emotionally trying memories for the subjects to dredge up. Was it difficult to get Beverly to talk about her own father's suicide or the morning when she found Roger dead on his couch?
JT: It was very difficult material for Beverly to go over, and reliving it was sort of traumatic and upsetting for her. She would break down and start crying at these memories of her own father's death - they overcame her while I was talking and became mixed with the memory of Roger's death. It was difficult for her to go into the details that I felt were necessary for the book.
CD: There were other characters in the novel that I found myself becoming especially frustrated with as I continued to read - Dave Riley in particular, and the police tactics that he used to convince Beverly of her guilt. Was it difficult as the "reporter" to maintain your level perspective?
JT: Well no, I think it's very important as a journalist to appear non-judgmental and sympathetic, and not only to appear that way but to be that way in your thinking and in your writing. So when writing the book, I wanted to try as much as possible to put myself in Agent Riley's shoes and see things from his point of view and try to explain in a non-judgmental way what he did and why he did it. I thought that would be more interesting, more dramatically compelling, and more illuminating for the reader than a book that set out to demonize the guy. The thing about Riley and his behavior is that he was trained to do all these things, the manipulation, the deception - it's a part of standard police behavior. It's a fact.
CD: I suppose I just found it difficult to believe that police are trained to act in this way toward possible suspects.
JT: I think a lot of people are not aware of the fact that the police are encouraged to lie and make up stories and tell suspects things like "you know you must have been there when he killed himself but you blocked it out." And this is a reason why I really wanted to write the book.
CD: Reading the book, I found myself alternating between supporting the prosecution and the defense. Was it difficult for you to maintain a fair representation of both sides?
JT: Well, you know, I mean, it required a certain amount of discipline and a certain amount of ability to project yourself into the shoes of the different people, but I thought that it was absolutely essential to try to tell the story as fully as possible. There is some very persuasive evidence pointing toward Beverly's innocence and some also pointing toward her guilt. It would have been possible, if I wanted to write a book just portraying her as this innocent victim of predatory police tactics, to have downplayed all the evidence of guilt and magnified her innocence. Conversely, I could have magnified the evidence supporting her guilt. I wanted to present both, wanted the reader to feel that he had gotten the fullest possible representations.
CD: After finishing the book and gathering all the information, did you come to any personal convictions about Beverly's guilt or innocence?
JT: Like one of the lawyers in the book said, I think that the evidence favors her as innocent. I think she's probably innocent. That's part of the dilemma - there's no actual definitive, irrefutable proof of her innocence. Even those people who are convinced can never entirely prove it.
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