The Peyton Place Murder, Renee Mallett
The Peyton Place Murder, Renee Mallett
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The Peyton Place Murder
The True Crime Story behind the Novel That Shocked the Nation

Author: Renee Mallett

Narrator: Mia Gaskin

Unabridged: 4 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/05/2021

Synopsis

Grace Metalious, born and raised in Manchester, New Hampshire, came from humble beginnings. A former mill worker, mother of three, and school principal’s wife, she would shock the nation in 1956 with the publication of Peyton Place, her first novel about a murder in a small town.Quickly becoming the bestselling book of its time, the sexually charged book spawned sequels, two Hollywood movies, and a long-running television series on ABC starring Mia Farrow and Ryan O’Neal. It also made Metalious a pariah in the town where she lived and tabloid fodder for years, ultimately leading to the her untimely death at the age of thirty-nine.Unknown to most readers, behind the fictional story about the lives and scandals of residents of a small New England town Metalious called Peyton Place lay a dark secret based on fact. The story was, in part, inspired by a true-life crime known in the press as “the Sheep Pen Murder,” which took place in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, in the late 1940s.In The Peyton Place Murder: The True Crime Story behind the Novel That Shocked the Nation, historian Renee Mallett skillfully weaves together the lives of Metalious and Barbara Roberts, the confessed killer behind the Sheep Pen Murder. In her book, Mallett shines a new light on the inspiration behind the shocking bestselling novel and explores what happens when true crime and literature meet.

About Renee Mallett

Renee Mallett is the author of several books and numerous pieces of short fiction and poetry. She has been a book critic for several online and print literary journals. Mallett has published articles on a variety of topics ranging from celebrity interviews and travel essays, to fashion reporting.

About Mia Gaskin

Mia Gaskin earned a degree in theater from the University of California San Diego and has performed professionally both on stage and in indie films. She has lent her voice to over one-hundred audiobooks from her state-of-the-art home studio in Oregon.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Erin on June 15, 2021

thanks to WildBlue Press for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Happy publication day! Renee Mallett has many nonfiction books under her belt, most of them featuring New Hampshire, and nearly all of them are related to the paranormal, the creepy and the do......more

Goodreads review by Linda on June 15, 2021

The True Crime Story Behind The Novel That Shocked The Natio For those of us of a certain age, we remember when Peyton Place was a TV series beginning in 1964. Before that was a book written by Grace Metalious written in 1956. At the time the book came out it created al sorts of havoc. Grace was the w......more

Goodreads review by Raghav on July 30, 2021

It’s weird to say that I like true-crime books, but I do. Capote’s In True Blood is, after all, one of my all-time favorite reads. The Peyton Place Murder is somewhat similar but also wildly different. Now, I had no clue about the original book or its author before I picked this particular book up.......more

Goodreads review by Armand on August 22, 2021

Having never read Peyton Place and barely remembering the movie, I thought this was going to be dull. It was anything but. Great ties with the actual murder the story was loosely based on, and lots of facts about the author of Peyton Place, I couldn't put this down. Loved it.......more

Goodreads review by Renee on June 24, 2021

This book is a great read! Grace Metalious, the author begins the book with an intimate telling of the life of the Peyton Place book. Even Grace's mother makes a statement that authors are famous for one book, look at Harper Lee. The small New England town was very descriptive. Being that I did many......more

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