The Murderess
Winnie Ruth Judd, a 26-year-old medical secretary, wife to Dr. William Judd and infamous murderess of the title, is the subject of Notaro’s novel examining the circumstances of two gruesome killings which took place in 1931. Both victims were Ruth’s best and only friends. Since there is no question of guilt here, the novel seeks to discover what might have happened between Ruth arriving in Phoenix and working at the same clinic as X-ray technician Anne Le Roi and subsequently meeting the seriously consumptive Hedvig ‘Sammy’ Samuelson, for whom Anne was a live-in carer and more. Young and often bedridden, Sammy craved company – perhaps all three women did while doing their best to survive the Depression. Having met lumberman Jack Hollman and beginning an on/off affair despite being married, Ruth introduced her girlfriends to the social high-flyer. Things escalated into jealousy, which Anne immaturely perpetuated. Ruth didn’t deny having killed both her friends and claimed self-defense.
The first section is procedurally tidy in its graphic description of the factual record, and Notaro’s expertise shines best in the neutral tone with which she breathes new life into an old story which relates events from inside Ruth’s head. We watch and surmise through Ruth’s eyes with enough detail to wonder if she was given a fair trial. Certainly, she suffered from delusions and mental health issues which followed her all her life. But the 1930s were different times, the story is a curious one, and Ruth’s husband’s behaviour is odd. The novel left me wondering whether a physically tiny young woman could have committed the heinous crimes she was accused of. An impressive biographical crime novel, well worth reading, in which I was encouraged to empathise, but not moved towards pity and exoneration. Ruth Judd undoubtedly needed help she didn’t get.
