Rarely has a fascinating event been so ill-supported by its tellers.

"The Kentucky Tragedy" was a strange, strange event in which a politician named Solomon P. Sharp (probably) seduced and impregnated a woman named Ann Cook. She retired into seclusion until a much younger man named Jeroboam Beauchamp sought her out and induced her to start talking to men again. Eventually, he asked her to marry; she said she would only marry a man who would murder Sharp. He said he was happy to do so (since he had sought her out because she was a desolate woman), and in 1825 he set out for Frankfort and carried out the murder. But he was detected, caught, convicted, and sentenced to die in 1826. Beauchamp and Cook attempted suicide instead. Twice, in fact, once shortly before his execution, the second time on the day of the execution. The first attempt had been a fiasco; the second time, they knifed themselves. Cook's wound was fatal; Beauchamp, less injured, might possibly have survived if treated, but they hung him instead lest he be allowed to die unmolested. So all three lovers -- or perhaps we should say "all three haters" -- were dead, all as the result of one or another death pact.

It was tragic, romantic, and utterly absurd.

There are several books and poems about it; most are hard to obtain. This is probably the most available, but it isn't as much help as one would like. It consists mostly of primary sources -- in particular, the detailed confession that Beauchamp wrote while awaiting execution. (They actually gave him some extra weeks to write it up.) It also has a number of Cook's letters to a friend (including one in which she declares her intent to die; she finished it shortly before one of the suicide attempts) and a memorial by Sharp's brother eulogizing the dead Sharp. All of these are worth having, but the Beauchamp confession (although mostly honest about his thoughts) is an attempt to justify murder; the Cook letters reveal little except her unusual state of mind; and the Sharp memorial goes out of its way to try to make Cook look bad (among other things, claiming that Sharp couldn't have fathered her baby because the baby was black!) and refuses to admit Sharp's despicable behavior. It is very hard to really figure out what happened based on these sources. And, to make things worse, they're mostly pretty boring -- Sharp the worst, Cook the most interesting, but Cook doesn't supply any explanation for what is going on.

Thus anyone who really wishes to study the tragedy will need another book to try to get the details. Then, if you're obsessive enough, you can read this and try for the insiders' view. But I think you have to be really obsessive. I found the tragedy fascinating -- and I still found this book an incredible slog. ( )