As a young police officer in the early 1980s, Jane Monckton-Smith experienced her first domestic-violence case. A young woman had been smashed over the head with a hammer. Her partner, the assailant, had fled. Although bleeding, she refused to go to hospital. The question “Why” led Monckton-Smith to a lifetime study of “intimate partner homicide”.
Pivotal to her findings is the possibly ground-breaking theory she calls The Homicide Timeline. Consisting of eight phases, it completely debunks the notion of the crime of passion. Rather than being spontaneous, domestic homicide slowly builds to murder. Too often society supports the crime-of-passion narrative and the murderers see themselves as victims, a veiled plea for solidarity – as in, Vincent, one of her chilling case studies. Grim, but clearly and compellingly argued. SC
The Diviner Comedy
Desmond O’Grady, Arcadia, $29.95
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Desmond O’Grady is an expatriate Australian writer whose connection with Italy goes back almost 70 years, and he has lived and worked in Rome since 1962. He has also written extensively about Italy, more specifically about Tuscany, and most specifically of all about Dante Alighieri and The Divine Comedy.