Speed Kills

Arthur Jay Harris has written a very good book about the murder of Don Aronow. This is not a biography of Don Aronow. Indeed, the first real discussion of his background does not appear until Chapter 8. However, it is a good recreation of the police investigation of the crime. The book begins on February 3, 1987, the date of the murder, and continues in chronological order for most of the book. It is told from the viewpoint of the police and painstakingly recreates their search for the killer. All the reports, all the witnesses, and all the false leads are decribed in intimate detail. One problem is that there are so many players in this game, it is hard to keep them all straight. Harris contiunes, date by date, detailing everything. It is really a textbook for how the police investigate a difficult crime. Harris does not speculate at all, he reports only the facts as he collected them and leaves the speculation to others. One thing that would have improved the book would have been more pictures. There are plenty of photos of Aronow and Ben Kramer, but there is only one small picture of Bobby Young, the actual trigger man. More photos of him and of Aronow's wife and children, as well as some of the other major players, would have been welcome. All in all, this is a very good book and would be enjoyed by murder mystery fans as well as fans of Don Aronow.