This Crazy Thing Called Love
Braudy, Susan. This Crazy Thing Called Love: The Golden World and Fatal Marriage of Ann and Billy Woodward. First Edition. 1992. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition—jacket shows minor edgewear.
The tragic marriage of café society golden couple Billy and Ann Woodward has been the subject of two full-length books. The first was this gem from 1992. The second, published thirty years later, was Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire’s Wife, and the Murder of the Century. Ideally, the more recent book would add to the body of knowledge of the first with recently discovered information. As to the competing Woodward books, the opposite is true. It’s an exercise in subtraction. Why? For starters, Susan Braudy had better access. She interviewed Woodward family members and friends and researched Ann’s letters, journals, and photographs, and then expertly assembled the information into a compelling narrative. Though the ending is foretold—tragedy awaits—the book is nevertheless impossible to put down. The mystery is in the psychological makeup of the characters, most notably Ann, Billy, and Elsie Woodward (Billy’s mother). Strangely, the second book--Deliberate Cruelty—ignores This Crazy Thing Called Love altogether. It’s not even in the source material, and as result, it is more police procedural than compelling three-dimensional drama. Think you have no sympathy for Ann Woodward? Read this book.
“That Tuesday night [after the shooting] Michael Butler gave another dinner party for the Duchess of Windsor. The main course was Ann Woodward.”
--Susan Braudy