Wow. MURDER OF A MAFIA DAUGHTER was a real eye-opener. I don’t recall ever hearing about Susan Berman unless I possibly caught a glimpse of her story on Unsolved Mysteries or Dateline. Her story is an interesting one. She was a journalist, a writer, and the daughter of a Las Vegas mobster. Growing up, she was privileged but also protected from knowing her dad’s true business. She seems to have been a very complex person but when all the people she loved in her life died, she was lost. After becoming involved with Robert Durst, everything changed. Whether or not he killed her, I wouldn’t begin to know. This book sheds light on her story in an unbiased way.
The book starts out with her death and the crime scene. I was shocked to hear how tainted the evidence was and don’t know how or why anyone would enter a potential crime scene and move things around or touch anything. It then goes on to tell her story from childhood to adulthood right up to the week of her death. She was eccentric, quirky, and seemed to be a very smart woman. She also appeared to be enjoying her life. She was busy writing and working on television shows and like most people, had a few ups and downs. Then one day she was found shot in the back of the head in her home where nothing had been out-of-place.
Another interesting part of this book was the story of her father Dave Berman. It talks about how he grew up and moved to Nevada as well as a few of the people he was associated with. He was from Odessa in the Ukraine and migrated to the U.S. Hearing about his life in the mob was intriguing to say the least. The whole thing was fascinating to listen to. I don’t know how I feel about peering into another person’s extraordinary life after they’ve passed. And many of the people in this book are still alive.
To sum it up, this was still a good listen. If you like true crime then this is definitely it. I don’t feel anyone is passing judgement, they’re just telling a story. And I don’t want to pass judgement either.
Kevin Pierce did a superb job narrating this book. He was straightforward and humble. He told the story the way it should be told. I feel that him reading a story like this shows him as more than a narrator but also as an empathetic person. He did the story justice and was the perfect person for this work.
Audiobook gifted in exchange for review.