Heather’s Bookshelf: Immunity for Murder: The Veronica Taft Story
Author: David M. Beers
Released: 12/01/21
Genre: True Crime
“Meanwhile, doctors and staff continued their heroic efforts despite how hopeless it seemed, using any/all medical means available for nearly an hour. But Lyric’s body monitor remained flatlined throughout, and his body temperature continued to drop. There was never any return of spontaneous pulse, respiration, or blood pressure. And the early onset of rigor mortis was starting to appear. Tragically, at 12:06p.m., doctors were forced to make the call, and it became official — Lyric was dead.”
“Immunity for Murder: The Veronica Taft Story” is a true crime story written and narrated by the defense investigator after a woman is sentenced to 25 years to life for the murder of her two-year-old son, Lyric.
The story is told through the investigator’s research, evidence, and point of view (including in many cases his opinion). Veronica Taft, a single mother with four small children, spends more than five years in prison before being set free by an Appellate Court decision. The story details what leads up to the arrest, the conviction, and the overturn of the conviction.
Trigger Warning: adult/racist language, violence including to a child
Overall, I enjoyed learning about Veronica Taft’s case and poor little Lyric. It’s really one of those cases that are tragic from start to finish and offers a (hopefully) learning experience for future investigations and cases. The author inserts exact transcripts of some of the witness interviews which adds significant credibility to the story. However, the language used is challenging to follow, riddled with profanity and racist language (which makes it a little awkward listening as an audiobook), and often repetitive. I think this might have been better depicted and explained in a narrative form with excerpts. The hard copy of the book also contains pictures from the case which I think are important and moving (including images of adorable baby Lyric). In each of these ways, I think this book is better read than listened to. It is also clear through some of the dialogue (and especially through the author’s notes) that the author is quite biased in some of his perceptions and views. It is also in this way that I think this might have been better written as a narrative “based on true events”.
I ended up checking out this story on audiobook. The author does the reading. There are some fluctuations in volume and speed of reading, but overall pleasant to listen to.
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
OVERALL REVIEW:
A true crime tale about the death of a child and his wrongfully accused mother.
Want to learn more about the author?
Check out my interview with David M. Beers
Interested in checking out the book for yourself?
Find it for purchase here or Audible
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