That's the cover, a lovely photo of Meredith Kercher, whose murder in November 2007 will perhaps never be fully elucidated. Those who know something are not talking. But books galore are in the works. I'm pleased that John Kercher, Meredith's father, will beat both Sollecito and Knox to publication.
Although virtually unknown in America, probably because he is Italian, Raffaele Sollecito has nonetheless managed to find a publisher thanks to his agent, who is lately based on Mercer Island, the affluent suburb to the east of Seattle that boasts more face lifts, boob jobs and French nails per square block than any other suburb on earth I'm told. Sollecito has found a bombastic journalist to cowrite his best version of the truth, which should be out by this fall. As for Amanda Knox, the publisher is saying 2013. A co-author has to be found and there is the pesky question of how Italy's Supreme Court will respond to Judge Hellmann's perplexing acquittal.
I have high hopes for John Kercher's book. After all, he is actually a journalist and has no particular agenda. He just wants to pay homage to his daughter who, in the frenzied PR-driven attempt to clear the two white kids, was ruthlessly erased. Worse than that, she has been the victim of an organized, posthumous smear campaign. She deserves better. The Knox groupies are in quite a tizzy over John Kercher's book, and have been busy strewing its path to publication with the usual trash and innuendo. If they keep it up, they could be credited with boosting sales of this book. It will be out in the UK at the end of this month. Expect no coverage in Seattle, where the media have been told to forget about the dead girl. We have a very obedient media it seems. John Henry Browne just got front-page treatment in the Sunday Times. This is the guy who defends mostly white guys, it seems, saving them from the harshest penalties for heinous acts by invoking their rough upbringings and, if necessary, brain damage - usually temporary. Sound familiar? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only high-profile case under Browne's belt that I know of where the perp wasn't a white man was the one where he defended one of the authors of the Wah Mee massacre. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think more than 20 people were killed in that horrific spree.
