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Two Political Murders Connie Sommerlad and her killer Jack Kelly THERE can be no doubt that when John Trevor Kelly took an axe and brutally killed Connie Sommerlad in northern New South Wales town of Tenterfield early in 1939, there would be profound political repercussions, for his victim was the niece of a powerful State politician and local media baron. But while the political heavyweight was totally opposed to capital punishment on religious and moral grounds, his conservative political allies in the state parliament acted as though they ‘owed him one’ and were determined to wreak revenge against the wretched Kelly for his abominable act, despite the fact the state had consciously stopped executing people more than a year earlier. So the hanging of Jack Kelly was a very political execution indeed. A supportive comment: “This represents a fantastic piece of meticulous research, and it is a great story of course.” – Richard Walsh, publishing consultant, Allen & Unwin, Sydney. Two Political Murders by Tony Reeves was published in 2009 by Reeves Lourensz Group Pty Ltd and appears on lulu.com. |
 Where to buy Click here A critic's comments: In the pantheon of contemporary crime writing Tony Reeves has no equal in Australia. He is a walking encyclopedia on the subject of corrupt politicians, bent coppers and their mates in the criminal fraternity. Nothing escapes his eagle eye and his enquiring mind. Add an engaging writing style and meticulous research and the result is becoming a reference library to what may be Australia's major industry. He's been actively engaged thus for some four decades, so he's no "flash in the pan" although he achieved national recognition only recently with his ground-breaking books on Lennie McPherson and Abe Saffron, the Mr Big and Mr Sin of Sydney's crime scene. He followed those award-winning tomes with Getting Away With Murder, the first of a monumental trilogy, and he's done it again with his latest opus Two Political Murders. This is the story of axe murderer Jack Kelly, the last man to be hanged in New South Wales, whose execution proved to be another exercise in political chicanery that is the norm thereabouts. Hence the title. It's a fascinating and colourful tale of the times with detail that will delight those who appreciate the finer points of such vital literary application. The case dates to 1939 but Tony's reportage gives it a sense of the contemporary. It might have happened yesterday. This is another landmark in the Reeves' lexicon, a classical expose of crime and consequence that should be read by all who value the craft of crime writing and the recounting of a gripping story whose implications reverberate to the present day. -- Barry Ward |