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Former Massachusetts Appeals Court Justice Marc Kantrowitz will discuss his new book “Old Whiskey and Young Women” at the Walpole Public Library on March 10 at 7 p.m.
The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Walpole Public Library as part of its Author Series, admission is free and all are welcome.
For this book, Kantrowitz has researched and compiled an exploration of some of the most notorious legal cases in American history. What they have in common is that they titillated, if not repulsed, the entire nation when they first occurred. What they still have in common is that, for the most part, today they are nearly totally forgotten.
The unfair framing for murder of America’s most famous comedian; America’s first capital case involving an older woman and her much younger lover murdering her husband; the wealthy and mad son of a steel magnate, killing America’s foremost architect over a beautiful woman – these all come to life in gripping detail and drama.
And meet the real Norman Bates of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, whose mother fixation and real life gruesome crimes far outmatched those of any fictional character. This book brings to life these notorious characters and many more from the rich pages of history.
R. Marc Kantrowitz is well known in Massachusetts legal circles as a most prolific author on state law with an impressive list of academic and non-academic works among his many publications. He’s also an occasional contributor to The Patriot Ledger.
From 1979 to 1985 he was an Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County (Boston), prosecuting cases in the District and Superior Courts. In 1985, he started his own practice, concentrating in civil and criminal litigation.
Among his many assignments, he was the lead attorney on 24 first-degree murder cases. In 1995, Governor William Weld appointed him to serve as an associate justice on the Juvenile Court, where he served for six years. Governor Paul Cellucci then named him to the Appeals Court, where he took the oath of office on February 5, 2001.
Throughout his career he has written extensively. His first article, published in 1980, involved his performing as a stand-up comic in New York City.
After he left the DA's Office, he published his first book, the Massachusetts Compendium of Criminal Law. The book, a mainstay in the criminal courts throughout the Commonwealth, continues to be published annually. Now called the Massachusetts Criminal Law Sourcebook, it's co-written with fellow authors Helle Sachse and Tim Maguire.
Over the years he has written two Massachusetts Practice books, published by West Publishing (now Thomson Reuters) on criminal and mental health law.
He has also written, co-written or edited books on juvenile law, civil law and evidence. In addition to these writings, he has written several law related articles. He is the most highly published author on state law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
A decade ago, he turned his attention to writing books outside of the legal sphere. He published three books with Acadia Publishing, the world's largest publisher of regional, state and local history, on the towns of Canton (2000) and Ashland (2001) and of Framingham State University (2003).
In 2011, he co-authored Walking Tours of Civil War Boston, the Official Guidebook of the Freedom Trail Foundation.
He continues to write. The second edition of his Massachusetts Evidence from A-Z, first published by LexisNexis in 2003, has recently been released by Lawyers Weekly. And now, “Old Whiskey and Young Women” has just been released.
