Gary Boynton True Crime Book Reviews!

Just after New Year's Day, 2002, the nude body of fashion writer
Christa Worthington was found in her home in Truro, Massachusetts. Her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter lay by her side, nursing. The murder remains unsolved.

The author lived in the same town, less than a mile from the crime scene. The proximity of the murder, along with the fact that she was a single mother, like the victim, lead Flook to identify with her on both levels and to conduct a "literary investigation" into the case.

Invisible Eden tells many tales. It chronicles Worthington's
dysfunctional family life, including her father's affair with a drug
addict, and Christa's disharmony with her cousins. We also learn of her many unhappy relationships with a wide range of men, several of whom remain the most viable suspects in her murder.

When Worthington left her seemingly glamorous life as a fashion
journalist in Paris, London and New York behind to settle in the remotest part of Cape Cod, she became involved with the married Shellfish Warden and local Lothario, Tony Jackett, and eventually bore his daughter. She also had a failed fling with a disabled fisherman named Tim Arnold, who discovered her body.

Both of these former lovers of the victim soon became the prime
suspects in her murder. Another suspect was a former boyfriend named T.C. Churchwell, who performed as a magician in strip clubs and at the private parties of celebrities.

Flook tells us a lot of intimate details about Christa
Worthington's love life and some of its unintended consequences, such as the custody battle between her daughter's father's family and the caring friends who took the little girl in after Christa's death.

She also documents the highs and lows of her professional life and the ultimate disillusionment that lead to her escape to Cape Cod.

At times these details can be quite fascinating, while at other
times they become tiresomely tabloidish and detract from the murder story at the heart of the book. The latter can also be said of Flook's running commentary on her interactions with the Assistant District Attorney handling the investigation of Christa Worthington's murder, and her attempts to identify with the victim.

This is an intriguing case and Flook is a talented writer. Despite
the author intrusions and diversions from the core of the story that plague this "literary investigation," Invisible Eden is still an engrossing read.

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