
Nothing but the Night
Leopold & Loeb and the Truth Behind the Murder That Rocked 1920s America
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $20.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Armando Riesco
About this listen
"With the enthusiastic delivery of an entertainment news anchor, narrator Armando Riesco emphasizes the shocking and obsessive elements of one of the most sensational crimes of all time." - AudioFile Magazine
"This audio will appeal to listeners seeking a compelling, well-researched, historical true crime presented in an in-depth and engaging manner."- Library Journal
Includes a bonus conversation between the authors and editor, Charles Spicer.
Greg King and Penny Wilson turn the original crime of the century on its head in Nothing But the Night, a riveting new exploration of the murder trial of Leopold & Loeb.
Nearly a hundred years ago, two wealthy and privileged teenagers—Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb—were charged and convicted in a gruesome crime that would lead to the original “Trial of the Century”. Even in Jazz Age Chicago, the murder was uniquely shocking for the motive of the killers: well-to-do Jewish scions, full of promise, had killed fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks for the thrill of it. The trial was made even more sensational by the revelation of a love affair between the defendants and by defense attorney Clarence Darrow, who delivered one of the most famous defense summations of all time to save the boys from the death penalty. The story of their mad folie à deux, with Loeb portrayed as the psychopathic mastermind and Leopold as his infatuated disciple, has been endlessly repeated and accepted by history as fact. And none of it is true.
Using twenty-first century investigative tools, forensics, and a modern understanding of the psychology of these infamous killers, Nothing but the Night turns history on its head. While Loeb has long been viewed as the architect behind the murders, King and Wilson’s new research points to Leopold as the dominant partner in the deadly relationship, uncovering a dark obsession with violence and sex. Nothing but the Night pulls listeners into the troubled world of Leopold and Loeb, revealing a more horrifying tale of passion, obsession, and betrayal than history ever imagined.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Blood & Ink
- The Scandalous Jazz Age Double Murder That Hooked America on True Crime
- By: Joe Pompeo
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On September 16, 1922, the bodies of Reverend Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills were found beneath a crabapple tree on an abandoned farm outside of New Brunswick, New Jersey. The killer had arranged the bodies in a pose conveying intimacy.
-
-
Great Story!
- By Kimberly Soper on 09-21-22
By: Joe Pompeo
-
American Demon
- Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper
- By: Daniel Stashower
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On September 5th, 1934, a young beachcomber made a gruesome discovery on the shores of Cleveland’s Lake Erie: the lower half of a female torso, neatly severed at the waist. The victim, dubbed “The Lady of the Lake,” was only the first of a butcher’s dozen. Over the next four years, twelve more bodies would be scattered across the city. The bodies were dismembered with surgical precision and drained of blood. Some were beheaded while still alive.
-
-
Not what I expected at all
- By Iceboxannie on 11-10-22
By: Daniel Stashower
-
All That Is Wicked
- A Gilded-Age Story of Murder and the Race to Decode the Criminal Mind
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edward Rulloff was a brilliant yet utterly amoral murderer—some have called him a “Victorian-era Hannibal Lecter”—whose crimes spanned decades and whose victims were chosen out of revenge, out of envy, and sometimes out of necessity.
-
-
PLEASE STOP The Politicizing of Everything
- By Anonymous on 10-15-22
-
Butcher's Work
- True Crime Tales of American Murder and Madness
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Civil War veteran who perpetrated one of the most ghastly mass slaughters in the annals of U.S. crime. A nineteenth-century female serial killer whose victims included three husbands and six of her own children. A Gilded Age “Bluebeard” who did away with as many as fifty wives throughout the country. A decorated World War I hero who orchestrated a murder that stunned Jazz Age America.
-
-
Another necessary work by Schector
- By Brandon on 12-27-22
By: Harold Schechter
-
An Assassin in Utopia
- The True Story of a Nineteenth-Century Sex Cult and a President's Murder
- By: Susan Wels
- Narrated by: Kitty Hendrix
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was heaven on earth—and, some whispered, the devil’s garden. Thousands came by trains and carriages to see this new Eden, carved from hundreds of acres of wild woodland. They marveled at orchards bursting with fruit, thick herds of Ayrshire cattle and Cotswold sheep, and whizzing mills. They gaped at the people who lived in this place—especially the women, with their queer cropped hair and shamelessly short skirts. The men and women of this strange outpost worked and slept together—without sin, they claimed.
-
-
Just Okay. That's it.
- By Jeffy on 04-18-23
By: Susan Wels
-
Deliberate Cruelty
- Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century
- By: Roseanne Montillo
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Ann Woodward shot her husband, banking heir Billy Woodward, in the middle of the night in 1955, her life changed forever. Though she claimed she thought he was a prowler, few believed the woman who had risen from charismatic showgirl to popular socialite. Everyone had something to say about the scorching scandal afflicting one of the most rich and famous families of New York City, but no one was more obsessed with the tale than Truman Capote.
-
-
offensive narration
- By GM on 05-12-23
-
Blood & Ink
- The Scandalous Jazz Age Double Murder That Hooked America on True Crime
- By: Joe Pompeo
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On September 16, 1922, the bodies of Reverend Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills were found beneath a crabapple tree on an abandoned farm outside of New Brunswick, New Jersey. The killer had arranged the bodies in a pose conveying intimacy.
-
-
Great Story!
- By Kimberly Soper on 09-21-22
By: Joe Pompeo
-
American Demon
- Eliot Ness and the Hunt for America's Jack the Ripper
- By: Daniel Stashower
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On September 5th, 1934, a young beachcomber made a gruesome discovery on the shores of Cleveland’s Lake Erie: the lower half of a female torso, neatly severed at the waist. The victim, dubbed “The Lady of the Lake,” was only the first of a butcher’s dozen. Over the next four years, twelve more bodies would be scattered across the city. The bodies were dismembered with surgical precision and drained of blood. Some were beheaded while still alive.
-
-
Not what I expected at all
- By Iceboxannie on 11-10-22
By: Daniel Stashower
-
All That Is Wicked
- A Gilded-Age Story of Murder and the Race to Decode the Criminal Mind
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Edward Rulloff was a brilliant yet utterly amoral murderer—some have called him a “Victorian-era Hannibal Lecter”—whose crimes spanned decades and whose victims were chosen out of revenge, out of envy, and sometimes out of necessity.
-
-
PLEASE STOP The Politicizing of Everything
- By Anonymous on 10-15-22
-
Butcher's Work
- True Crime Tales of American Murder and Madness
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Civil War veteran who perpetrated one of the most ghastly mass slaughters in the annals of U.S. crime. A nineteenth-century female serial killer whose victims included three husbands and six of her own children. A Gilded Age “Bluebeard” who did away with as many as fifty wives throughout the country. A decorated World War I hero who orchestrated a murder that stunned Jazz Age America.
-
-
Another necessary work by Schector
- By Brandon on 12-27-22
By: Harold Schechter
-
An Assassin in Utopia
- The True Story of a Nineteenth-Century Sex Cult and a President's Murder
- By: Susan Wels
- Narrated by: Kitty Hendrix
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was heaven on earth—and, some whispered, the devil’s garden. Thousands came by trains and carriages to see this new Eden, carved from hundreds of acres of wild woodland. They marveled at orchards bursting with fruit, thick herds of Ayrshire cattle and Cotswold sheep, and whizzing mills. They gaped at the people who lived in this place—especially the women, with their queer cropped hair and shamelessly short skirts. The men and women of this strange outpost worked and slept together—without sin, they claimed.
-
-
Just Okay. That's it.
- By Jeffy on 04-18-23
By: Susan Wels
-
Deliberate Cruelty
- Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century
- By: Roseanne Montillo
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Ann Woodward shot her husband, banking heir Billy Woodward, in the middle of the night in 1955, her life changed forever. Though she claimed she thought he was a prowler, few believed the woman who had risen from charismatic showgirl to popular socialite. Everyone had something to say about the scorching scandal afflicting one of the most rich and famous families of New York City, but no one was more obsessed with the tale than Truman Capote.
-
-
offensive narration
- By GM on 05-12-23
-
The Delphi Murders
- The Quest to Find ‘The Man on the Bridge’
- By: Nic Edwards, Brian Whitney
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On February 13, 2017, two Indiana teenagers, Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, went for a walk in the woods near the abandoned Monon High Bridge. They never returned home.
-
-
Huge disappointment
- By Aleshia L. Hunley on 04-23-23
By: Nic Edwards, and others
-
Blood on Their Hands
- Murder, Corruption, and the Fall of the Murdaugh Dynasty
- By: Mandy Matney
- Narrated by: Mandy Matney
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Years before the name Alex Murdaugh was splashed across every major media outlet in America, local South Carolina journalist Mandy Matney had an instinct that something wasn’t right in the Lowcountry. The powerful Murdaugh dynasty had dominated rural South Carolina for generations. No one dared to cross them.
-
-
Disappointed and Very frustrating
- By Annie on 11-21-23
By: Mandy Matney
-
With the Devil's Help
- A True Story of Poverty, Mental Illness, and Murder
- By: Neal Wooten
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the tradition of The Glass Castle, Educated, and Heartland, Neal Wooten traces five decades of his dirt-poor, Alabama mountain family as the years and secrets coalesce.
-
-
From knock to knock, it will keep you wondering!
- By Scotty Baker on 02-25-23
By: Neal Wooten
-
The Ghost Club
- A Penguin Audiobook Original
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 4 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than a century, some of the world’s most important thinkers and leaders—men like Arthur Conan Doyle and William Butler Yeats—gathered once a month and discussed the supernatural at The Ghost Club in London. In the early 1900s the club's chairman was Harry Price, the world’s most well-known ghost hunter. He and other members, like Harry Houdini, sought to debunk the charlatans who preyed on vulnerable people with fake seances, tarot readings, and spiritual encounters.
-
-
í am rather disapointed
- By Ingibjörg Kolbeins on 04-04-23
-
Beyond Obsession
- The Shocking True Story of a Teenage Love Affair Turned Deadly
- By: Richard Hammer
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 11 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joyce Aparo seemed to be the perfect single mother. She doted on her sixteen-year-old daughter, Karin, encouraging her musical ability and lavishing affection on her. But behind closed doors, Joyce was a terror. For thirteen years, she beat Karin savagely and demeaned her relentlessly. When Karin met the troubled yet brilliant Dennis Coleman, the two fell head-over-heels. But Joyce disapproved—so she had to die.
-
-
Take an anti- nausea pill . .
- By krystaldcox on 10-31-23
By: Richard Hammer
-
Scoundrel
- How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free
- By: Sarah Weinman
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1960s, Edgar Smith, in prison and sentenced to death for the murder of teenager Victoria Zielinski, struck up a correspondence with William F. Buckley, the founder of National Review. Buckley, who refused to believe that a man who supported the neoconservative movement could have committed such a heinous crime, began to advocate not only for Smith’s life to be spared but also for his sentence to be overturned. So begins a bizarre and tragic tale of mid-century America.
-
-
Oozes of privilege
- By Buretto on 03-01-22
By: Sarah Weinman
-
The Forever Witness
- How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder
- By: Edward Humes
- Narrated by: Edward Humes
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In November 1987, a young couple on an overnight trip to Seattle vanished without a trace. A week later, the bodies of Tanya Van Cuylenborg and her boyfriend Jay Cook were found in rural Washington. It was a brutal crime, and it was the perfect crime: With few clues and no witnesses, an international manhunt turned up empty, and the sensational case that shocked the Pacific Northwest gradually slipped from the headlines.
-
-
Compelling
- By MLB on 01-17-23
By: Edward Humes
-
Precious Victims
- Penguin True Crime
- By: Don W. Weber, Charles Bosworth Jr.
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The police in Jersey County, Illinois, accepted Paula Sims' story of a masked kidnapper who snatched her baby girl, Lorelei, from her bassinet. Three years later, her second newborn daughter suffered an identical fate - and this time the police were unable to stop searching until they had discovered the whole horrifying truth. This is the full terrifying story of twisted sexuality and hate seething below the surface of a seemingly normal family and of the massive investigation and nerve-shattering trial that made the unthinkable a reality.
-
-
Great listen
- By N on 12-28-15
By: Don W. Weber, and others
-
American Black Widow
- Dangerous Women: True Crime Stories
- By: Gregg Olsen
- Narrated by: Karen Peakes
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Colorado, 1976. When Reverend Mike Fuller and his beautiful wife, Sharon, arrive in the sleepy town of Rocky Ford, local residents think something’s off about the new couple. The God-fearing minister is gruff and cold, while charismatic Sharon has her husband wrapped around her finger.
-
-
🤢
- By Brittany on 07-28-23
By: Gregg Olsen
-
Everything She Ever Wanted
- By: Ann Rule
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 20 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this fascinating account, Ann Rule delivers a tour de force: a whirlwind of misguided love, denial, guilt, and passions out of control; a series of brilliantly manipulated crimes; the bizarre and horrifying tale of two families brought to ruin; and, at the center of it all, the heartless, supremely selfish sociopath whose evil hid behind soft words and gentle manners, but who destroyed—without mercy—those who loved her.
-
-
Great book, poor narration
- By Reversoul on 12-01-23
By: Ann Rule
-
A Mystery of Mysteries
- The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe
- By: Mark Dawidziak
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mystery and horror. Poe, who remains one of the most iconic of American writers, died under haunting circumstances that reflect the two literary genres he took to new heights. Over the years, there has been a staggering amount of speculation about the cause of death, from rabies and syphilis to suicide, alcoholism, and even murder. But many of these theories are formed on the basis of the caricature we have come to associate with Poe: the gloomy-eyed grandfather of Goth, hunched over a writing desk with a raven perched on one shoulder, drunkenly scribbling his chilling masterpieces.
-
-
Jumps Around too much
- By Joanne1953 on 02-18-23
By: Mark Dawidziak
-
Hell's Princess
- The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men
- By: Harold Schechter
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the pantheon of serial killers, Belle Gunness stands alone. She was the rarest of female psychopaths, a woman who engaged in wholesale slaughter, partly out of greed but mostly for the sheer joy of it. Between 1902 and 1908, she lured a succession of unsuspecting victims to her Indiana “murder farm". Some were hired hands. Others were well-to-do bachelors. All of them vanished without a trace.
-
-
Can a book about a serial killer be entertaining?
- By Lori Hanson on 05-08-18
By: Harold Schechter
Critic reviews
“Greg King and Penny Wilson do a masterful job of capturing the personalities of both the killers and the victim, the atmosphere of the times, the courtroom drama, and the final years of Leopold.” --AirMail
“[Reveals] new dimensions to the horrifying crime and [offers] evidence that what we think we've known all along might not have been the entire story.” –Town & Country
“An intriguing deep dive into the horrific 1924 murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks in Chicago...a disturbing and well-documented look at one of the 20th century’s most infamous murders.” –Publishers Weekly
What listeners say about Nothing but the Night
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joaniecjo
- 10-26-24
Detailed Historical Account and More things you've never known about Leopold and Loeb.
I loved this book. The authors have done their research and poured through the local history and archives, and I learned so much more reading it. I've lived in the Kenwood area for 20 years as an adult and have always been enthralled by the big yellow mansion on the corner of 50th and Ellis. Once I learned of Leopold and Loeb, I became hooked. After watching many documentaries and reading a few books on the murder, Nothing But the Night transported me into that time. I appreciate the accurate details without leaving out the atrocity of the crime, what led up to it, and after. This book will not disappoint you if you’re interested in true crime history and social context. The narration was a bit too “bright” and artificial to me. A more regular, conversational tone would have sufficed instead of the “broadcasting” style.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- D. Lichtenstein
- 05-15-23
Sad but interesting
A very well written account of a horrible crime that changed so many lives. It can feel monotonous at times with overstated facts and court records, overall a very interesting listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Samantha TBD
- 10-01-22
Terrible crime, fascinating story
Nothing but the Night delves deep into the "crime of the century"-the murder of Bobby Franks in Chicago, IL. It was fascinating! The story is told in a linear style, which works very well for a historical true crime, and especially when you are listening!
First, the author explores the families of all the players-the victim and the two perpetrators. Then they get into all the events that led Leopold and Loeb to the murder, because exploring the psychology of these two was important. There is a lot of psychology to cover, but also a lot of sociology of the time. Understanding the world at the time of the crime really adds to the reader/listener's understanding. Part two really focuses on the trial and their defense lawyer (the famous Clarence Darrow), and then their time in prison. Overall, the story is surprising in depth for a crime that occurred in the 1920's!
The authors did a wonderful job of condensing their research into the salient information without being salacious or torrid. The narrator was great and didn't detract from the story. I highly recommend this to those who are interesting in psychology and sociology of crimes as this book addresses both.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 10-08-23
Excellent!
I am more of a history buff than a true crime follower, but this book was excellent. I enjoyed it a great deal. Normally, I am opposed to the death penalty, but it was warranted in this case.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Atomic Blonde
- 07-24-24
The detailed research is enthralling
The authors paint the story in the perspective of Loeb being the lesser of the two evils, which contradicts Leopold's narrative. I grew up in the Chicagoland area and read Hal Higdon's book and have always been curious about this event. It's amazing this crime took place 100 years ago and it's still a memorable crime and part of Chicago and US history. I know I'll relisten this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!