Vulgar Favors, Maureen Orth
Vulgar Favors, Maureen Orth
11 Rating(s)
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Vulgar Favors
The Assassination of Gianni Versace

Author: Maureen Orth

Narrator: Dan Woren, Maureen Orth

Unabridged: 18 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/03/2017


Synopsis

Read the true story of the manhunt that inspired The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, the acclaimed FX series.
 
“The breadth and thoroughness of [Maureen] Orth’s research are often staggering.”—The New York Times
 
“Fascinating . . . ripe with chilling detail.”—Entertainment Weekly

On July 15, 1997, Gianni Versace was shot and killed on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. But months before Versace’s murder, award-winning journalist Maureen Orth was already investigating a major story on Cunanan for Vanity Fair. Culled from interviews with more than four hundred people and insights gleaned from thousands of pages of police reports, Vulgar Favors tells the complete story of Andrew Cunanan, his unwitting victims, and the moneyed world in which they lived . . . and died.

Orth reveals how Cunanan met Versace, and why police and the FBI repeatedly failed to catch him. Here is a gripping odyssey that races across America—from California’s wealthy gay underworld to modest Midwestern homes of families mourning the loss of their sons to South Beach and its unapologetic decadence. Vulgar Favors is at once a masterwork of investigative journalism and a riveting account of a sociopath, his crimes, and the mysteries he left along the way.

About The Author

Maureen Orth’s award winning career began as one of the first women writers at Newsweek. Currently a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, she has profiled everyone from Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel to Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift, and has researched and written groundbreaking pieces on Woody Allen and Michael Jackson, among others. Her far-ranging work not only includes the investigation of serial killer Andrew Cunanan but also a bestselling cover story for National Geographic on the Virgin Mary.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Barry on February 17, 2018

I wish there were more serial killers like Andrew Cunanan. You always hear of killers being described as loners or introverts or just weirdos, but Cunanan broke that stereotype. He was a preppy guy who loved reading Vogue. He'd make up amazing lies about himself and his past in order to impress thos......more

Goodreads review by Carol on September 26, 2015

This is an incredibly well-researched and gripping story of a serial killer on the run. It held my interest to the very last page, even if Maureen Orth is a frightful prude and almost comically judgmental about celebrity culture and the gay lifestyle.......more

Goodreads review by Bel on March 03, 2019

4,8 ⭐️......more

Goodreads review by David on February 22, 2018

I read this because it came up in a conversation with one of my bffs - he was reading it to supplement episodes of the Ryan Murphy-produced 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace'. I don't lean toward books of this sort - in fact, I don't think I've read one like it since Capote's 'In Cold Blood' (whi......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on February 03, 2019

2.5 stars I do not read much true crime at all, as a genre I find it more troubling and exploitative than useful or beneficial. I made an exception here because after watching the season of American Crime Story that follows these events it seemed that a lot was left out. The television show was very......more


Quotes

“A fascinatingly detailed account.”USA Today
 
“It will hook you from the first page and never let you go.”San Francisco Chronicle
 
Vulgar Favors by Maureen Orth might be called the complete Cunanan. . . . She [has] an indefatigable hunger to know everything.”Chicago Tribune
 
“A detailed page-turner.”St. Paul Pioneer Press
 
“An exceptionally good account of suspected serial killer Andrew Cunanan’s spree in 1997 . . . Orth tells this twisted story with grace and courage.”Fort Worth Star-Telegram
 
“Orth has an inviting, readable style.”Oakland Tribune
 
“The definitive book on the July 15, 1997 murder of Versace.”Sun-Sentinel
 
“An exhilarating journalistic chronicle of Cunanan’s crime and flight . . . The book is charged with adrenaline and the pages just seem to turn themselves.”Lesbian and Gay New York