Fetch the Devil: The Sierra Diablo Murders and Nazi Espionage in America Hardcover – June 3, 2014

For those considering if they should read FETCH THE DEVIL or the one on the same subject recently written by Steve Hodel, IN THE MESQUITE, I recommend reading FETCH THE DEVIL by Clint Richmond first. I thought when learning of Richmond's book that the premise sounded like something out of an old B movie. Nazi spies torturing and murdering two naïve women driving across the Texas desert? But on reading more and more of FETCH THE DEVIL, I became a convert to this notion based on the evidence Richmond presented. I had no idea of the extent of Nazi espionage going on this country prior to World War II. The behavior of the husband and father, Weston Frome, was particularly bewildering. Why was he so uncooperative with the chief investigator, Sheriff Fox of El Paso? Why was he so insistent that the Frome women never stayed at the Los Angeles Biltmore while enroute to El Paso when the evidence clearly showed otherwise? Clearly, this man had something he was hiding and it was so very sinister! The strange interactions which took place by the women in El Paso/Juarez seems like a set up of some sort for the extreme evil which followed. What was in that envelope Hazel Frome received at the Cortez Hotel that caused her to squirm? And that murder bullet of German origin not even available in the United States? How compelling that is! Having read FETCH THE DEVIL several times now, I am more convinced than ever that Richmond has come to the most plausible conclusions about this case. Not only that, FETCH THE DEVIL is one of the most well written and fascinating true crime books I have ever read! Each chapter has some unexpected plot twist. Each chapter leaves you hanging at the end. What an intriguing cast of truly creepy characters with so many unanswered questions! The dominant question is who tortured and murdered these women and why? They were not kidnapped for ransom despite their wealth, they were not sexually violated, and while they were robbed of their luggage, they died with their jewelry on and their expensive Packard was driven a short distance down the highway and abandoned undamaged. Everyone will have an opinion on this still unsolved case but one I put forth is the Nazis were looking for an envelope placed in an obscure part of the car at the Los Angeles Biltmore and the Frome women were unknowingly couriers of this envelope which was removed by mechanics at the El Paso dealership where the car sat for several days getting unexpected repairs. The Nazis were desperate to get their hands on this and were willing to go to any extreme to get the Frome women to reveal where it was even though the women had no idea what they were ranting about and yet they ended up dead on the desert floor because they had none of the answers nor the envelope the Nazis were looking for. If the Nazis were indeed the perpetrators here, then the two women occupy the very unique position of being the only U.S. citizens EVER murdered by Nazis on American soil. There is no real proof at this time as to what really went on here but it was obvious the Nazis were after SOMETHING and all of this was set in motion by Hazel & Nancy's father, Weston Frome, manager of Atlas Powder in Richmond, California near where the Frome family lived. It appears Mr. Frome was feeding the Nazis classified information for espionage. If the Packard had not needed unexpected repairs in El Paso delaying the Frome women's trip east and undermined a very predetermined agenda, this whole bizarre thing would have taken a very different turn. I have read dozens of true crime books but this one disturbed me so much more because the plot involving these Nazi hooligans and two very naive women in a remote part of the west Texas desert in 1938 was so EXTREME and just BEGS for resolution! I find myself drawn back to this again and again with endless speculation, something any reader will find it desirable to do on completion of reading FETCH THE DEVIL. Steve Hodel, who has written several books on the Black Dahlia case, has written his own about the Frome case, pretty much rewriting the whole thing to make his father, George Hodel, not only the killer of the Frome women but of the Black Dahlia in 1947and identifying his father as the Zodiac killer of 1968-69. If true, that would be quite an unprecedented series of murders through time and space! Clint Richmond spent many, many years thoroughly researching this admittedly complicated case in FETCH THE DEVIL which I find next to impossible to explain simply to anybody. It took him 322 pages to do so and I know there is more out there for us to learn. I highly recommend this book for the endless conversation material it inspires! Please understand that some of what I present here is my own personal speculation. I arrive at my own conclusions through largely circumstantial evidence but more through a process of elimination. I suggest everyone read Mr. Richmond's book and get the best scoop of all from his well researched book! If anyone had the answers here about this case, it was the great Clint Richmond, recently deceased.

... There is NO actual evidence that German espionage agents were involved in this murder. Richmond's details of the *unsolved* murder of the Frome women is a well researched, well-written account of the tragedy of the murder of innocents for unknown reasons. Had he just covered the murder I would have given him 3 perhaps even 4 stars. Yet, his work - as well as all other efforts to deal with this issue - breaks down when he ventures from true-crime into espionage. He is unable to draw any causal links between cross-border espionage activity and the murders. The facts he presents are the same ones available to the most capable law enforcement agencies in the country - and yet they universally identified a lack of connection. Richmond proposes otherwise and spins a fantastic tale that makes for a great story so long as one is only filling in the holes and making things fit. While his proposed scenario is not un-plausible, it is also not supported with actual evidence or primary source information, the entire case of involvement of these murders with German espionage is entirely circumstantial. Perhaps Richmond is correct, but if so, he has failed to make his case.

As a self-described true-crime junkie,I was amazed I had never heard of this bizarre unsolved double murder of he Frome women until listening to a podcast on it recently. Especially given its taking place in one of my favorite periods to read about, the pre-World War II Depression era, and one of my favorite locales, the desert Southwest. The book is very detailed and well-researched and was hard to put down most of the time. But I will admit the parts on the various Nazi spies in America and potential link to the murders did get a bit dry at times. I also began to question the facts presented when I read this sentence containing a glaring error toward the end of he book: "But he was prepared to cross the Pacific Ocean to the Azores in a small motor launch if necessary." It made me wonder how many other "facts" were mistakes or editing errors. But in short, a mostly riveting book on a fascinating unsolved and tragic double murder with an intriguing hypothesis presented by the author. I enjoyed and recommend it, especially considering it cost me only $6 and arrived vert timely in perfect condition. :)