Synopsis

The book details the brutal 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter, a wealthy farmer from Holcomb, Kansas, and his wife and two of their children. The first part of //In Cold Blood// establishes the Clutter family and the duo of Hickock and Smith on two different, but inevitably intersecting, paths. In the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, the Clutter family's activities are ill-fated: the family does not lock the doors to their house. Each member of the family residing in the house are painted with delicate, exacting strokes.

In the second part of the book, persons unknown, four close friends of Herb Clutter arrive at the house to clean up the scene and burn the tainted clothing and furniture. Eighteen Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents are assigned to the case. The four primary agents are Alvin Dewey, the chief investigator; Harold Nye; Clarence Duntz; and Roy Church. The bodies of the Clutters are prepared for burial. The two surviving daughters, now the heirs of the Clutter fortune, arrive for the funerals.

In the third part of the book, the answer, with a tip from a former cellmate of Hickock' s, Floyd Wells, Smith and Hickock become the prime suspects. Wells had once worked for Herb Clutter as a hired farmhand and is the one who had described Clutter's apparent wealth to Hickock in prison, a description that ultimately led to the Clutter murders. When Wells hears of the Clutter murders on the radio, he informs authorities. Agent Nye receives a tip that Smith and Hickock are back in Kansas, having left Mexico when they ran out of money. Their plan was to "pass a lot of hot paper,’’ or bad checks, around Kansas to raise money. Ultimately Perry and Dick escaped to Florida before authorities could pick them up, but get caught in Nevada months later.

The last part of the book, the corner, Smith and Hickock are kept in separate cells of the county prison. Smith wants to change Hickock's confession to state that he, Smith, killed all four Clutters. His reason for this, he claims, is to give Hickock's mother peace-of-mind. Dewey refuses this request. Smith and Hickock continue their love-hate relationship, wherein each annoys and disgusts the other. Dr. Jones, a court-appointed psychiatrist, asks the two to write their life histories. The two are later put on trial. Leading to their deaths by hanging.