Closing Time: The True Story of the "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" Murder

By Lacey Fosburgh

Book Overview

The real story behind the murder of a Manhattan schoolteacher that became a symbol of the dangers of casual sex: "A first-rate achievement" (Truman Capote).

In 1973, Roseann Quinn, an Irish-Catholic teacher at a school for deaf children, was killed in New York City after bringing a man home to her apartment from an Upper West Side pub. The crime made headlines and the ensuing case quickly evolved into a cultural phenomenon, spawning both a #1 New York Times-bestselling novel and a film adaptation starring Diane Keaton and Richard Gere, and sparking debates about the sexual revolution and the perils of the "pickup scene" at what were popularly known as singles bars.

In this groundbreaking true crime tale, Lacey Fosburgh, the New York Times reporter first assigned to the story, utilizes an inventive dramatization technique, in which she gives the victim a different name, to veer between the chilling, suspenseful personal interactions leading up to the brutal stabbing and the gritty details of its aftermath, including the NYPD investigation and the arrest of John Wayne Wilson.

An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this classic of the genre is "more riveting, and more tragic, than the Judith Rossner novel--and 1977 movie Looking for Mr. Goodbar" (Men's Journal).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1504052838
• ISBN13: 9781504052832
• Release Date: August 2018
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media LLC
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Seen & liked the movie? Then this book is a great follow-up

If you've seen the movie "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" (with Diane Keaton & Richard Gere), then this book is a nice follow-up because it goes into tremendous details about the characters. This book also goes into a thorough background into other areas, not just regarding the story as shown in the movie, but also into the murder scene & other characters (such as the detectives, the victim's relatives' roles in the situation, and of course explaining the role of the murderer's other lovers & family) . This is a rather sad book, but described with "sensitivity" (imho) because it tries to describe the victim's reasonings as to why she , (such a sweet teacher), went out at night and picked-up such low-life people. Also, this book describes the murderer's childhood,---something the movie did not do. Sadly, the author of this book died at quite a young age, so she was not able to write another follow-up to this fascinating story. Too bad because this young author could have become a more noted author, had she lived longer.

the bottom line on the Roseanne quinn murder

okay folks here is the confusing deal. Katherine Cleary is the fictional name used in the book Closing time, The true account of the murder of the actual deaf children's teacher Roseanne Quinn (Katherine Cleary in the book - Don't know why the author felt the need to use fictional names) She was murdered by John Wayne Wilson. (The real guy) So here is what we know as fact; Looking for MR Goodbar is the fictionalized version of the real murder of Roseanne Quinn. The looking for the Goodbar Killer TV movie is the closest version to the actual truth of the murder on Roseanne Quinn. (Katherine Cleary in the film) Actually it's just like it happened, except they don't touch on the fact that John Wayne, and his gay benefactor-boyfriend also shared their apartment for about 6 months with John Wayne's pregnant girlfriend who knew and actually preferred when he was hustling males in Times Square for cash. Anyway everything you want to know about the case is available in the NYT archives if you put in Roseanne Quinn's name in the query. Although it would cost you. I find the whole story sad but fascinating. So don't get mixed up you are talking about the same case but confusing the fictional account with the real account and then to mix things up more the fact that they used fictionalized names in the real accounts in the book and the tv movie.

pictures

this is not a review. What I would like to know are there any pictures of Katherine or Joe Willie. ? I can't find any in the book or on line.

Very Compelling Reading.

Well told story of the 'Goodbar Murder,' which in many ways was an emblem of 70's urban America, where therapy was often sought in bars and bedrooms, often with strangers. Big question of course, is what the name 'Goodbar' had to do with any of this, meaning the event, the movie, and this book, but maybe I missed that. As a writer myself, I read on the dust jacket that author Lacey F. lived in San Francisco, so I looked her up in the phone book and called the number, only to be told by her widowed husband that she'd died nine years ago, which was sad and not a little unnerving, although the ex-husband was quite appreciative of my nice words about the book and Lacey's taut journalistic style. This is the end of my review. Thank you.