Super Short Summary

A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne, a winner of the 1999 Orange Prize for Fiction, tells the story of a child's murder in a Washington, D.C. suburb during the Watergate Scandal in the early 1970s, using the community's reaction to reflect larger societal changes. The plot unfolds through middle-aged Marsha Eberhardt's recollections of her childhood in the summer of 1972, when the discovery of Boyd Ellison's molested body and her father's affair created upheaval in her family and community, leading Marsha to grapple with themes of trust, paranoia, and justice. The book contains references to molestation and murder.