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Exploring An Infamous New Jersey Cold Case With Author Christian Barth

About Blog Post Sep 27, 2022 by SCLSNJ
On a fateful Memorial Day in 1969, the bodies of two female coeds were discovered alongside the Garden State Parkway near Ocean City, New Jersey. Author Christian Barth’s book, “The Garden State Parkway Murders: A Cold Case Mystery” digs deeper into this gruesome, confounding, and still unsolved case of the murders of Elizabeth Perry and Susan Davis.  “This case has such a sense of futility and exasperation,” said Barth. “It is just a tragic thing. I knew this was a story I had to tell; there was nothing stopping me.” The Somerset County Library System of New Jersey (SCLSNJ) will be hosting a signature virtual event on Wednesday, October 12 from 7-8 p.m with the author to further explore his intense research and new insights. "Christian Barth's upcoming author talk promises to be a thrilling combination of two very popular topics: local history and true crime,” said Darryl Voorhees, manager of adult services programming and collaborations. “The stories behind these unsolved cases are equally compelling and disturbing, and are given an expert analysis in this documentary work." “The idea was to leave a lot of unanswered questions at the end while still providing over 400 pages of investigative research,” said Barth. “I would like my readers to decide for themselves if the offender will ever be caught. The story could be disturbing for you, but I know you will enjoy it nevertheless.” Barth welcomes observations from event participants and is excited to have a discussion about his book, while also offering advice to fledgling, inspiring authors. “Everyone has a book or a number of books which affect you on a visceral level and lead you to want to do it on your own,” said Barth. “You try to find your own voice; it is a process of distillation. You draw from sources as they appeal to you and that synthesizes into your own voice. But, you have to have a story. There was some force that was compelling me to write this. I find the era and the number of criminals that were able to invade society because we did not have the same technologies then that we do now fascinating.”  Continued Barth, “You have to love to write and you have to really be in love with your topic. Be committed to do the work and then that compulsion really manifests that work. If you are not completely obsessed it will be difficult for you to find time to write. It took me almost 10 years to write this book, but because I was so obsessed I was able to stay writing. I refused to quit.” Additional author talks being hosted at SCLSNJ this fall include: “Planet Palm” by Jocelyn C. Zuckerman hosted virtually on October 11; and many more. Are you looking to read even more from this thrilling genre? Explore true crime books, curated by SCLSNJ’s expert librarians. To explore more signature events hosted in person or virtually at SCLSNJ, visit the System’s calendar of events. To discover all SCLSNJ has to offer, visit SCLSNJ.org or connect with SCLSNJ on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.
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