Junger explores 'A Death in Belmont'

That's because the so-called Boston Strangler, Al DeSalvo, was working in the Junger home around the time of the Goldberg's murder. Both families lived in Belmont. And once - really, just once - Ellen Junger had a frightening encounter with DeSalvo.

"So I opened the door to the cellar, and I saw him down there at the foot of the stairs and he was looking at me. And he was looking in a way that is almost indescribable. He had this intense look in his eyes, a strange kind of burning in his eyes, as if he was almost trying to hypnotize me. As if by sheer force of will he could draw me down into the basement," she says in Junger's newest book, "A Death in Belmont" (W.W. Norton & Company, hardback, $23.95).

Although the story of Smith's probable innocence was one Junger grew up with, after reading his trial transcripts he had real doubts about that. A funny thing, because when he set out to write the book, Junger thought he was out to clear Smith's name. Then he realized he couldn't do that. Having preconceived notions does not make for real journalism.

"I had to let go of my intitial assumptions because I just couldn't support that," Junger says. "As a journalist you shouldn't have an agenda. You should be completely impartial."

Junger will talk about "A Death in Belmont" and read from the book at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 30, at Payomet Performing Arts Center, Highlands Center, North Truro. Tickets are $20 and benefit the Friends of Truro Library and Payomet. Call (508) 487-5400 for reservations.

Junger, the well-known author of "The Perfect Storm," is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and also contributes to ABC news. He has covered international news as a war correspondent in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Liberia and Sierra Leone and won the National Magazine Award and SAIS Novartis Prize for journalism. He lives in New York City and Truro, where he did most of the writing for "Belmont."

This was not an easy book to write - or research. Junger says that he started thinking about the potential for the book in the late 1990s, and that the personal aspects to the story (DeSalvo working in his house) are minimal.

"A Death in Belmont" was a difficult book to write, Junger says, because he felt he had to explain criminal justice in it in a way that would interest readers. It was also difficult because Bessie Goldberg's daughter was upset about the book - she didn't want anyone questioning Smith's guilt. And then doing the research on Goldberg's murder - a story that was 40 years old - was much more difficult than reporting immediate news overseas or even Junger's work on "The Perfect Storm," which he wrote first because he was in Gloucester when the storm hit.

He started working on the book in 2003 with a research assistant who was sent off to locate documents and people. It took him a year or two to get Smith's trial transcripts and some witnesses were downright hard to find.

"Everything was three levels removed from my experience," Junger says. "Actually, I wanted to challenge myself because I was curious. I was curious about whether I could do it. I was curious about whether Roy was innocent."

Junger says that this book wasn't inspired by Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood," which he read a while ago or Norman Mailer's "An Executioner's Song." which he wants to read. He says, "In Cold Blood" is marred by the fact that Capote made up scenes and conversations he couldn't have known - he wasn't there. "To me, no that's not journalism," he says.

But "Belmont" is. It's a long journalism piece that required tons of research, which is something Junger says he won't necessarily do again.

"I won't do a story like that again that's so distant from current day. I mean, I won't say I won't because you never known," he says.

awood@provincetownbanner.com