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Masterplots: 2010-2018 Supplement

Little Deaths

by Marybeth Rua-Larsen

Author: Emma Flint

Born: Newcastle upon Tyne, England

First published: December 22, 2016

Type of plot: Crime

Type of work: Novel

Time of plot: 1965-70

Locale: Queens, New York City, New York

Principal Characters

Ruth Malone, single mother accused of murdering her children; based on real-life murder suspect Alice Crimmins

Pete Wonicke, rookie reporter who becomes obsessed with Ruth and the case against her

Frank Malone, Ruth’s estranged husband, father of Frankie and Cindy Malone

Charlie Devlin, lead detective in Ruth’s case who is convinced of her guilt

Gina Eissen, Ruth’s neighbor and only friend

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The Story

Emma Flint’s debut novel, Little Deaths, is not a typical crime novel with stock characters and predictable plotlines, where the only real questions are “who did it?” and “why?” Flint delves deeply into the psyche of protagonist Ruth Malone, who has been accused of murdering her children, with special attention paid to the stereotypes and misogyny surrounding women in the 1960s. Ruth is inundated with scandal and criticism because she does not behave as young wives and mothers are expected to behave, and Flint deftly portrays Ruth as complex and enigmatic, as someone who hides her emotions because of her fear of judgment. While Flint portrays some minor roles more stereotypically, she takes great care to develop main characters Ruth and reporter Pete Wonicke with distinctive details and depth. This depth of character, the commentary on the consequences of rigid expectations placed on women, and Flint’s ability to build tension to the very end, make Little Deaths a thought-provoking and satisfying crime novel.

In the acknowledgements section of the novel, Flint credits real-life figure Alice Crimmins (born 1939) as the inspiration for Ruth Malone. During the summer of 1965, Crimmins was accused of and put on trial for murdering her two young children in their Kew Gardens Hills neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Flint bases most of her characters on real-life counterparts in Crimmins’s life, but she fictionalizes the story and creates her own ending. In the real case, Crimmins was tried, convicted, and released on appeal, and then retried and reconvicted, spending much of the late 1960s and 1970s in a courtroom or jail before her eventual parole in 1977. Crimmins served less than three years, total, in prison but was continuously embroiled in legal battles, since her convictions were based on circumstantial evidence that stretched the bounds of credulity.

The Crimmins case remains unsolved, but in Flint’s version, the true culprit is identified at the very end. Crimmins received an overwhelming amount of negative press during the search for her children and the trials, and through Ruth Malone, Flint explores a mother and wife who is atypical, choosing not to grieve publicly and to continue working as a cocktail waitress, dressing provocatively, drinking, and engaging in sexual encounters with men. Ruth Malone, like Alice Crimmins, is convicted in the court of public opinion based on her personality and personal choices rather than evidence she committed the crime.

In her portrayal of Ruth, Flint juxtaposes a woman’s outward appearances and actions against her inner thoughts and demons. To the police who question her, Ruth appears cool and emotionless, caring more about perfect makeup and a flattering outfit than her missing children. Using a third person omniscient narrator, Flint reveals Ruth’s complexities. When Ruth is waiting for the police to arrive after reporting her children missing, for example, she chooses to change into more attractive clothes because “she knew that there would be men, strangers, looking at her, asking questions. Their eyes all over her like hands. She had to be ready for them. She had to look right.” Despite her obvious sex appeal and ability to control men sexually, Ruth is insecure, and she uses makeup and clothes to mask that insecurity and present a flawless image. She also believes that by presenting this flawless image, she will be taken more seriously. Ruth is not so much calculating as wanting to meet expectations, expectations she could never meet for her mother, who is cold and rigid in her definitions of right and wrong.

At the same time, however, the reader sees that Ruth is inwardly inconsolable. In the immediate aftermath of the children’s disappearance, she clutches her daughter’s favorite rabbit doll and worries about her fate, even commenting to the police that her daughter must be missing the toy. Despite such statements showing her vulnerabilities, the police see a woman who is quiet and calm rather than tearful or hysterical, which are the expressions of motherly grief they know and understand. The police see the apparently emotionless Ruth’s coiffed hair, carefully applied eyeliner, and tight-fitting clothes and they assume she is guilty from the start. On one hand, Ruth has enough confidence in herself not to change who she is, not to give the police and the public the expected histrionics of a grieving mother; she has her pride. On the other hand, she drinks and is promiscuous to escape the overwhelming pain at the loss of her children, a pain she chooses to suffer alone, a pain only reporter Pete Wonicke makes an effort to find. In her portrayal of Ruth, Flint creates a complicated and sometimes maddening woman who does not realize she is making her life harder and putting her freedom in jeopardy because she refuses to play the part people expect rather than be who she is.

Many of Flint’s secondary characters fit archetypes, such as lead detective Charlie Devlin, who targets Ruth from the start and invents evidence and witnesses to ensure her conviction, and Ruth’s sometime boyfriend Lou Gallagher, a gangster who pays for Ruth’s lawyer and hires thugs to do his dirty work. However, Pete Wonicke, the other central character, is another multifaceted personality with real depth. For the most part, Flint alternates the third person omniscient point of view between Ruth and Pete, and the back-and-forth shift in perspective both drives the plot forward and offers a more sympathetic perspective on Ruth. In the beginning, Pete is simply eager for an interesting story and to get the story first by outmaneuvering his news colleagues. As the novel progresses and Pete hunts down Ruth’s old boyfriends, jobs, and friends, his intrigue and desire for her grows; ultimately, he falls in love with Ruth and wants to help prove her innocence. Ruth becomes an obsession for Pete, to the point that he is more interested in proving Ruth’s innocence than doing his job. He further isolates himself from family and colleagues, and by the time he realizes he has lost perspective, he is fired from his job, which simply allows him more time to work on Ruth’s case. He even takes a part-time job in a bookstore and lives off his savings to help Ruth. At the end of the novel, years later, Ruth is still first and foremost in his mind. Flint presents a complex portrait of a man who loses touch with reality yet remains steadfast in his devotion to his morals and the truth.

In addition to the penetrating characterizations, the key element that elevates the novel into a literary work rather than a quick mystery read is the book’s social commentary, which takes a feminist slant. Ruth is young and beautiful, but she is also unapologetic for living an unconventional lifestyle. She is living separately from her husband and is in the midst of a divorce by her own choice. She works as a cocktail waitress and takes numerous lovers, including married men, exerting as much power and autonomy as she can in an unaccepting society. These themes are introduced naturally and realistically, without preaching; Ruth is portrayed as a victim but also as a flawed and complex human being. Her marriage to Frank was partly to escape her small town and live life on her own terms and partly because she thought Frank was kind and dependable, but she became bored with that dependability and sought more excitement. Her questionable choices, such as cheating, are not justified, but Flint provides understandable circumstances, both personal and cultural, that can be seen as trapping Ruth in her position.

Flint is also successful in rendering the 1960s setting, which only emphasizes the feminist critique of a society quick to judge an independent and sexually active young woman. As in the real-life Crimmins case, the public is almost immediately convinced of Ruth’s guilt not because there is any real evidence to prove it, but because they disapprove of her lifestyle and choices. The brutal court of public opinion is egged on by the press, eager to print all the lurid details as the case progresses. The lack of hard evidence at the crime scenes in the era before DNA testing results in a trial that focuses on Ruth’s character, including such irrelevant details as the police finding her home dusty and untidy when they searched it. Flint layers detail upon detail, building sympathy not only for women who choose not to conform but also for single working mothers who struggle against the system. With its real-life inspiration, Ruth’s public vilification for not meeting the stereotypes of mothers and wives paints a vivid portrait of the obstacles women faced in the 1960s, while providing additional insight by revealing Ruth’s inner mindset; Crimmins’s can only be guessed at.

Critical Evaluation

Critics praised Little Deaths upon its release, making particular note of its strong central characterizations and astute social commentary. While some critics suggested that many of the secondary characters come too close to stock stereotypes, most believed Ruth is so well drawn that her portrayal alone makes the novel worth reading. Other reviewers offered mild criticism about lack of momentum in the middle of the book. As the police build their case and construct evidence to convict a woman they are certain is guilty, the middle of the novel does become a bit monotonous. However, both the beginning of the novel, especially the search for the children, and the trial at the end are riveting. The resolution, while it may prove a stretch in believability for some, is fascinating and not wholly predictable, and Flint succeeds in saving major revelations for the very end. Even with some quibbles in plot and characterization, most critics agreed that the novel is a noteworthy entry into the crowded field of crime fiction.

There are several other literary, film, and theatrical adaptations of the Crimmins case, most notably including Mary Higgins Clark’s Where Are the Children? (1975), which launched her novel-writing career and became a best seller. These adaptations had varying degrees of critical and financial success, but none of them focused on the complexity of the protagonist or the societal factors widely seen as resulting in conviction of the accused mother, making Flint’s fictionalization of the story compelling, provocative, and worthy of more discussion.

Citation Types

MLA 9th

Rua-Larsen, Marybeth. "Little Deaths." Masterplots: 2010-2018 Supplement,Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=MPSupp_0092.

APA 7th

Rua-Larsen, M. (2019). Little Deaths. Masterplots: 2010-2018 Supplement. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.

CMOS 17th

Rua-Larsen, Marybeth. "Little Deaths." Masterplots: 2010-2018 Supplement. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2019. Accessed September 15, 2026. online.salempress.com.

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