UNTIL THE TWELFTH OF NEVER by Bella Stumbo

4 out of 5 stars

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How I discovered this book: I sought it out after watching TV dramatisations.

In a Nutshell: In depth analysis of the Betty Broderick divorce and murder cases.

I've been meaning to read this book for ages; I've had a moderate fascination for the case since seeing the TV movie A Woman Scorned, starring Meredith Baxter as Betty Broderick, and then Season 2 of the Dirty John series on Netflix.  

In case you don't know about it, the Brodericks were an ambitious, affluent San Diego couple; Betty had made a career out of being the supportive wife and mother, and they were very much part of the A List social set in La Jolla, on the idyllic San Diego coastline.  In the 60s and 70s, back east, Betty worked at menial jobs as well as bringing up their children so that Dan could quit his chosen medical profession and go back to college to get a law degree.  Sixteen years on, when all their hard work had paid off, Dan started an affair with his legal assistant and told Betty he wanted a divorce.  Six years later, Betty entered the bedroom of Dan and his new wife and shot them both dead.  This book is, for the most part, about what led up to this event - and whether or not Betty deserves any sympathy at all for robbing her children of both parents (as she has been in prison ever since), and for the grief her actions caused three families.

At the back of the book Ms Stumbo reveals many of her sources; family members worked with her, as well as people who knew all relevant parties well.  I have no doubt that it's an accurate assessment, though it's a long book.  I felt that it could have been chopped down in places; just because every minute detail of a court hearing is known, it need not, necessarily, be included in an account such as this.  I admit to skip-reading some of the minutiae of the court cases. It becomes somewhat repetitive in places, as no detail is spared  Also, it needs a better proofread.

Ms Stumbo talks about whether interviews on TV and in the press were 'pro-Betty' or not, but having read this I don't think there's anything black and white about it.  Yes, Betty was a piece of work and then some, even before the murders, but by all accounts she was treated appallingly by Dan and his girlfriend over the six years - when Dan and Betty were still living together he denied and denied that he was sleeping with Linda, telling her she was going crazy.  He had her jailed for some of her less advisable actions (like driving her car into his house), had her committed for psychiatric treatment, denied her access to her children, and so much more.  Linda insisted on recording the household answerphone message, so Betty had salt rubbed into her wounds every time she rang up to speak to her children.  Betty wanted items from the house such as her wedding china, and Linda wouldn't let her have them.  Etc., etc.

Betty's life was destroyed, whereas Dan's carried on just the same, except that he had replaced Betty with a younger model.  For Betty, it was like Linda had stolen her life, and she was being punished for not slipping meekly into divorced obscurity; at that time and in the circles in which they moved, a single, divorced woman was automatically persona non grata.

Then again, she was impossible to deal with, irrational, foul-mouthed, obsessive... 

This book really is 'no stone unturned', with details about Betty's life in prison, too, and it does give a balanced viewpoint, particularly when concerned with how those poor children were affected.  If you're interested in the case, I recommend!

Betty now, aged 74.