Model Crime

Truth once again proves stranger than fiction in Gathje's unique recounting of a landmark 1937 New York City murder and the subsequent sensational trial. Nude photographs of one of the three victims, model Ronnie Gedeon, turned the case into a tabloid frenzy-``crime and underwear,'' said the press-as each of Gotham's nine dailies illustrated every tidbit with another provocative glimpse of the 20-year-old's barely draped form. Gathje's uncle, Stephen Butter, was the last person to see the lovely Ronnie alive, laughing with her at 3 a.m. on Easter Sunday morning just outside the apartment inside which her mother, Mary, already lay dead. Gathje tells the tale with little fictional embellishment, instead creating a visual array of newspaper clippings, photographs (``Traffic Tied Up at Funeral of Slain Model and Her Mother'')-even a Walter Winchell column. Understandably, he focuses on his uncle's memories of the event, especially vivid since Butter became the initial suspect. Suspicion quickly turned in other directions before settling on Joseph Gedeon, divorced husband of Mary and father of Ronnie. (He was later cleared, but not before the appearance of an unexpected witness touched off a three-month manhunt.) Ranging from charmingly nostalgic to slyly amusing, this intriguing first novel makes for unusual and entertaining reading. (Feb.)