A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City: Murder, Secrets, and Scandal in Old Louisville

Dominé (Haunts of Old Louisville: Gilded Age Ghosts and Haunted Mansions in America’s Spookiest Neighborhood) provides an enthralling deep dive into a bizarre murder case, enhanced by his eyewitness account of the resulting trials. In June 2010, after a call for help from Jeffrey Mundt, the Louisville, Ky., police responded to what they thought was a routine domestic dispute. Mundt had given them permission to break into his residence, and when they did so, they saw Mundt’s boyfriend, Joseph Banis, attempting to flee and found Mundt locked in a bedroom. Both men referred to the presence of a body in the basement, where the police found the corpse of James Carroll inside a Rubbermaid container under the dirt floor. Carroll, a hairdresser and drag queen, had been stabbed and shot, and Banis and Mundt each accused the other of having killed him during a threesome about six months earlier. Both were charged, and they were tried separately in 2013; Banis was found guilty of murder, but Mundt was convicted only of minor charges, criminal facilitation and evidence tampering. Dominé gives this colorful case the detailed attention it merits, even if he’s ultimately unable to conclude who really killed Carroll. Fans of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil will be captivated. Agent: Alice Spielberg, Spielburg Literary. (Oct.)