I read In Cold Blood the summer I was pregnant with R. and it scared me plenty. One morning not long after I'd finished it my mother showed up unexpectedly at our house and, without knocking or calling out, let herself in. Suffice it to say that when I told her afterwards that she was lucky I hadn't killed her before realizing who the intruder was, I meant it. Of course, that was also the summer the cats let themselves in and out through a hole in the back screen door; I locked myself in the bathroom once convinced Someone Evil was in the house and almost climbed out the window before calming down enough to attribute the thud I'd heard to a cat.

Forty years after its publication journalism students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College have studied In Cold Blood and its impact on journalism and literature. Granted exclusive interviews with many who'd refused previously to talk about either the crime or the book, In Cold Blood: A Legacy is the result of their efforts.