No Easy Answers

Janet McCreadie is a Dunnville-based freelance editor and writer.

There are definitely no easy answers in this criminal account by David Hayes.

The circumstances around the murder of Al and Rosemary Podgis create more questions than answers, questions that are compounded because the crime of aggravated manslaughter has no definition in Canadian law.

As a crime documentary, No Easy Answers raises questions John Q. Public as well as the legal systems in both Canada and the United States cannot ignore. No one knows what was in Bruce Curtis’s mind or what really happened; he was convicted of aggravated assault by virtue of circumstance. He was there when Scott Franz killed his stepfather.

No Easy Answers is an apt title for a book which tries and convicts two teenagers of manslaughter, just short of calling them murderers.

The book tells a true story, recollected through the memories of its many characters, court transcripts, media and police reports, and other documentation. It presents a fair case on the innocence or guilt of Bruce Curtis, the main Canadian participant in the drama that unfolded one day in a New Jersey home.

The very personal and private lives of the families involved, the Curtises and the Podgises, are unveiled for public perusal and comment. The answers are still not resolved by book’s end.

This is a good recount of the myriad of confusing information presented through the trial and conviction of Bruce Curtis.