Historical Fiction
Published: 1/15/2025
A murdered boy. Tortoiseshell eyeglasses. A letter written by a young man
to another that reads like a lover’s spat. One portable Underwood
typewriter. Two confessions.
Will Babe and Manny live or die?
It’s the early 1920s and arrogant teenagers Noah “Babe” Lieberman
and Roman “Manny” Loewe have it all: money, brains, freedom. They
reside in the same affluent Chicago neighborhood, come from successful,
respectable families, and enjoy privileged lives. Both are intelligent
prodigies who graduated high school early. But Roman, an extrovert, is
handsome and popular whereas Noah is average-looking and spends most of his
time with birds and books. After meeting, they embark on a wild journey of
vandalism, burglary, and arson. Their personal relationship escalates, and
their criminal acts morph into more sinister behavior as the two flout the
laws of the “common” man and live their version of the
Übermensch, or “superman” as defined by Friedrich
Nietzsche.
One hundred years ago, the world was stunned to learn that Nathan Leopold
and Richard Loeb, two wealthy, brilliant university students, had confessed
to kidnapping and murdering fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks. Why did Leopold
and Loeb do it? For “pure love of excitement, or the imaginary love of
thrills, doing something different,” they said.
D.L. Scarpe’s Übermensch fictionalizes the Leopold and Loeb case,
focusing on the reason why the gifted teenagers’ lives took such an
unexpected turn, destroyed three families, and captivated the country in
what was dubbed at the time as the “crime of the century.”
About the Author
D.L. Scarpe has always had stories rattling around inside her head, locked
up tight, only set free on those endless childhood nights spent swapping
tales with her best friend. The story-weaving continued into
adulthood–her little secret. However, raising a family; managing a
household; building retaining walls, patios, or fire pits from stones (rock
“jigsaw puzzles”); refinishing oak floors and furniture; or
helping her husband on a roof–although she tried to pay attention when
on a roof–kept her too busy for that other side of her to come out.
So, it remained a secret.
But kids grow up and bodies get too tired for physical labor, and now
it’s time to pursue her own passions and dreams. Working on her bucket
list, she picked three things that make her happy, and she’s pursuing
them all with no apologies:
Writing.
Shoes.
Tattoos.
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