Blog Tour: Übermensch by D.L. Scarpe #historical #fiction #interview #rabtbooktours @dl_scarpe @RABTBookTours

 

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."

Interview

Introduce yourself and tell me about what you do.

D.L. Scarpe. Scarpe, pronounced Skar-pay, is my Americanized version of the Italian word for shoes. My pen name means Donna Loves Shoes.

Tell me more about your journey as an author, including the writing processes.

I have always had stories rattling around inside my head keeping me busy while doing all sorts of physical work in my real life. I never thought about writing them down until one day I did. I wrote the first chapter of a novel and never touched it again. Roughly six months later, I wrote my first novel based on a nightmare I had. I’m a total pantser and never outline my book before I write. I usually write down my character’s stats as I go along or after I have my first draft.

Tell me about your Book

Übermensch came about quite by accident, really. I had just finished the first draft of my third novel, and I was intimidated by how much work/editing/revising the manuscript required—it came in roughly 40,000 words over. I worked on that manuscript for a long time and I needed a break, so I decided to begin a new project. Every agent I researched for my earlier novels seemed to have one thing in common: historical fiction. I thought, “Why not Google old crimes and see what you get?” Leopold’s and Loeb’s names popped up as the perpetrators of what the newspapers dubbed a hundred years ago as the “crime of the century.” I was immediately intrigued with the story and couldn’t believe that two such smart, rich guys screwed up this crime so much and that they were caught so easily. My mind immediately began concocting a story about the real reason why they did what they did.

Any message for our readers

Read Übermensch and find out the “real” reason L&L did what they did.

Story

My fictionalized version revolves around Noah Lieberman (the Leopold character) and Roman Loewe (Loeb)—their relationship and the reason why they did what they did.

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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Purchase Link

Amazon