Saints, Sinners, and Cyanide

The electrifying true story of two simultaneous poisonings in 1916 Chicago—one a cold-blooded killing, the other an audacious mass assassination attempt. Found lifeless in a frozen forest preserve, dual sets of footprints nearby, a question lingered like a ghost in the pines: Did 18-year-old Marion Lambert die by suicide, murder, or something more diabolical? Did she take her own life in despair, believing herself pregnant and without escape? Or did William Orpet—her high school sweetheart—slip her the poison to silence a scandal? As the trial unspooled in a suffocating courtroom packed with socialites and ghoulish pressmen, the line between victim and villain blurred.That same winter, a saboteur calling himself Jean Crones infiltrated a lavish banquet at the University Club, where Chicago’s most powerful men gathered to honor the newly appointed Archbishop, George Mundelein, the rising star of American Catholicism. As wine flowed and toasts rose, Crones poisoned the soup intended for the Archbishop. Authorities insisted no one died, but the truth was much darker: Mundelein may have escaped, but Jean Crones was a serial killer who left a trail of bodies in his wake.In Saints, Sinners, and Cyanide: The 1916 Chicago Poison Murders, Alec Banks weaves these entwined fates into a pulse-pounding narrative of jealousy, forbidden love, anarchist fury, and public spectacle—reviving a true crime saga eerily modern in its obsessions with scandal, class warfare, and the corrosive allure of power. Detailed, vivid, and fast paced, this is a gripping tale that uncovers the dark secrets behind two mysterious poisonings in 1916 Chicago, where intrigue and betrayal collided in the shadow of a bustling city.