An Astonishing True Story of Adultery, Arsenic, and a Charismatic Killer
#1 BC Bestseller
City of Vancouver Book Award finalist 2019
Shortlisted for the 2019 Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award (BC Book Prizes)
2019 Finalist Best Non Fiction Crime Book, Arthur Ellis Awards
Named one of the top 5 books by Vancouver authors in 2018 – Vancouver Courier
Named one of the top 10 BC must reads in the Vancouver Sun
Named one of the top 10 reads of 2018 by the North Shore News
Named one of CBC’s Top 25 Works of Non-Fiction to watch for this fall
Named one of CBC’s 13 books to read during National Crime Writing Month
October pick for CTV’s the Social Book Club
In book stores or buy online: Murder by Milkshake
When forty-year-old Esther Castellani died a slow and agonizing death in Vancouver in 1965, the official cause was at first undetermined. The day after Esther’s funeral, her husband, Rene, packed up his girlfriend, Lolly; his daughter, Jeannine; and Lolly’s son, Don, in the company car and took off for Disneyland. If not for the doggedness of the doctor who treated Esther, Rene, then a charismatic and handsome CKNW radio personality, would have been free to marry Lolly, who was the station’s pretty twentysomething receptionist. Instead, Rene was charged with capital murder for poisoning his wife with arsenic-laced milkshakes in one of British Columbia’s most sensational criminal cases of the century.
Murder by Milkshake is the compelling story of the Castellanis, and of their daughter, Jeannine, who was eleven at the time of her mother’s murder and who clung to her father’s innocence, even committing perjury during his trial. Rigorously researched, and based on dozens of interviews with family, friends, and co-workers, Murder by Milkshake documents the sensational case that kept Vancouver spellbound, while providing a snapshot of the city’s Mad Men-esque social and political realities in the 1960s.
See other books by Eve Lazarus
Reviews
“Eve Lazarus gets it. The Vancouver-based true crime author has already made many friends among readers who enjoy her well researched studies of mayhem on Vancouver’s mean streets and its seemingly innocent residential neighbourhoods. Those who enjoyed 2015’s Cold Case Vancouver will be pleased to know that Lazarus has done it again with Murder by Milkshake.” The Vancouver Sun
“Deeply researched, Eve Lazarus has done everything short of getting up on top of the BowMac sign herself to get to the heart of the story behind the notorious Rene Castellani, whose crime is still one of the most unbelievable, strange, and remarkable chapters in Vancouver crime history. This isn’t a murder mystery story in the traditional sense; Lazarus reveals a greater mystery about the motivations and actions of a criminal, how deeply the crime affected the innocent around him, the legacy of which plays out to this day.” ―Aaron Chapman, author of The Last Gang in Town and Liquor, Lust, and the Law
“Top-notch true crime writer Eve Lazarus has expertly unravelled one of Vancouver’s most notorious and sensational crimes: the drawn-out and disturbingly premeditated 1965 murder of Esther Castellani. Her husband, media figure Rene Castellani, was eventually charged and convicted with murder. But was he guilty? Rene and Esther’s daughter Jeannine grew up wanting to believe that her father was innocent. Now Jeannine, along with anyone who reads Lazarus’s fascinating book, knows the real story behind the bizarre Milkshake Murder.” Grant Lawrence, Best books of 2018, Vancouver Courier
“Not only a compelling insight into the methodical detective work of a 1960s homicide investigation but also a revealing exposé of one of the most high-profile crimes in Vancouver history”―Superintendent Mike Porteous, Vancouver Police Department
“[Murder by Milkshake] is a book that is at turns heartbreaking and harrowing, maximizing the Vancouver-based writer and historian’s skills as a researcher and interviewer to chronicle the story of the Castellani family in intimate detail—Jeannine’s childhood, Rene’s affair with CKNW secretary Lolly Miller, and the often-gruesome details of Esther’s murder as, over the course of two years, her husband spiked her vanilla milkshakes with increasing doses of arsenic.” – Jesse Donaldson, Montecristo Magazine
“Eve Lazarus has done an exceptional job of reporting one of the most shocking and fascinating murder stories in Vancouver history. Her research is outstanding” ―George Garrett, CKNW radio reporter (retired)
As a social history, Murder by Milkshake gives us a portrait of a city still on the brink of finding itself, far from today’s shimmering metropolis that’s consistently among the top ten of the world’s most livable cities. That snapshot of a city populated by ambitious, struggling people gives the book special merit,. – The Ormsby Review
“A chilling and highly readable story about a pathological liar who was irresponsible with money. A dreamer who liked the night life and wheeling and dealing. Ordinary life wasn’t good enough for him.” – Dr. Heather Burke, forensic psychologist
What readers are saying:
While I’m an avid reader, I don’t usually get caught up in the “I couldn’t put it down” mentality. Turns out this time I did. I don’t know if it was because I’d heard about the story from my late father, I knew some of the players or the sense of nostalgia having grown up in this time but I was fascinated by it. You have done an excellent job detailing and capturing the nuances of the man and the murder. I was also taken by the human side of this story and the profound impact it had on Jeannine. Mind you why wouldn’t it? Thanks for an excellent read. Steve Sweeney, VPD Deputy Chief Constable (retired)
This book was such a page turner that I was actually sad when I got to the last page. I love stories about Vancouver back in the 50s – 70s as it reminds me of a much cooler time than right now! Although this is a sad story about a wife/loving mother who died at the hands of her husband, it also goes into the different events going on in Vancouver at the time and makes you realize how much history the city really does have. I’ve read Cold Case Vancouver from Eve Lazarus, and both books just flow so nicely. I picked this book up 4 days ago and have tried to cater my life around reading it these past few days it was that good. Eve has such a great way of feeding you the content and there was never a boring or dull moment, all I wanted to do was keep reading. Amazing book! Please do more and more and more. Dee Guolo, Goodreads