Love and Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain

Love and Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain, published by Simon & Schuster, is a collaborative investigative journalism book written by Ian Halperin and Max Wallace purporting to show that rock star Kurt Cobain, believed to have committed suicide, was in fact murdered, possibly at the behest of his wife Courtney Love. It is a follow-up to the authors' 1998 bestseller on the same subject, Who Killed Kurt Cobain?. The book is based on 30 hours of revealing audiotaped conversations, exclusively obtained by the authors, between Courtney Love's private investigator, Tom Grant, and her entertainment attorney, who both dispute the official finding of suicide and believe Cobain was in fact murdered.

The lawyer says on the tapes that she believes the so-called suicide note was "forged or traced." The authors also interview Cobain's grandfather, who believes Kurt was the victim of foul play, and Courtney's father, who also believes he was murdered. In the book, a prominent forensic pathologist examines the known autopsy evidence and claims that the official suicide scenario was "impossible." She claims that there is compelling and authoritative evidence that Cobain was murdered. The authors, however, unequivocally state that they saw no smoking gun evidence linking Courtney Love to her husband's death and they discredit many of the most popular conspiracy theories surrounding the death.

Reception

Love and Death reached #18 on the New York Times Bestseller list in April 2004.^[1] Shortly after the book's release, the television show Dateline NBC aired a segment critically examining some of the book's conclusions.^[2][3] Britain's The Guardian newspaper described the book as "valuably different in tone to everything else you'll read on the subject."

References

• Furek, Maxim. "The Death Proclamation of Generation X: A Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of Goth, Grunge and Heroin." i-Universe, 2008. ISBN 978-0-595-46319-0