Dark Highway: Love, Murder, and Revenge in 1930s' Kentucky

On a cold November night in 1936, the body of beautiful businesswoman Verna Garr Taylor is found in a ditch along a lonely highway in rural Kentucky. Verna has been shot through the heart, and fiancé, former lieutenant governor and brigadier general Henry Denhardt insists she committed suicide.

But the clues left behind point to murder, and General Denhardt quickly becomes the target of investigators. The general's sensational murder trial draws reporters from all over the country to the small Kentucky community. The case is featured in the New York Times, the London Herald, Newsweek, Time, Life, and other national and international publications.

When the trial ends in a hung jury, Kentuckians — including Verna's three angry and grieving brothers — wait in grim anticipation for the general to be tried again.

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Download a sample from Dark Highway by clicking here.

You can also read about DAngelo's book in the Lexington Herald-Leader by clicking here.

Testimonials

“Finally, the ill-fated encounter of Verna Garr Taylor and General Henry H. Denhardt has been approached by a tireless researcher. Did Denhardt murder Taylor? All the known evidence is studied and laid out for the reader. Although this incident happened over three-quarters of a century ago, the themes are as fresh as the morning's newspaper. You will read Dark Highway with a sense of awe, and realize the truth in the adage, ‘The more things change, the more they remain the same.’ Prepare to read a book you won't want to put down until you finish the last page.”

— William E. Ellis, Emeritus Foundation Professor of History, Eastern Kentucky University, and author of six books and more than thirty journal articles

“With spellbinding storytelling, Ann DAngelo has recovered from the dust bin of Kentucky history one of the most fascinating — but forgotten — episodes of romance, murder, and revenge in a state known for all three.”

— Bill Cunningham, Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court, author of Castle: The Story of a Kentucky Prison, On Bended Knees: The True Story of the Night Rider Tobacco War in Kentucky and Tennessee, and A Distant Light: Kentucky's Journey Toward Racial Justice.

About the Author

Ann DAngelo is a licensed Kentucky attorney with an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Louisville and a juris doctor degree from Salmon P. Chase College of Law. Twenty years as an attorney, combined with a lifelong passion for history, have served her well in researching and writing the tragic story of Brigadier General Henry Denhardt and Verna Garr Taylor. Ann has used trial transcripts, court pleadings, newspaper accounts, attorney correspondence, and interviews with witnesses and family members to compile a riveting account of this very cold case.