Capote's Blondes and Brunettes

Although I hadn't actually seen the film, the impression I got from all the talk about Katherine Hepburn's star turn in Breakfast at Tiffany's was that it was superficial socialite twaddle and Capote's writing wasn't worth bothering with.

But if it weren't for the film Capote, which I did go and see, I wouldn't have reassessed my impression of the film's inspiration and gotten down to reading his work.

Needless to say, In Cold Blood and the dead-tree version of Breakfast at Tiffany's are brilliant, and Holly Golightly is a much darker figure than I had expected.

And so I give you a selection from In Cold Blood, which, funnily enough given the book's non-fictional fictional status, might not be words of Capote's invention but of the actual person from whose mouth they were supposedly uttered:

"What you got against him - a nice little punk like that?"

"Parole violation."

"Uh-huh. Came all the way from Kansas on a parole case. Well, I'm just a dizzy blonde. I believe you. But I wouldn't tell that tale to any brunettes."