Naughty

Veteran Joe Krueger is drifting in 1950s California when the sweet— and sexy — Ida rents him a room. Joe starts helping out around the boardinghouse, and the two marry. The honeymoon is over when a motel owner and her crippled husband turn up missing, a water softener salesman is shot, and workmen are digging holes in Joe Krueger’s basement. Based on the true story of Iva Kroeger and her husband Ralph, who were indicted for the murders of Mildred and Jay Arneson in 1962, Naughty culminates in a trial: Ida, whose crimes have (only just) begun to catch up to her, is at her zenith, pleading insanity and playing the part to the hilt. The reader learns Joe’s and Ida’s fates via excerpts from authentic court documents.