Murder in the Dollhouse
- Judith D Collins
- Dec 7, 2025
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 9
The Jennifer Dulos Story
By: Rich Cohen
Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini
ISBN: 9781250401717
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Publication Date: 05/20/2025
Format: Audiobook
Duration: 8 hrs, 11 min, 33 sec
My Rating: 5 Stars +(ALC)
Non-fiction
TOP AUDIOBOOKS OF 2025
A nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Jennifer Dulos and the aftershocks that rattled a wealthy suburb.
Rich Cohen’s Murder in the Dollhouse is the chilling, unputdownable story of Jennifer Dulos, a beautiful, rich suburban mother who dropped her kids off at the New Canaan Country School one morning and vanished. Her body has never been found.
Dulos was in the midst of an ugly divorce—one of the most contentious in Connecticut state history. The couple, a beautiful, highly connected pair, met at Brown University, had five children, and led what appeared to be a charmed life. In the wake of her disappearance, Dulos’s husband and his girlfriend were arrested. He killed himself on the day he was supposed to report to court; she was tried and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. A gripping story of status, wealth, love, and hate, Murder in the Dollhouse peers beneath the sparkling veneer of propriety that surrounded the Duloses to uncover the origins and motivations of a crime that has become a national obsession.
My Review
In the masterfully penned narrative, MURDER IN THE DOLLHOUSE: The Jennifer Dulos Story by Rich Cohen delves into the haunting mystery of Jennifer Dulos, a wealthy mother whose life unraveled in the affluent town of New Canaan, Connecticut, in 2019.
Artfully narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, explores not only her mysterious disappearance but also the chilling presumption of her murder.
Cohen intricately weaves a tale that examines the complex tapestry of personal and financial motives that may have driven the crime. He skillfully unpacks the shadowy truths behind the façade of a seemingly perfect high-society marriage, revealing the dark undercurrents that often lie beneath the surface of privilege and prosperity.
This compelling investigation invites readers to grapple with the unsettling realities of love, betrayal, and the often-hidden struggles of those living in the limelight.
About...
~The Disappearance (May 24, 2019): Jennifer Dulos vanished after dropping her five children off at school. Though her body was never found, investigators discovered significant blood evidence in her garage, indicating a violent struggle.
~A Contentious Divorce: At the time of her disappearance, Jennifer was embroiled in a years-long, acrimonious divorce and custody battle with her estranged husband, Fotis Dulos. Cohen details how the couple's initial "charmed life"—met at Brown University, five children, immense wealth—crumbled into a toxic environment of control and infidelity.
~Financial and Familial Motives: The book highlights the financial strain on Fotis, whose luxury home construction business was failing. Cohen explores how Jennifer’s father, a Park Avenue banker, had bankrolled Fotis's lifestyle and business; after his death, Jennifer's mother demanded the loans be repaid, deepening Fotis's desperation.
~The Suspects and Legal Fallout:
Fotis Dulos: Identified as the prime suspect, he was arrested and eventually charged with murder and kidnapping. He died by suicide in January 2020 on the day he was due in court.
~Michelle Troconis: Fotis's girlfriend was captured on surveillance footage helping him dispose of bloody trash. She was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with evidence.
~The Victim's Portrait: Cohen shifts focus from typical true-crime procedural to a humane biography of Jennifer. He explores her devotion to motherhood and her own creative life before it was eclipsed by Fotis's manipulation and the ultimate tragedy.
~The "Dollhouse" Metaphor: The title refers to the curated, seemingly perfect suburban life that masked growing shadows of domestic abuse and coercive control.
My thoughts...
In this compelling and meticulously researched narrative, MURDER IN THE DOLLHOUSE: The Jennifer Dulos Story, Rich Cohen unveils a harrowing and unsettling reality: the suffocating hold of domestic violence spares no one, regardless of how much privilege or wealth one may possess. His storytelling illuminates the darker corners of human relationships, revealing that even the most affluent lives can be marred by a hidden struggle against this pervasive and destructive force.
Through his exploration of this tragic case, Cohen presents it as a poignant "cautionary tale," illuminating the vulnerability of the so-called "American Dream." He reveals how this dream, often romanticized and idealized, can crumble when it rests upon a precarious foundation of control and manipulation, exposing the dark undercurrents that can lurk beneath a seemingly perfect surface.
Jennifer was deeply invested in a lifelong dream of a "perfect family," modeled after the idealized world of a dollhouse. This desire for a curated, flawless life reportedly led her to "trust too much" and initially overlook or accommodate Fotis's early manipulative behaviors to maintain the facade.
Cohen suggests that Jennifer’s sheltered upbringing in a wealthy, structured environment may have left her less equipped to recognize or contend with "evil" and predatory behavior. The author details how Hilliard Farber’s wealth was the engine of the Dulos family's lifestyle, and how his death in January 2017 acted as the catalyst for the tragedy.
Motive for murder: The "Target" on Her Back: By 2019, Fotis was staggering under nearly $7 million in debt. Cohen argues that Fotis believed if he could eliminate Jennifer and gain sole custody, he would gain access to his children’s massive trust funds, effectively solving his financial ruin.
As the book reiterates, a recurring theme is that even with bodyguards, restraining orders, and high-level security systems, a person cannot truly be protected from a partner determined to do them harm.
The title masterfully serves as a metaphor for a meticulously curated life—private schools, luxury homes, and status—that masks a "subterranean river" of darkness and coercive control.
A searing examination of domestic violence, the book explores how Fotis Dulos used his charm to manipulate those around him, suggesting that society often romanticizes control until it turns fatal. The author ultimately aims to restore Jennifer’s identity from a "dead woman in a photograph" to a complex victim, a human being whose life was overshadowed by her own dreams of a perfect matrimony.
The author presents several overlapping takeaway messages that frame the tragedy as both a personal failing and a systemic critique.
~The Illusion of Safety
~The Danger of the "Dollhouse" Facade
~Performance of Happiness
~The Trap of Perfection
Societal and Institutional Failures: The case serves as a "cautionary tale" about how the family court system can be exploited by an abuser to continue a cycle of coercive control even after a victim has attempted to leave.
Cohen acknowledges that the massive public interest in the case was driven by "status markers"—money, Ivy League pedigrees, and beautiful participants—leading to a "missing white woman syndrome" that often overlooks similar tragedies in less affluent communities.
The Jennifer Dulos case was a major catalyst for legal reform in Connecticut, directly leading to the passage of "Jennifer’s Law" in 2021. This legislation addressed several systemic failures revealed by the case.
Legal Reforms (Jennifer's Law - PA 21-78)
~Expansion of the Domestic Violence Definition
~Easier Access to Protection
~"Best Interest of the Child" Prioritization
~Legal Aid and Support
Social and Judicial Reforms
~Judicial Training
~Streamlined Court Procedures
~Curbing Litigation Abuse
~Socioeconomic Awareness
The audiobook...
Extraordinary! The audiobook was expertly narrated by the acclaimed Edoardo Ballerini, whose captivating performance truly brought the story to life. His rich tone and dynamic expression infused the characters and plot with a profound emotional depth, heightening the intensity and significance of the case at hand. Listeners are treated to an immersive, enlightening, and thoroughly engaging experience that keeps them on the edge of their seats. I wholeheartedly recommend this audiobook! Top audiobooks of 2025 list.
Recs...
Readers interested in MURDER IN THE DOLLHOUSE may be drawn to books with similar themes of domestic violence, high-profile murder, the "perfect life" facade, and systemic failures in the justice system.
~No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us by Rachel Louise Snyder
~Women We Buried, Women We Burned: A Memoir by Rachel Louise Snyder (5 stars)
~Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life by Evan Stark
~Scared Silent: The Mildred Muhammad Story by Mildred Muhammad
~In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
~The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich (top books of 2017)
~Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Irelandby Patrick Radden Keefe
~Small Sacrifices by Ann Rule
Special thanks to Macmillan Audio and #MacAudio2025 for sharing an advanced listening copy via Google Play in exchange for my honest thoughts.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars
Pub Date May 20, 2025
Top Audiobooks of 2025
Praise
“In the new book Murder in the Dollhouse, Rich Cohen, who reported the story for Air Mail magazine, delves into the case, constructing a true crime tale that’s equal parts gripping, sad and enraging.”
―Marion Winik, The Washington Post
“It is to Rich Cohen’s credit that, in his never-boring Murder in the Dollhouse, he pauses over ‘the media’s obsession with dead white women’ and declares outright that the Dulos murder was ‘about money―it’s always about money’ . . . Therein lies the tale, and Cohen, a prolific journalist and author of fourteen books, is awfully good at telling it. With great skill he sketches the origin story of Jennifer Farber.”
―Louis Bayard, The New York Times
“Disquieting . . . Cohen’s gifts as a storyteller are ample; he leaves the reader with a heightened appreciation for her, her promise as a writer, her devotion as a parent and why she found herself, like so many women, in a marriage fearing for her life.”
―Alex Belth, The Wall Street Journal
“In this gripping work of non-fiction, journalist and bestselling author Rich Cohen investigates the life and death of the monied Ivy League grad and the tabloid frenzy that came next.”
―Town & Country
“Cohen turns this tabloid whodunit into a searching examination of the American dream, our fascination with lurid tragedy and the cost of perfection.”
―The New York Times
“What Truman Capote did for Holcomb, Kansas, with In Cold Blood, Rich Cohen has done for New Canaan, Connecticut, with Murder in the Dollhouse. This book isn’t just true crime, it’s sociology in action.”
―Lili Anolik, author of Didion and Babitz
“In Murder in the Dollhouse, Rich Cohen takes us beyond the tabloid headlines of the Jennifer Dulos story to chronicle―in devastating detail―the tragic unraveling of a marriage and the shattering of the American dream. With brilliant, razor-sharp writing and deep reporting of the case, he proves to be the perfect narrator as we witness two lives on an inevitable collision course.”
―Katie Couric
“Rich Cohen takes what might be dismissed as a tabloid story of murder and mines it for its deeper, weightier resonances, revealing a painfully human (and perhaps quintessentially American) story of a Kafkaesque divorce, its ripple effects on family and friends, and the destructive power of relentless aspiration.”
―Megan Abbot, New York Times bestselling author of Beware the Woman
“There can be no justice for Jennifer Dulos or those who loved her, but this book will stand as something close: written with elegance and clarity, impeccably reported, and filled with genuine heart, we come to know this bright light of a woman whose charmed life turned into the worst kind of nightmare.”
―Dani Shapiro, author of Signal Fires
“Set in a world I know well―the cosseted and manicured bubble of Fairfield County, Connecticut―Murder in the Dollhouse contrasts the extreme elegance against the grit of a heinous crime. Jennifer Farber was the tragically misdirected woman who had everything going for her―on the surface. Red flags flapping in a windstorm didn’t alert her to the mess that would be her marriage to Fotis Dulos. Rich Cohen has done a fantastic reporting job. It’s the details that will make you gasp.”
―Lisa Birnbach, author of The Official Preppy Handbook and twenty other books
About the Author
Rich Cohen is the New York Times-bestselling author of Tough Jews, Monsters, Sweet and Low, The Sun & the Moon & the Rolling Stones, The Chicago Cubs, and The Last Pirate of New York, and, with Jerry Weintraub, When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead. He is the cocreator of the HBO series Vinyl, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, and a writer at large for Air Mail. He has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications. Cohen has won the Great Lakes Book Award, the Chicago Public Library’s 21st Century Award, and the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award. He lives in Connecticut. WEBSITE
