Double Indemnity
Kent Lilly practices trial law in Lake Wales and is a native of the city. He has been a lawyer’s lawyer for many years, including having served on The Florida Bar Board of Governors. Lilly’s Double Indemnity displays not only talent as a skilled lawyer detailing a series of events from a legal perspective, but also as a teller of history.
He describes the development of his hometown from a small community on Florida’s ridge as among the first central Florida towns developed after developers learned that there was more to Florida than its coastline. He chronicles the evolution of a small village to a thriving town with large hotels and visits by movie stars of the era.
What does Double Indemnity have to do with the law? Lilly tells the story of attorney Emmett Archybalde Donnelly who was 38 years old in the mid-1920s when he arrived in Lake Wales from Milwaukee and then practiced law in Lake Wales for 30 years.
Seemingly having all of the right stuff for contributing to Lake Wales’ thriving and being a veteran of World War I, and the gracious and personable son of a judge, Donnelly succeeded as a lawyer for the movers and shakers of Lake Wales and the celebrities frequenting the area. As Donnelly’s law practice expanded, he hired Joseph Hamilton Beal as an associate, with Beal later becoming Lake Wales’ mayor.
But Double Indemnity is more than a biography of Donnelly or a chamber of commerce chronicle of the economy of Lake Wales. Even though Lilly, as historian, is a board member of Florida Southern College’s Lawton M. Chiles Center for Florida History, Double Indemnity also spins a legal mystery and thriller.
Donnelly is accused of having Beal murdered. During the course of the investigation, suspicion arises that Donnelly poisoned his former business partner in Milwaukee. As it turns out, both Beal and the Milwaukee business partner were insured with double indemnity life insurance policies. While under investigation, Donnelly stayed a popular citizen and lawyer for decades. Indeed, Donnelly was the lawyer for the businesses of Lilly’s father.
Spelling out the details of the book could spoil a good read, as the plot includes actions of the Ybor City branch of the mafia and very detailed conspiracies to commit other murders of several wealthy clients of Donnelly, including forged legal documents naming Donnelly as beneficiary. The investigatory efforts of Florida law enforcement personnel in a system from almost a century ago that was much different than today’s is fascinating.
Lilly says that he was inspired by the stories of his parents, his father’s hunting and golfing buddies, as well as his early law partners telling stories of a young lawyer being murdered on his back porch, a poisoning death, a kidnapping, and a very rich old man being thrown off the top of a hotel. He started his research as a young lawyer, but put his writing efforts on hold for decades until encouraged by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King to write Double Indemnity.
