Enter now to Meet the Kellys:

The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne

5.0 out of 5 stars A page turning true life crime drama: Meet the Kellys

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2025

Format: Hardcover

Author Chris Enss never disappoints. Her books are always well written and thoroughly researched. So much time must’ve been put in to this story finding all the newspaper clippings and court records. I appreciate how she finds such interesting facts and brings her characters to life once again. Meet the Kellys was definitely page turning.

Meet the Kellys: The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne is available at bookstores everywhere, at Barnes & Noble.com, Amazon.com, and Kensingtonbooks.com.

Since the famous “first” western movie, The Great Train Robbery, starring Broncho Billy Anderson, made its debut in 1903, cowboy heroes have continued their easily won dominance— but little has been written about the cowgirl stars and their fans. Young women looked up to independent cowgirl characters played by Barbara Stanwyck and Dale Evans in the 1940s and 1950s. Who were the stars before these women? Surprisingly, Hollywood was well-populated with leading cowgirls and real cowgirls. Early Hollywood actresses and stunt women kept the cowgirl spirit alive. They performed every conceivable feat of horsemanship and displayed professional skills coupled with their best efforts and devotion. For some of these working women, the financial rewards for their daring and athletic prowess were at least reasonable.

Hollywood Cowgirls is the story of more than a dozen trick ropers, bronc busters, and bulldoggers turned actresses, who like the early ranch women and rodeo competitors, had pluck and charm. These women performed their own stunts, riding horses at breakneck speed, firing guns, and capturing outlaws. Cowgirl actresses such as Ruth Roland, Helen Gibson, Texas Guinan, Marin Sais, Anne Little, Marie Walcamp, and Evelyn Selbie received top billing above the cowboy and his horse in hundreds of films. This is their story.

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Meet the Kellys:

The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne

American gangster George Kelly Barnes (1895 – 1954), aka Machine Gun Kelly, with his wife Kathryn at their trial for the kidnapping of businessman Charles F. Urschel, at the Federal Court in Oklahoma City, 9th October 1933. Kelly has a bump on his head after being hit with a pistol butt during an altercation on his arrival at court. Kelly and his wife pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life imprisonment. 

“Chris Enss is one of the finest writers ever. She has created a powerful brand writing about women who made history a subject that has been sorely lacking. Her portrayal of Machine Gen Kelly and Kathyrn reads like a novel with characters that are hard to believe but every word is true. She brings us into the Great Depression and the age of gangsters vividly and accurately with superb character development and fast paced action. I have loved all of her books but this is a favorite. A must read of a tragic couple who were comically flawed.”

Bestselling Author David Crow

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Meet the Kellys:

The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne

Kathryn Kelly, wife of gangster George “Machine Gun” Kelly (Original photo has no negative date or photo credit, published 08/03/1986 in The Daily Oklahoman)

The Urschel kidnapping was the first prominent case in which FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover exercised his control of the print media and laid the groundwork for building his legendary status. He not only recruited talented individuals to help develop scientific methods to solve crimes and track offenders but hired publicists to feed information to the press that highlighted the Bureau’s accomplishments and the methods employed by relentless agents to apprehend notorious outlaws. Throughout the investigation into Charles Urschel abduction, Director Hoover turned every lead, either uncovered by his men or reported by a civilian, into an opportunity to promote the agency as a superior crime-fighting force.

Much of what the Bureau reported about the capture of Machine Gun Kelly and Kathyrn Thorne was accurate, but some of the events they claimed occurred were fiction. Kelly pointed out the discrepancies to newspaper reporters, but journalists were disinclined to take the gangster’s word, and Hoover counted on that. Kathryn Kelly had a flair for manipulating the press as well, but her talent was discovered too late to improve her circumstances. News of the Kellys’ crimes and various law enforcement agencies pursuits of the pair appeared in newspapers across the country. Hoover and his staff painted Kathryn as a materialistic femme fatale who drove her husband to commit the crimes he did. She tried to change the public’s opinion of her by giving interviews with respected journalists and candidly sharing her truth about her relationship with Kelly and how he misled her.

George’s upper-middle-class background was in sharp contrast to Kathryn’s depressed past. She referred to the difference in their upbringing often when she spoke with reporters and was quick to tell them that it was Kelly who intimidated her into breaking the law and not the other way around. “The first time I ever saw a machine gun was when Kelly had one at my house in Fort Worth,” Kathryn told Pulitzer Prize–winning Scripps-Howard staff writer Lee Hills in mid-October 1933. “It is being told that I provided my husband with weapons and that he taught me how to use them. He never taught me to use a machine gun or any other kind. I wouldn’t know what to do with one. This talk about him being about to write his name on a wall with machine gun bullets may be so, but I don’t know whether he even can shoot.”

Kathryn herself circulated the rumor about his shooting prowess long before she and Kelly embarked on their first kid napping. That kind of promotion had served its purpose well when they were deciding to graduate from robbing banks to abducting the wealthy, but once they were caught, Kathryn denied it all to the press. To avoid life in prison, it was important potential jurors saw her as a naïve young woman with ordinary wants and dreams who was taken advantage of by the man she loved.

To learn more about the woman behind the gangster read Meet the Kellys:

The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathyrn Thorne

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The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne

Kathryn Kelly was reclining on an oversize sofa at the Texas home she shared with her husband. It was the fall of 1932. Magazines and newspapers were scattered about the coffee table in front of her and music from a Philco cabinet radio filled the room. She sang along with the tune “Everything I Have Is Yours” by Art Jarrett while circling items of interest found in issues of the Fort Worth Star- Telegram. The story she highlighted in the October 18, 1932, edition of the publication was about the marriage of widow Berenice Slick to widower Charles F. Urschel. Both were reported to be prominent, wealthy oil personalities.

According to the article, the couple planned to leave immediately for an extended tour in Europe, then return to the mansion they purchased in Oklahoma on December 15. The article circled in the October 21, 1932, edition of the newspaper pertained to the appraisal of the estate of Berenice’s late husband, wildcatter Thomas B. Slick. His Oklahoma holdings alone were worth more than six million dollars. Throughout November and December, Kathryn collected every newspaper article she could find on the Urschels. She read about the newlyweds’ time in France and Italy and sailing to New York after their honeymoon. She learned the exact day they were to arrive in the States and the address of their home in Oklahoma City, 326 NW 18th Street, the names of their teenage children and where they attended school, and the bridge club luncheon scheduled to be held at the Urschel home in early December.

The December 15, 1932, edition of the Oklahoma News, featured a story inviting readers to visit the Urschel’s residence to see the beautiful table settings the bride and groom possessed. “I want to suggest to you that you drive by the Charles F. Urschel home at 18th Street and Hudson Avenue some night and take a look at the window of the dining room that faces on Hud son,” the article read. “Mrs. Urschel has a passion for beautiful china and glass and in this window are shelves upon which stand glasses of various sizes, all in the ruby Venetian glass, through which the lamps of the dining room shine warmly out to the street at night and through which the setting sun pours gorgeous hues into the dining room, near the close of day.”

Kathryn discussed the Urschels with her husband George Kelly over the holidays and into the new year and suggested they kidnap Charles. She estimated they could ask for a $250,000 ransom and get it.

Meet the Kellys

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Meet the Kellys:

The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne.

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“Enss presents the true history of one of America’s great criminal romances in this nonfiction work. . . . This propulsive and thoroughly researched true-crime account will especially please fans of Depression-era gangster stories as it helps to elevate George and Kathryn to the same iconic strata as Bonnie and Clyde. A pulpy true-crime account of one of America’s most infamous kidnappings.” —Kirkus Reviews on Meet the Kellys

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The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne

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The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne

It’s 1933 and Prohibition has given rise to the American gangster. Bank robberies at gunpoint are commonplace and kidnapping for ransom is the scourge of a lawless nation. With local cops unauthorized to cross state lines in pursuit and no national police force, safety for kidnappers is just a short trip on back roads they know well from their bootlegging days. Gangster George “Machine Gun” Kelly and his wife, Kathryn, are the most celebrated criminal husband-and-wife team of the Great Depression. With gin-running operations facing extinction and bank vaults with dwindling stores of cash, Kathryn persuades Kelly to set his sights on the easy-money racket of kidnapping. His target: rich oilman, Charles Urschel.

Enter J. Edgar Hoover, a desperate Justice Department bureaucrat who badly needs a successful prosecution to impress the new administration and save his job. Hoover’s agents are given the sole authority to chase kidnappers across state lines and when Kelly bungles the snatch job, Hoover senses his big opportunity. The Kellys abduct a young girl to help them avoid capture. What follows is a thrilling 20,000 mile chase over the back roads of Depression-era America, crossing 16 state lines, and generating headlines across America along the way.

The Kellys’ crimes and subsequent arrests marked a number of significant firsts for the American justice system. The Kellys were the first to be tried after the Lindburgh Law was approved by Congress. The Kellys were the first gangsters to be transported by plane to the location of their trial and their trial was the first to be filmed. The FBI National Emergency Phoneline created to manage the increased number of high-profile abductions was first used by the victims of the Kellys’ kidnapping escapade. The ransom the Kellys received in the kidnapping was the largest ransom ever paid in the nation.

To learn more about the criminal duo read

Meet the Kellys:

The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne.

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2024 SILVER Winner for Women’s Studies

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The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne

“Going to see Bonnie and Clyde at a local drive-in was the start of my interest in the Great Depression and that era’s gangsters. Bonnie and Clyde. Pretty Boy Floyd. John Dillinger. Ma Barker. Bugs Moran. I’m not quite sure why I found these gangsters to be so fascinating. I didn’t think they were romantic. I certainly didn’t want to emulate them. I think it probably had something to do with how people reacted to and survived the Great Depression. So, it’s no wonder that when I heard about Meet the Kellys that I wanted to read it.

I was familiar with other books written by Chris Enss, so I was expecting a well-researched history of Kelly and Thorne. That’s exactly what I got. Kathryn Thorne saw the potential in small-time bootlegger George Kelly to give her the lifestyle she had always craved. And with her gift of a machine gun to Kelly, history was made. The couple’s endless road trips not only had me hearing some of the music from Bonnie and Clyde, but they almost made me carsick.

I learned quite a bit from this book. I’d forgotten how kidnapping had taken center stage for several of these gangsters, so much so that the government passed the Federal Kidnapping Act in an attempt to put an end to it. In true diva style, when everything disintegrated, Kathryn Thorne tried her best to keep herself and her parents out of jail. She was definitely what my family would refer to as a “piece of work.” If you have any interest at all in this time period, Meet the Kellys is well worth a read.” Net Galley Reviewer

Meet the Kellys

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“Meet the Kellys: The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne by Christopher Enss was an interesting read. I’d heard of Machine Gun Kelly, but didn’t know much about him and I’d never heard of Kathryn Moll. I enjoy books that both entertain and inform me and this book did it.”

Apart from referring to me as “Christopher”, I appreciate the review.

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Meet the Kellys:

The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne.