CLEWS Your Home for Historic True Crime

'There Will Always Be Blood'

I enjoyed a nice review of True Crime: An American Anthology (Harold Schechter, Ed.; see the CLEWS review) that appeared in the most recent issue of The Nation. Once I got past the first paragraph, anyway.

Reviewer Lorna Scott Fox’s meaty review also featured some artwork that impressed me, and the illustrator, Doug Chayka, explains how he made it here.

Here’s a pop quiz for crime historians: Can you name the executed Indiana man in the mugshot?

Meanwhile, I must forgive the reviewer for calling Edmund L. Pearson one of the "forgotten ‘murder fanciers’" (which nearly made me choke - forgotten? not around here! Any author still being mentioned in national newspapers eighty years after his death is gone but not forgotten) because she also called his storytelling hilarious and sophisticated. Garnering those two adjectives is no mean feat for this genre (see paragraph one).

More links in the theme

Madoff, Walking Free? The continued if limited freedom enjoyed by Bernard Madoff of the Madoff Ponzi scheme, shaping up with crime-of-the-century proportions, continues to astound me. Around here, if you're busted making off with as little as a measly $1 million, you get sentenced and go to jail on the spot.

No Deal It looks like Cleveland's most infamous unsolved murders, the so-called Torso Murders, won't be made into a horror movie starring Matt Damon after all.

The L.A. Times on Edmund Pearson While reviewing True Crime: An American Anthology edited by Harold Schechter, the L.A. Times warmed my heart by paying particular attention to the chapter penned by Edmund L. Pearson. The review of the anthology written by Richard Rayner contains lots of kind words for our Pearson, the Grand Master of the genre.

Does Psychopathy Show Up On MRI? A doctor is examining the brains of inmates to look for signs of psychopathy on MRI images. Fascinating stuff. A recent New Yorker piece by John Seabrook looked at the project and includes the latest scientific thinking on what causes evil, or psychopathy rather, which will add an umpteenth theory to our Western philosophy on the question. Methinks Mr. Madoff's would make an interesting brain for study.

Genre News

Even More True Crime on Cable The network TNT is delving into true crime with an original program it will call Shadow of a Doubt in an effort to feed the insatiable appetite for crime TV. Variety has some details.

A True Crime Comic Book? Sure. According to the publisher, which is giving away its most popular titles for free, its true crime comic is "a hit with critics and readers alike." Actually true crime comics are nothing new. Harold Schechter included the cover art from a true crime comic printed six or seven decades ago in his Savage Pastimes: A Cultural History of Violent Entertainment (B&N) (which, by the way, is absolutely brilliant - historic true crime's answer to Danse Macabre).

The Dollhouse Murders Rumor has it that John Waters is going to narrate a film about the famous forensic dollhouses. Decades ago, dollhouses were used to teach scientific techniques to homicide detectives. They're still used today. Now these odd old objects are getting another hard look. I can only imagine what John will have to say, bless his sick sense of humor, and I'm already hiding my mouth.... Meanwhile, the film's producer has a blog devoted to the project, from which comes the picture above, a scene of slaughter in miniature.

How Canada Failed to Stop a Pedophile Mike McIntyre is one of Canada's most high-profile true crime authors. He's working on a new one - Devil Among Us: How Canada Failed To Stop Pedophile Peter Whitmore. It comes out this fall.

The Latest Member of the Edmund L. Pearson Club is Mary. She took my suggestion to give the dead genius a chance. She remarks: "Just a few stories in, and I already feel like I'm having fireside chats with a very dear, very morbid old friend."

Too Many Victims, Not Enough Justice When writing about a serial killer, true crime authors face a dilemma. It can be difficult to get a grasp on such a story when there are many victims. While reading Ann Rule's Green River, Running Red, the story of a man who killed nearly fifty prostitutes, I went blurry-eyed for more reasons than one. It was a very difficult read because of the sheer number of victims, their pitiful lives and awful deaths.

Recently I came across an essay about The Daughters of Juarez: A True Story of Serial Murder South of the Border (B&N). Thoughtful and intelligent, it really picks apart the book and lead author. The writer managed to articulate why it was dissatisfying:

While Rodriguez is able to discuss numerous personal details, including descriptions of specific victims and their families, her account isn’t grounded in any one place. She bounces from family to family, organization to organization, official to official, murder case to murder case. Her details are exhaustive, and sometimes exhausting. One problem is the fact that she is continually telling this story from multiple places, vantage points, and moments in time.... Rodriguez, in her attempt to cover everything, loses the concrete and intimate details.... In covering so many different people at such a rapid pace, her descriptions and portraits of her subjects lack life.... The book has numerous opportunities to establish a focal point for the narrative, as well as for the position of the author, but it never happens....

It seems to go against the grain to offer a serial killer story without delving into the background of each and every victim in great detail. But, remembering my reaction to Green River, I thought the piece made an interesting point. 

The Edmund L. Pearson Index

Lo and behold, fellow Pearsonphiles, a comprehensive index for the collected works of the greatest true crime writer of all time appears below. Fellow Pearsonite Jim Rockhill was kind enough to develop this index and tell me about it. I added a few jots and tittles and am pleased to share it with all his other fans.

It's quite helpful as many of his essays have been anthologized more than once. So if you want to read all his essays on, say, Lizzie Borden, now you can find them; if you are missing a volume or two from the complete Pearson, you will know what you're missing.

Another Pearson fan was kind enough to send me some unanthologized essays, and as time permits I'm collecting more from the University of Michigan library in Ann Arbor, which has all those old issues of The New Yorker and Scribner's as hard copies. So if you're a big Pearson fan too, and would like to go beyond the books, let me know and I'll be happy to send you copies. Meanwhile, here is a list of all the Pearson essays that did make their way into a book.

The Edmund L. Pearson Index

Copyright: Jim Rockhill and Laura James, 2008. In Alphabetical Order by Essay. Title; Original Book Source; Other Collections in Which the Essay Has Appeared.

Aboard the "Glendower" Five Murders

The Abominable Yelverton More Studies in Murder

Accomplished Female Liars Instigation of the Devil; Masterpieces of Murder

America’s Classic Murder, or The Disappearance of Doctor Parkman Murder at Smutty Nose; Masterpieces of Murder

The Archdeacon's Pajamas (Parson’s Pleasure, I) More Studies in Murder

Bertram the Burglar More Studies in Murder

Birth of the Brainstorm More Studies in Murder

The Blue Blood Mystery of Boston Murders That Baffled the Experts

The Borden Case Studies in Murder

The Bordens: A Postscript Murder at Smutty Nose

The Case of Mr Wainwright Murders That Baffled the Experts

The Case of Tommy Tucker Murders That Baffled the Experts

The Colt-Adams Affair Instigation of the Devil

The Corpse on the Speak-easy Floor More Studies in Murder

The Crime in the Sunday School Instigation of the Devil

The Curious Druces More Studies in Murder

The Death of Bella Wright (The Mystery of the Green Bicycle) More Studies in Murder; Masterpieces of Murder; Murders That Baffled the Experts

The Death of Gulielma Sands Instigation of the Devil

A Demnition Body, or The Embarrassment of Mr. Udderzook Murder at Smutty Nose

Do We Execute Innocent People? Studies in Murder

The Doctor’s Whisky Five Murders

Eight Professors from Yale Instigation of the Devil

The End of the Borden Case: The Final Word Masterpieces of Murder

The Firm of Patrick & Jones Five Murders; Masterpieces of Murder

The First Butterfly of Broadway Instigation of the Devil

The First Great Disappearer More Studies in Murder, Masterpieces of Murder

Five Times Convicted of Murder Instigation of the Devil

For the Borgia Medal, Connecticut Presents— Instigation of the Devil

Four Infamous Names: 1) Jack the Ripper, 2) Charley Page, 3) J. P. Watson, 4) Peter Kürten More Studies in Murder

The Great Chowder Murder More Studies in Murder

The Hanging of Hicks the Pirate Instigation of the Devil

Hauptmann and Circumstantial Evidence Studies in Murder

The Hell-Benders; or, The Story of a Wayside Tavern Murder at Smutty Nose

The Hunting Knife Studies in Murder; Masterpieces of Murder

The “Learned” Murderer Instigation of the Devil

Legends of Lizzie More Studies in Murder; Masterpieces of Murder

The Locked Room Murders That Baffled the Experts

Malloy the Mighty Studies in Murder; More Studies in Murder

The Man Pays—Sometimes Instigation of the Devil

The Man Who Was Too Clever Five Murders

“Mate Bram!” Studies in Murder

Miss Holland's Elopement More Studies in Murder, Murders That Baffled the Experts

Mr. Bravo’s Burgundy More Studies in Murder

Mr. Elwell (The Days of Floradora, III) More Studies in Murder; Masterpieces of Murder

Mr. Spooner’s in the Well Instigation of the Devil

Mrs. Costello Cleans the Boiler More Studies in Murder; Masterpieces of Murder

Mrs. Wharton’s House Party Instigation of the Devil; Masterpieces of Murder

Murder at Smutty Nose; or, The Crime of Louis Wagner Murder at Smutty Nose

Murder in Greenwich Village (The Days of Floradora II) More Studies in Murder

The Murder of Dr. Burdell Some Things Dark and Dangerous

The Mysterious Murder of Cécile Combettes Instigation of the Devil

The Mystery of Tenants Harbour Five Murders

The Mystery of the Cottage by the Lake Murders That Baffled the Experts

The Mystery of the Dancing Shoes Murders That Baffled the Experts

Nineteen Dandelions More Studies in Murder; Masterpieces of Murder

Number 31 Bond Street; or, The Accomplishments of Mrs. Cunningham Murder at Smutty Nose

The Occasionally Veiled Murderess Instigation of the Devil

The People versus Molineux; or, Two Tragedies and a Farce Murder at Smutty Nose

The Petal of the Red Geranium Murders That Baffled the Experts

A Postscript: The End of the Borden Case Five Murders

Precedents in the Hall-Mills Case Instigation of the Devil

Pronounced “Stewkey” (Parson’s Pleasure, II) More Studies in Murder; Masterpieces of Murder

A Rather Mysterious Chancellor Instigation of the Devil

Rules for Murderesses Instigation of the Devil; Masterpieces of Murder

The Salem Conspiracy; or, The Lamentable Death of Captain White Murder at Smutty Nose

Sarah Jane Robinson More Studies in Murder

Scenery by Currier & Ives More Studies in Murder

Scotland Yard's Strangest Case Murders That Baffled the Experts

The Sixth Capsule; or Proof by Circumstantial Evidence Murder at Smutty Nose; Masterpieces of Murder

The Sleepy Hollow Massacre More Studies in Murder

Sob Sisters Emerge More Studies in Murder; Masterpieces of Murder

That Damned Fellow Upstairs Instigation of the Devil; Masterpieces of Murder

The Third Passenger More Studies in Murder

A Thousand Pounds a Minute More Studies in Murder

Three Footnotes to De Quincey: 1) Doctor Cream, 2) Doctor Crippen, 3) Mr. Smith Murder at Smutty Nose; Masterpieces of Murder

The Tichborne Case Instigation of the Devil

The Tirrells of Weymouth Instigation of the Devil

The Tiverton Tragedy; or, The Strange Case of Miss Cornell and Rev. Mr. Avery Murder at Smutty Nose

The Twenty-Third Street Murder Studies in Murder

Two Victorian Ladies: 1) Miss Madeline Smith, 2) Miss Constance Kent Murder at Smutty Nose

Uncle Amos Dreams a Dream Studies in Murder

Was Poe a Detective? Instigation of the Devil

What Does a Murderer Look Like? Instigation of the Devil

What Makes a Good Murder? Instigation of the Devil, Masterpieces of Murder

The Wicked Duke Instigation of the Devil

The Wicked Hansom (The Days of Floradora, I) More Studies in Murder

Willie’s Legs (The Days of Floradora, IV) More Studies in Murder; Masterpieces of Murder

“You Murdering Ministers” Instigation of the Devil; Masterpieces of Murder

A Young Lady Named Perkins Instigation of the Devil

E.L.P., R.I.P.

Seventy years ago today, on August 8, 1937, the United States lost the best true crime writer it ever produced when Edmund Lester Pearson passed away. That's a large statement, but I'd wager that all those qualified to make such judgments would cosign it. He was hugely popular during his lifetime, and only Scotch lawyer William Roughead ever inspired anything close to the same sense of awe in his followers.

He was lionized more than even the very best of his crime-writing contemporaries. Few of those others are known today even in the most esoteric true crime circles. Miss F. Tennyson Jesse, Alexander Woolcott, Henry Irving, Filson Young, J.B. Atlay, Canon Brookes, William Bolitho, Andrew Lang, and Harold Eaton all produced great true crime stories, but none quite had Pearson's flair, and to my knowledge, none are in print now. Pearson is.

(Photo via Lizzie Andrew Borden.com)

Pearson was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1880, attended Harvard, lived in Scarsdale, New York and spent a career as a librarian at the New York Public Library. His essays appeared in magazines such as Scribner's and Vanity Fair (where Dominick Dunne now holds his chair).

Pearson exploded onto the crime scene with his seminal Studies in Murder in 1924. Many other anthologies followed, including More Studies in Murder, Five Murders, Murders that Baffled the Experts, Murder at Smutty Nose and Other Murders, and Instigation of the Devil. It took me more than a decade to track down a copy of the last and rarest one because, Alas and Alack!, he temporarily went out of print the year he died.

Decades passed before he was rediscovered by the Lizzie Borden set. Pearson's most famous essay, The Borden Case, was attacked in 1961 by author Edward D. Radin, who thought that New Bedford's plump heroine was innocent. Radin came out with his contrarian, goofy Lizzie Borden: The Untold Story that year, but Radin's tepid rebuttal to Pearson had the positive effect of reviving interest in the neglected genius.

And what is it, exactly, that made him so special? For one, he provided the best brief explanation ever given for the natural curiosity about murder - a simple justification for the genre called true crime. "What chiefly makes crime worth reading about," Pearson said, "either as fiction or fact, is the human element, the strange problems it presents in human conduct, the revelations it makes of the dark recesses of the human heart."

He was fussy about the crimes he selected. He was in love with murderesses and relished instances of womankind on trial. He wouldn't write about a case unless the murderer and murderee knew each other well; this eliminated from his consideration serial killers, assassins, and routine robberies gone awry. Said he --

Persons who find much interest in an assassination by a gangster or gunman ought to know that these events are feeble in their charm compared to a murder, if one could be unearthed, by an archbishop. And a thoroughly good poisoning perpetrated by the Professor of Christian Ethics in a respectable school of divinity; a well-planned shooting or bludgeoning by a fashionable curate; or almost any sort of homicide by the Dean of a cathedral would be more precious to the discriminating amateur than all the vulgar atrocities which may be committed in the underworld of Memphis, Tenn., in the next eighteen months.

Puckish, urbane, waspish, sometimes W.A.S.P.ish, Pearson brought out the most curious and hilarious moments of criminal history. As contemporary true crime author Keven McQueen recently remarked to me, "he is the person who showed me how true crime writing does not have to be tawdry or exploitive and indeed can be an art."

My favorite passage (for obvious reasons if you know me) is this gem from How Does A Murderer Look? (which calls to mind some of the silliness being touted right now about genes that purportedly predispose people to violent acts) --

Some of the famous criminal lawyers, men who have spent their lives in restoring the burglar to his friends and his relations, and saving murderers from punishment, are fond of going about the country preaching that man is a machine, and that the criminal simply cannot help committing crime.

Not one of these gentlemen has explained why the criminal is so much more successful in resisting criminal impulses in Windsor, Ontario (for example), than directly across the river in Detroit.

"The glands which cause crime" (joyfully believed in by those who take their scientific information from the Sunday supplements) hardly seem to be present in the human body, when that body happens to dwell under the Canadian or the British law! "The glands which cause crime" become mysteriously active in direct proportion to the ease with which the criminal law is cheated in the country where the owner of those glands is living.

His are rich books, fudge cake with fudge frosting, best appreciated a tiny bite at a time. Those of a mind to discover him might begin with Masterpieces of Murder: An Edmund Pearson True Crime Reader, a collection of his essays edited by Gerald Gross, first published in 1963. Just don't castigate me if you become addicted and drain your savings to collect them all.

BookCrossing and Edmund L. Pearson

Has anyone ever actually picked up a book from BookCrossing? It's a free library by mail or chance.

bookcrossing: n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.

You've come to a friendly place, and we welcome you to our book-lovers' community. Our members love books enough to let them go — into the wild — to be found by others. Sharing your used books has never been more exciting, more serendipitous, than with BookCrossing. Our goal, simply, is to make the whole world a library.

BookCrossing is a free online book club of infinite proportion, the first and only of its kind. Inside, you'll find millions of book reviews and hundreds of thousands of passionate readers just like you. Let's get right down to it. You know the feeling you get after reading a book that speaks to you, that touches your life, a feeling that you want to share it with someone else? BookCrossing.com gives you a simple way to share books with the world, and follow their paths forever!

I have read some really offbeat books that I'd love to set sail like a message in a bottle on the oceans of the world. But I can't imagine giving up one of my books by Edmund Pearson. Someone did, though. Someone donated a copy of Queer Books to the world library, and many people have read this book and left comments.

From Bookcrossing:

This is a simply wonderful book by Edmund Pearson (better known, perhaps, for his essays on murders of his day, collected in "Studies in Murder" and "Murder on Smutty Nose") ....This one's much lighter in subject - in fact, it's more or less a history of the pop culture of the day (circa 1928), as evidenced in print. ... Pearson's style is drily sarcastic, a style of which I am fond; some might find him unbearably arch and/or old fashioned, but I like him.

A lot of people loved the book. A lot seemed to hate it.

"This reading a book about books is fun. I think I should like to read more books like this. Not reviews, not lit crit, but just fun observations about a particular genre at a particular point in time. "

"My! What a hoot of a book! I especially enjoyed the overview of the murder tracts and gallows broadsides (which, I imagine, is the reason GoryDetails bought the book in the first place), but the section on etiquette books was quite amusing as well."

"I'm having a very hard time getting through this book. I'm on the second chapter (about Fourth of July speeches) right now, and it's just not doing it for me. "

You can lead a horse to water.

Villisca: The Best Movie Ever Made in the Genre

Legendary true crime writer Edmund Pearson once said, "The Borden case is without parallel in the criminal history of America. It is the most interesting, and perhaps the most puzzling murder that has occurred in this country."

For two decades I agreed with him.

But yesterday I watched a two-hour documentary on an unsolved murder case from Iowa. Now my head has been entirely spun around, and I look not to the east but to the west and a tiny town called Villisca, Iowa -- and I stand corrected. Pearson, you were wrong all along. The greatest unsolved murder in the history of America took place in 1912, and the film Villisca: Living With a Mystery is an excellent introduction to a case that will leave all students of true crime saying, "Lizzie who?"

If Lizzie Borden is Historic True Crime 101, then the obscene axe murders that took the lives of eight people (including six children) as they slept, destroying the psyche of this quiet Iowa town on June 10, 1912, is Historic True Crime 401: it will call on all you think you've learned about criminology.

Villisca: Living With a Mystery is the single best true crime documentary I have ever seen (and I do believe I've seen virtually all of them). With exquisite care, never dipping into the sensationalism that would have been within easy reach (and which the residents of Villisca would not have tolerated), the filmmakers relay the facts of the murders, the effect they had on the townsfolk, the suspects, the theories, the courtroom dramas. It even includes a (tastefully done) computer animation of the crime scene and interviews with a forensic psychiatrist as well as FBI profiler Robert K. Ressler, a very nice touch for those of us who like to hear from profilers on everything. The movie also features top-notch production values and narration, interviews with writers, historians, and residents, and hundreds of historic photos of the people and places involved (which are not repeated, and I'm glad of this. Endless repetition of the same photos over and over and over is one of my primary beefs with most true crime stories depicted on film and TV.)

The murders of a prominent businessman, his wife, their four children, and two young girls who were visiting that night just terrified the town. They couldn't explain a crime like this -- eight people, killed in their beds with an axe; one of the victims was posed afterward -- how could an early twentieth century mind wrap itself around it? There were no witnesses, no fingerprints, no apparent motive, and it was never solved. Descriptions of the murder scene strongly reminded me of Thomas Harris's novel Red Dragon, for those who know that reference (Amazon link).

For decades, residents of Villisca argued about who committed the murders, when they would talk about it at all. Was it the state senator, who certainly had ample cause to hate? Was it the preacher, the profoundly mentally ill Englishman known as a peeping Tom and pervert, who confessed to the slayings? Or was it a serial killer who was implicated in a string of similar butcheries and who kept newspaper clippings on the crime? While the film does not purport to have the final answer, it certainly is a satisfactory exploration of the horrific event.

The film has received universally good reviews, with all Amazon reviews giving it the full five stars and glowing viewer comments on IMDb such as --

• "A wonderful film... faithful and respectful... I highly recommend it."
• "An enjoyable movie for crime buffs and historians -- very well presented."
• "Great. I wasn't expecting to get so caught up... keeps you glued to the story... an excellent murder mystery and a good historical documentary worth seeing."
• "I... was captivated...this story will knock your socks off."
• "Two hours well spent."
• "Absolutely engaging! ... Like Ken Burns... the attention to detail, accuracy, use of animation to take the viewer into the home and town all make this film credible and engaging."
• "What a wonderful piece of work!"

The comparison to legendary documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is certainly appropriate, for this film is in his league. The film is so absorbing that I completely forgot at several points that I meant to take notes and had to watch it again. Though I would have watched it again anyway and will watch it again in the future and am glad to have my own copy.

If you have seen this film, and/or have studied this murder case, I would love to hear your opinions. I find myself utterly absorbed in this mystery to the point that I added a "Villisca" category to Clews (at left) and want to explore it further. The movie's official website features quite a lot of content, as does the "official site" of the murders. A genealogy buff has created a website featuring some of the original newspaper coverage. The Villisca Historical Society also has a website that delves into the mystery in detail.

The movie is being released on DVD this month, and you can order a copy from the official website for the film or from Amazon. It will also be available for rent from the Family Video chain as well as Netflix. 

Grade: A+. The best movie ever made in the true crime genre.

"Why, now, here's something like a murder! This is the real thing. This is genuine. This is what you can approve, can recommend to a friend."

--Thomas DeQuincey

More Free True Crime from Google

Clews already mentioned some very old, free true crime books now available from Google's new book site, and the folks at Google really liked that post a lot.

Google's nod to Clews inspired your correspondent to go poking around some more to see what else is now online that I paid 85 clams to lay hands on only a few years ago. I'm sure -- I hope, for the sake of my private library -- that there will always be a value to the paper-and-ink version of books.

Art: Madeline Smith on trial for poisoning her lover.

And what I found! Not only is Google's crime collection continuing to expand, it includes some of the best, the most sought, the most highly recommended true crime books of all time. And not only that, but the exact copies digitized by Google include books that were once on the shelves of Pearson, the greatest crime writer of all time. They bear his stamp and his notes and more.

While searching for free true crime books, I discovered a crime committed against Edmund L. Pearson. Google's online library includes a copy of The Trial of Madeline Smith, which is the Notable Scottish Trials report of the trial of the infamously beautiful poisoner, edited by one of the attorneys involved in the case, A. Duncan Smith. The flyleaf of this book is stamped: FROM THE LIBRARY OF EDMUND LESTER PEARSON. A note typed by Pearson summarizing the case of Madeline Smith is glued into the book. Another page has a New York Public Library stamp (where ELP once worked). Now here's the crime: the next page says "1.50" in the upper right in pencil -- a bookseller's mark. To think that Edmund L. Pearson's personal crime library was sold off to a bookseller who junked his books for a buck fifty!

Now I would very much like to know how Edmund Pearson's copy of The Trial of Madeline Smith came to be digitized for Google. It is not the only book in the Google collection that bears his private library stamp. I found the same was true of Google's copy of Celebrated Trials of All Countries, and Remarkable Cases of Criminal Jurisprudence, written in 1847 by J. Harding. With the real Edmund Pearson stamp of approval, this is a book worth downloading and reading. The table of contents of Celebrated Trials of All Countries includes several famous cases I've read of before, including Eliza Fenning, Sir Walter Raleigh's trial, Lucretia Chapman, Jenny Diver, Robert and Daniel Perreau, John Bellingham, Earl of Strafford, Rob Roy Macgregor, Ann Broadric, William Corder/Maria Marten, plus many cases that are new to me. The ones I've never heard of before and can't wait to read include --

• Anna Schonleben (Germany), for Poisoning, 1808
• Martha Alden, for Murder, 1807
• Castaing, the Physician, for Murder, at Paris, November, 1817
• Sarah Malcolm, for the Murder of Ann Price, 1733
• Abraham Thornton, for the Murder of Mary Ashford, 1817
• Alexis Petrowitz Czarowitz, presumptive Heir to the Crown of Russia, condemned to Death by his Father, 1715

There are many more stories from all across the world in this book. What a find. Well, I know what I'll do with the rest of my free time today.

A Bullseye Review of Pearson

The work of Edmund L. Pearson, the best true crime writer of all time, doesn't often garner book reviews on Amazon. With a sales rank that hovers somewhere around the 1.7 million mark, Murder at Smutty Nose is a lost masterpiece.

I noticed a while back that someone actually posted an Amazon review of that book, and the reviewer was so dead-on in her knowledge and assessment of Pearson and his contributions to crime literature that I thought the thing worth sharing with those eighteen other people (including descendants) who worship Pearson as I do. Maybe one of these days I'll convince the rest of you to sample his genius. (Photo from www.hatchetonline.com)

A Unique American Literary Figure

Reviewer: Gloria Mundi

Calling Edmund Pearson a "true-crime" writer is rather like describing Dom Perignon as a cheap bit of fizz. Like his Scottish contemporary William Roughead, Pearson was a talented writer with a dry wit and pleasantly off-kilter personality, who transcended his strange subject matter to produce remarkably entertaining, usually insightful social commentary.

Although both these authors had no pretensions to do anything other than entertain themselves and their readers (in that order, probably,) they make admirable historians.

"Murder At Smutty Nose," is a fine representative collection of Pearson's work. The title essay , which chronicles a multiple murder on a lonely island, and "The Sixth Capsule," detailing the poisoning of an unwanted secret wife, are memorable examples of how banal utter cruelty and selfishness can be.

On the other hand, "A Demnition Body," and "Number 31 Bond Street," are about as farcical as violent death can possibly be. "Number 31," in particular, with its bizarre cast of characters and a heroine prone to faking pregnancies--complete with borrowed baby--for inheritance purposes ("Don't touch my dear baby--this is the child of Harvey Burdell!") describes a still-unsolved mystery that no novelist would dare invent.

However, Pearson's treatment of Constance Kent (convicted of murdering her infant brother in 1860,) and Lizzie Borden (the author's pet obsession throughout his career,) reveal his chief failing as a crime historian: Intellectual rigidity. He was too apt to take a conventional view of criminal cases--namely, that the accused was always guilty--and he seldom kept his mind open to other solutions. (This is particularly unfortunate in the Kent case, which was far more complex and unresolved than Pearson ever acknowledged.)

This is a minor failing, however, and it should not keep anyone interested in social history--or who simply wants to read a good mystery--from giving Pearson's works a try.

Alright, that crack about the Constance Kent case is off (she surely did it, in my opinion) but otherwise my favorite author is pinned to the canvas by the above.

For the Bordenites and Pearson-Philes, A Private Book Sale

I got an interesting email today from a well-known bookshop in Maine.

Dunn and Powell Books is pleased to offer a short catalogue devoted to one of the most famous of all unsolved crimes: The Lizzie Borden Case. Most of the 92 items in the list are from the library of Ken Souza, former editor of THE LIZZIE BORDEN QUARTERLY. Highlights include a first edition of the rare THE FALL RIVER TRAGEDY by Edwin Porter (Lizzie Borden is reputed to have attempted to purchase and destroy all copies of this book) and a libretto of the opera "Lizzie Borden" signed by the composer Jack Beeson. Follow these links to view online or download our illustrated catalogue:

www.dpbooks.com/bordencat.pdf (pdf, best for printing - you need the free Adobe Acrobat software - see link at our website)

www.dpbooks.com/borden.htm (html, best for reading online)

Thank you and good hunting, Steve Powell and William Dunn

Most every book in this collection is a first edition, signed by the author. Many are very rare. It's rather a shame to see it broken up -- maybe they'll be bought by an institution. Kent State, where are you?

The list includes first editions of all of Edmund L. Pearson's crime collections and an 1893 first edition of the most important and rarest Borden Title -- Edwin Porter's Fall River Tragedy. Price: $750. It's worth it.

I pored over this list and only halfway through it before I discovered a book that I never heard of before and I'm desperate to have. It's Lizzie Borden: A Study in Conjecture by Marie Belloc Lowndes. It was published in New York in 1939. It's a fiction novel from one of the greatest crime suspense writers ever. I had no idea she'd taken on Lizzie's case!

Belloc Lowndes is best known as the author of The Lodger, a fictional story about Jack the Ripper that's told from the viewpoint of... his landlady. It has held up incredibly well for a 90-year-old novel, remaining one of the best suspense stories I've ever read. The New York Times also thought it was "excellent" and "a splended work of art" and "one of the best suspense novels ever written." The Chicago Tribune called it a masterpiece, the New York Daily News said it's "a classic of the genre." Belloc Lowndes also counted among her admirers a certain crime historian I'm very fond of, Edmund L. Pearson. So I'm not alone in my judgment.

Unfortunately, I've also managed to zoom right in on some of the most expensive books in the set. Belloc Lowndes's book is priced at $200. They want $250 for Pearson's Five Murders. Then again these aren't mere books -- they're investments.

A big fat raspberry to Mr. James and the austerity program he has me on!