The Grace Murder Case

by Lisa Melville, Renee Lane (Editor)

Venture back to the Hudson Valley of 1912 in this unique look at a salacious historical murder. The Grace murder was Walden's "Lizzie Borden" case, and author Lisa Melville offers a fascinating snapshot of a village's past as she chronicles one of the most infamous murders of its time. Murder was a rare occurrence in the small village of Walden, New York, 60 miles north of Manhattan. The Grace case was scandalous, involving sex, lies and a violent murder which rocked Walden, a small riverside community known for manufacturing knives. The "Lizzie Borden" case is still one of the most famous murder cases in America. The Grace case possessed similarly startling characteristics to the Borden case in the violence of the murder and family connection, but it also involved bigamy. Grace not only abandoned his first wife and three children, but he married a second woman and left her while she was pregnant with their child. He also stole her family's money to make his escape. Grace used this money to help finance a new life for himself in Walden, a life that included yet another wife. Despite the titillating facts of the murder, the Grace case has nearly been forgotten. Until now.

108 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2010

Reviews

[Ricky Mikeabono · Rating 3 out of 5]

This painted an interesting picture of Walden in the early 1900s, and I enjoyed it for that reason. But I must admit that the writing was confusing and repetitive, and the murder case itself was about as mundane as murder can be.
The prominent references to Lizzie Borden were also very confusing, the only connection being that the brothers in this murder case grew up in the same Massachusetts town as Lizzie Borden. Lizzie has no relation to the Bordens of the Walden/Wallkill area.

[barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting story but not very well put together