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Mystery on the Isles of Shoals
The cold-blooded ax murders of two innocent Norwegian immigrant women in a botched burglary of their island home off the coast of New Hampshire has retained a grip on the region, beguiling tourists, conspiracy theorists and tale-spinners right up to the present day.
The killer, a half-crazed Prussian immigrant down on his luck, was quickly rounded up and eventually hanged for his crime. But he never confessed and, while imprisoned, gained a circle of admirers and deniers that still casts a shadow of a doubt today.
Yet a definitive account of the Smuttynose Island ax murders has never been written—until now. Dennis Robinson, the premier historian of the region, has created a story with numerous alluring components—a stark, New England noir setting, a hideous crime, and a sequence of events that cast a light on a nation in transition from rugged and lawless to civilized and respectable (or at least attempting to be).
Robinson goes beyond the headlines of the burgeoning yellow press to explore the deeper lessons about American culture, crime, and adulation as the Smuttynose murders were sensationalized by the Boston literati who'd newly arrived at the Isles seeking rest and recreation. In this early instance of gentrification, the old Island population of hard-scrabble fishermen were driven from the islands, never to return.
The killer, a half-crazed Prussian immigrant down on his luck, was quickly rounded up and eventually hanged for his crime. But he never confessed and, while imprisoned, gained a circle of admirers and deniers that still casts a shadow of a doubt today.
Yet a definitive account of the Smuttynose Island ax murders has never been written—until now. Dennis Robinson, the premier historian of the region, has created a story with numerous alluring components—a stark, New England noir setting, a hideous crime, and a sequence of events that cast a light on a nation in transition from rugged and lawless to civilized and respectable (or at least attempting to be).
Robinson goes beyond the headlines of the burgeoning yellow press to explore the deeper lessons about American culture, crime, and adulation as the Smuttynose murders were sensationalized by the Boston literati who'd newly arrived at the Isles seeking rest and recreation. In this early instance of gentrification, the old Island population of hard-scrabble fishermen were driven from the islands, never to return.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published November 4, 2014
337 people are currently reading
647 people want to read
About the author
J. Dennis Robinson
21 books21 followersJ. Dennis Robinson is the author of a dozen entertaining books about American history. He writes from a hideaway office in historic Portsmouth, NH near the swirling Piscataqua River. A popular and sometimes irreverent columnist and lecturer, he operates the award-winning website SeacoastNH.com. His latest book, MYSTERY ON THE ISLES OF SHOALS, is a thrilling nonfiction study of the infamous 1873 ax murders on Smuttynose Island. Yankee Magazine editor Judson Hale calls it "a superb piece of work" and Library Journal says "recommended for all true crime collections." His other page-turning history books focus on privateering, Jesse James, Strawbery Banke Museum, archaeology, Victorian hotels, Lord Baltimore, child labor, and more. As Robyn Dennison, the author has begun a genre-busting series of e-book novellas. The first, KILL ALL THE VAMPIRE WRITERS is available from Kindle Direct Publishing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
November 12, 2016
This book could've been much better. The author is very knowledgeable about his subject, but he doesn't seem to grasp what should be included and what should be left out. As a result, he includes everything, including anecdotes which have little or no connection to the case. I wondered why the author needed 448 pages to relate this story, and it didn't take long to figure out. He wanders all over the landscape, constantly circling back to cover ground he has already covered. Mr. Robinson needs a new editor.
Two stars for thorough research and a pleasant writing style.
Two stars for thorough research and a pleasant writing style.
February 11, 2018
Smuttynose Isle. Could there be a catchier name for a place? And then, throw in the axe murder of two women in the late 19th century by a down and out, charming but deranged Prussian ne'er do well. The goal of this book was not only to retell the tale, but also to be a corrective to over a century of misinformation and distortion of the actual story. Any case solved with circumstantial evidence only leaves plenty of room for amateur detectives and media types to find apparent holes that point to the innocence of an executed man. But Robinson wants to put that speculation to rest once and for all. He takes the various theories about how the case went wrong and debunks them. From those that said it would have been impossible for any man to have rowed a boat from New Hampshire to the to the Isles of Shoals, one of which was Smuttynose Island--in fact people did it and continue to do it to this day. (I read most of my books now on an iPad so when presented with a new location like the Isles of Shoals it is always fun to pull them up on Google Earth, which I did. They are a bunch of scrappy, fairly barren islands that got their start as perfect locations for cod fisherman in the 17th Century, and probably much earlier. Anyway, I am about half done at this point and am enjoying the book immensely.
Finished it about two weeks ago. This really is a fine read on many levels. It shows the shifting demographics of islands primarily established around an abundant cod fishing industry which, of course collapsed due to overfishing. They then became largely tourist isles with hotels coming and going. But the most potent lesson from my reading is how someone who is obviously guilty--the chain of circumstantial events is virtually irrefutable--can be weakened by determined individuals who challenge only small pieces of information to sow doubt about the guilt of the accused. You can have 15 pieces of information that all construct an undeniable fabric of guilt but one fiber of the fabric can be challenged by someone (often with their own agenda) to cast doubt on the whole case. It is frightening to see just how difficult it can be to prosecute a case like this when there is no definitive evidence to convict--say an eyewitness who actually saw the events unfold.
This is also a story of how a sociopath, a person absent a conscience can cast doubt on his own guilt with a charming, virtually unshakeable ability to not only maintain his innocence but cast doubt on others. If there is such a thing as a charming ax murderer, this guy is it. People who should know better interview him and come away with significant doubts about his guilt in the face of a credible and damningly supported chain of events all of which point to him. In one sense this is a good thing because it makes the prosecutors tighten their case, but one also has a sense that there are people out there on the streets who have committed crimes and due to sloppy prosecutors and aggressive defenders that allow what should be a tight case become flimsy. All one has to do is to spread doubt, not definitively prove innocence.
One cannot read this book without developing an appreciation for the challenges of prosecutors who have to deal with information trickling out about a case and how that can compromise their best efforts. And this happened in the late 19th century without the internet and cable news.
A really superb read. Highly recommended.
Finished it about two weeks ago. This really is a fine read on many levels. It shows the shifting demographics of islands primarily established around an abundant cod fishing industry which, of course collapsed due to overfishing. They then became largely tourist isles with hotels coming and going. But the most potent lesson from my reading is how someone who is obviously guilty--the chain of circumstantial events is virtually irrefutable--can be weakened by determined individuals who challenge only small pieces of information to sow doubt about the guilt of the accused. You can have 15 pieces of information that all construct an undeniable fabric of guilt but one fiber of the fabric can be challenged by someone (often with their own agenda) to cast doubt on the whole case. It is frightening to see just how difficult it can be to prosecute a case like this when there is no definitive evidence to convict--say an eyewitness who actually saw the events unfold.
This is also a story of how a sociopath, a person absent a conscience can cast doubt on his own guilt with a charming, virtually unshakeable ability to not only maintain his innocence but cast doubt on others. If there is such a thing as a charming ax murderer, this guy is it. People who should know better interview him and come away with significant doubts about his guilt in the face of a credible and damningly supported chain of events all of which point to him. In one sense this is a good thing because it makes the prosecutors tighten their case, but one also has a sense that there are people out there on the streets who have committed crimes and due to sloppy prosecutors and aggressive defenders that allow what should be a tight case become flimsy. All one has to do is to spread doubt, not definitively prove innocence.
One cannot read this book without developing an appreciation for the challenges of prosecutors who have to deal with information trickling out about a case and how that can compromise their best efforts. And this happened in the late 19th century without the internet and cable news.
A really superb read. Highly recommended.
December 9, 2014
A few nights ago I had the pleasure of listening to J. Dennis Robinson speak at a local bookstore near my home in Portsmouth, NH. I am a recent resident of the area and have been following Mr. Robinson’s “history” column in the Portsmouth Herald since my arrival. These articles and the book STRAWBERY BANKE: A SEAPORT MUSEUM 400 YEARS IN THE MAKING also written by Mr. Robinson have educated me and sparked my interest in the rich history of the seacoast region. His new monograph MYSTERY ON THE ISLES OF SHOALS has further broadened my knowledge of the area, as he has produced a first class “whodunit” about a story that everyone with knowledge of this 1873 murder knows the outcome. Robinson in his recent talk claimed not to be a historian, but a history writer. As a retired historian myself I believe I have the background to recognize and praise a true historian, which is certainly the case with Robinson. His literary training has certainly assisted his prose and writing style, but the research techniques and historical knowledge are a wonderful combination that has produced an exceptional monograph that should interest a wide ranging audience apart from the seacoast region.
Robinson begins by reviewing the history of the various theories and myths that have emerged years after the murder of two Norwegian immigrant women, Karen and Anne Christiansen by a Prussian immigrant, Louis Wagner. The author points to the novel and Hollywood film that distort the facts of the case, but a significant part of the public seems to accept as truth. For Robinson the alternative history of events is incorrect and he takes on the task of setting the historical record straight. In his examination of events and evidence, Robinson leaves no stone unturned in uncovering the truth. Since a key part of the story involves the ability of someone to row from the mainland to Smuttynose Island, a considerable distance in 1873, Robinson provides numerous historical examples to prove that the distance traveled by Wagner the evening of the murder was easily accomplished. In fact, during his talk last week, he introduced a seventy five year old fisherman who had accomplished the task last June.
Robinson’s monograph is more than a history of the murder of the two Norwegian women. It explores the pre-crime activities of the characters involved, the arrest, trial, and execution of the murderer. It is a history of the seacoast region as far north as Thomaston, Maine and south to the Portsmouth region. The author takes the reader back 6000 years when Native Americans thrived in the waters that make up the Gulf of Maine. He describes how glaciers created the nine islands that make up the Isles of Shoals among the 3000 or more islands that are located along the jagged coast of Maine. (13) Robinson describes the arrival of John Smith in 1614 and the settlement of New Hampshire in 1623. Robinson’s history obviously concentrates on the history of the then “crime of the century” and the characters involved, but he also takes on the lives of the participants in the story after Wagner’s execution following them until they pass on.
Robinson focuses on immigration, the development of the islands, and the state of fishing in the region as he sets the stage for the reader. The most important characters are Louis Wagner the perpetrator of the crime and his victims. But Robinson also spends a great deal of time developing the other main characters that include John and Maren Hontvets, whom Wagner was trying to rob before his victims got in the way, with Maren escaping and emerging as the most important witness at the trial. The reader is also introduced to the local politicians involved, the prosecution and defense attorneys, key witnesses, prison officials, and many more. In doing so the reader gets to know all involved and because of Robinson’s captivating prose they almost feel they have become part of the story. Throughout, Robinson has a fine eye for detail, be it discussing the history of the murder weapon, an ax that in part resides in the Portsmouth Atheneum, an old membership library on Market Square in Portsmouth. Robinson goes on to provide a history of the ax as tool in American history, as well as showing that the use of one as a murder weapon was not unique. This is the type of detail that the author repeatedly interjects into the narrative enhancing the reader’s experience.
For the layman who is interested in the plight of the New England fishing industry during the second half of the nineteenth century, Robinson lays out the problems that the industry faced in detail. He explores how the sources of fish were being depleted and the need to locate new fishing grounds which drove fisherman up and down the coast to locate new sources. The problem was that those regions grew scarcer and scarcer necessitating the use of larger and larger boats that local fisherman could ill afford. One of the few who could was John Hontvets, who purchased long trawl lines and built a sturdy schooner in order to survive. It was the jealousy that Wagner felt towards John Hontvets that probably drove him on the night of March 5, 1873 to steal a dory and row out to the Hontvets’ home on Smuttynose Island expecting to find only three women present to steal what he thought was between $600 and $1000 hidden somewhere on the premises. Robinson describes in minute detail the murder and succeeding events leading up to Wagner’s capture in Boston. Robinson zeroes in on the conversations that Wagner had before and after the crime throughout the book. It reflects an inordinate amount of research and command of the material. What is interesting is that Wagner repeatedly provided oral snippets of what Robinson describes as “confessional outbursts,” that puts the reader inside Wagner’s thought processes and leads us to believe he subconsciously wanted to be caught and convicted.
Robinson plays special attention to the personalities of the attorneys involved and the strategies they pursued. The trial is reviewed very carefully and the material that is available from the trial transcript is mined very carefully by Robinson as he integrates a degree of sarcasm and humor as he dissects the myths and alternate histories that emerged after Wagner’s conviction. Robinson takes the reader into Wagner’s jail cell, his escape and recapture, and after all the legal wrangling dealing with the death penalty and which state, Maine or New Hampshire had jurisdiction over the case, to the execution of Louis Wagner on June 25, 1875.
For those interested in the economic development of the Isles of Shoals at this time great detail is provided. The building of tourist hotels, the attraction of Boston literary types and the wealthy are delineated carefully, particularly Cecilia Thaxter who grew up and lived on Smutty nose, who gained fame as a poet and writer. Her article in the Atlantic Magazine, “A Memorable Murder,” “was something risky and powerful when it appeared in 1875,” but she has been “credited as a founder of true crime literature.” (301) “Like a great poet, the crime writer must also replicate the tempest that rages inside the mind of the killer tapping into his jealousy, vengeance, ambition, and hatred,” as nineteenth century essayist, Thomas De Quincy has written, something that Thaxter easily accomplished. According to Robinson, her article could have served as a model for Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, and Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song.
Robinson concludes the last section of the monograph by following the history of the main characters after Wagner’s execution. The reader learns of the fate of Celia Thaxter, the legacy of the Hontvets family and Ivan Christiansen whose wife was murdered, as well as the deathbed confession hoax that tried to shift the blame for the crime onto Maren Hontvets. Not to be excluded are a number of key witnesses as well as the prosecution team of George Yeaton and Attorney General Harris M. Plaisted and Wagner’s intrepid lawyer Judge Rufus Tapley.
As the books comes to a close, Robinson dissects the pseudo-historical novel based on the murders, Anita Shreve’s Weight on the Water and the Hollywood film of the same name based on the book. Despite the presence of Sean Penn and a $16 million budget, the film was essentially a flop, though it seems to be downloaded more and more today by those interested. However, for Shreve the novel made her a literary talent as she has a film based on her book added to her many publications. Lastly, Robinson includes extensive author’s notes that are a treasure trove of information that for those interested, can lead to wonderful new discoveries. Overall, considering that many people who are drawn to this subject matter are already privy to the story and its outcome, Robinson has done a remarkable job of synthesis creating an interesting compilation of information some old, but much that is new. I recommend it highly for those who are interested in a scintillating murder story, but more so an overall history of the seacoast region in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
Robinson begins by reviewing the history of the various theories and myths that have emerged years after the murder of two Norwegian immigrant women, Karen and Anne Christiansen by a Prussian immigrant, Louis Wagner. The author points to the novel and Hollywood film that distort the facts of the case, but a significant part of the public seems to accept as truth. For Robinson the alternative history of events is incorrect and he takes on the task of setting the historical record straight. In his examination of events and evidence, Robinson leaves no stone unturned in uncovering the truth. Since a key part of the story involves the ability of someone to row from the mainland to Smuttynose Island, a considerable distance in 1873, Robinson provides numerous historical examples to prove that the distance traveled by Wagner the evening of the murder was easily accomplished. In fact, during his talk last week, he introduced a seventy five year old fisherman who had accomplished the task last June.
Robinson’s monograph is more than a history of the murder of the two Norwegian women. It explores the pre-crime activities of the characters involved, the arrest, trial, and execution of the murderer. It is a history of the seacoast region as far north as Thomaston, Maine and south to the Portsmouth region. The author takes the reader back 6000 years when Native Americans thrived in the waters that make up the Gulf of Maine. He describes how glaciers created the nine islands that make up the Isles of Shoals among the 3000 or more islands that are located along the jagged coast of Maine. (13) Robinson describes the arrival of John Smith in 1614 and the settlement of New Hampshire in 1623. Robinson’s history obviously concentrates on the history of the then “crime of the century” and the characters involved, but he also takes on the lives of the participants in the story after Wagner’s execution following them until they pass on.
Robinson focuses on immigration, the development of the islands, and the state of fishing in the region as he sets the stage for the reader. The most important characters are Louis Wagner the perpetrator of the crime and his victims. But Robinson also spends a great deal of time developing the other main characters that include John and Maren Hontvets, whom Wagner was trying to rob before his victims got in the way, with Maren escaping and emerging as the most important witness at the trial. The reader is also introduced to the local politicians involved, the prosecution and defense attorneys, key witnesses, prison officials, and many more. In doing so the reader gets to know all involved and because of Robinson’s captivating prose they almost feel they have become part of the story. Throughout, Robinson has a fine eye for detail, be it discussing the history of the murder weapon, an ax that in part resides in the Portsmouth Atheneum, an old membership library on Market Square in Portsmouth. Robinson goes on to provide a history of the ax as tool in American history, as well as showing that the use of one as a murder weapon was not unique. This is the type of detail that the author repeatedly interjects into the narrative enhancing the reader’s experience.
For the layman who is interested in the plight of the New England fishing industry during the second half of the nineteenth century, Robinson lays out the problems that the industry faced in detail. He explores how the sources of fish were being depleted and the need to locate new fishing grounds which drove fisherman up and down the coast to locate new sources. The problem was that those regions grew scarcer and scarcer necessitating the use of larger and larger boats that local fisherman could ill afford. One of the few who could was John Hontvets, who purchased long trawl lines and built a sturdy schooner in order to survive. It was the jealousy that Wagner felt towards John Hontvets that probably drove him on the night of March 5, 1873 to steal a dory and row out to the Hontvets’ home on Smuttynose Island expecting to find only three women present to steal what he thought was between $600 and $1000 hidden somewhere on the premises. Robinson describes in minute detail the murder and succeeding events leading up to Wagner’s capture in Boston. Robinson zeroes in on the conversations that Wagner had before and after the crime throughout the book. It reflects an inordinate amount of research and command of the material. What is interesting is that Wagner repeatedly provided oral snippets of what Robinson describes as “confessional outbursts,” that puts the reader inside Wagner’s thought processes and leads us to believe he subconsciously wanted to be caught and convicted.
Robinson plays special attention to the personalities of the attorneys involved and the strategies they pursued. The trial is reviewed very carefully and the material that is available from the trial transcript is mined very carefully by Robinson as he integrates a degree of sarcasm and humor as he dissects the myths and alternate histories that emerged after Wagner’s conviction. Robinson takes the reader into Wagner’s jail cell, his escape and recapture, and after all the legal wrangling dealing with the death penalty and which state, Maine or New Hampshire had jurisdiction over the case, to the execution of Louis Wagner on June 25, 1875.
For those interested in the economic development of the Isles of Shoals at this time great detail is provided. The building of tourist hotels, the attraction of Boston literary types and the wealthy are delineated carefully, particularly Cecilia Thaxter who grew up and lived on Smutty nose, who gained fame as a poet and writer. Her article in the Atlantic Magazine, “A Memorable Murder,” “was something risky and powerful when it appeared in 1875,” but she has been “credited as a founder of true crime literature.” (301) “Like a great poet, the crime writer must also replicate the tempest that rages inside the mind of the killer tapping into his jealousy, vengeance, ambition, and hatred,” as nineteenth century essayist, Thomas De Quincy has written, something that Thaxter easily accomplished. According to Robinson, her article could have served as a model for Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, and Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song.
Robinson concludes the last section of the monograph by following the history of the main characters after Wagner’s execution. The reader learns of the fate of Celia Thaxter, the legacy of the Hontvets family and Ivan Christiansen whose wife was murdered, as well as the deathbed confession hoax that tried to shift the blame for the crime onto Maren Hontvets. Not to be excluded are a number of key witnesses as well as the prosecution team of George Yeaton and Attorney General Harris M. Plaisted and Wagner’s intrepid lawyer Judge Rufus Tapley.
As the books comes to a close, Robinson dissects the pseudo-historical novel based on the murders, Anita Shreve’s Weight on the Water and the Hollywood film of the same name based on the book. Despite the presence of Sean Penn and a $16 million budget, the film was essentially a flop, though it seems to be downloaded more and more today by those interested. However, for Shreve the novel made her a literary talent as she has a film based on her book added to her many publications. Lastly, Robinson includes extensive author’s notes that are a treasure trove of information that for those interested, can lead to wonderful new discoveries. Overall, considering that many people who are drawn to this subject matter are already privy to the story and its outcome, Robinson has done a remarkable job of synthesis creating an interesting compilation of information some old, but much that is new. I recommend it highly for those who are interested in a scintillating murder story, but more so an overall history of the seacoast region in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
February 28, 2017
I finally finished this one, after several times of putting it down and picking it back up again. I had a bit of trouble trying to decide on a rating, because the author is incredibly knowledgeable and thorough on the subject - but that's also part of the problem. I believe that the book could have been more successful if perhaps a bit shorter. Some points just didn't need driving home repeatedly.
August 10, 2016
In 1997 Anita Shreve published a book that re-visited a sordid tale of robbery and murder on the Island of Smuttynose off the Maine and New Hampshire shores in 1873. Shreve's book mingled fact and myth which resulted in millions of readers, and later viewers when her book The Weight of Water was made into a major motion picture, to conclude that Lewis Wagner was framed. In her tome Shreve suggests that Maren Hundtvent, a victim on that dreadful night, was actually the culprit acting out of jealousy and anger.
With Mystery on the Isles of Shoals J. Dennis Robinson sets the record straight. Meticulously researched, exhaustively told, Robinson has clearly been inundated by one conspiracy theory after another. Each theory is broken down and compared against the evidence provided during Wagner's trial and contrasted against contemporary news paper reports. Much time is spent on Celia Thaxter an eye witness to the after events when Maren Hundtvent was rescued from the island on the morning that followed a terrifying night.
The narrative follows two threads, one takes us on a timeline of events as Wagner plots and then executes his heinous crime. The second debunks the various theories that have sprung up based mostly from Wagner's denials and intricate, but weak, alibi. Every question about Wagner's guilt or innocence is covered completely, no stone is left unturned, nothing is left unanswered.
If you want to know the true story of the murder on Smuttynose Island this is the definitive text.
With Mystery on the Isles of Shoals J. Dennis Robinson sets the record straight. Meticulously researched, exhaustively told, Robinson has clearly been inundated by one conspiracy theory after another. Each theory is broken down and compared against the evidence provided during Wagner's trial and contrasted against contemporary news paper reports. Much time is spent on Celia Thaxter an eye witness to the after events when Maren Hundtvent was rescued from the island on the morning that followed a terrifying night.
The narrative follows two threads, one takes us on a timeline of events as Wagner plots and then executes his heinous crime. The second debunks the various theories that have sprung up based mostly from Wagner's denials and intricate, but weak, alibi. Every question about Wagner's guilt or innocence is covered completely, no stone is left unturned, nothing is left unanswered.
If you want to know the true story of the murder on Smuttynose Island this is the definitive text.
August 8, 2019
I live local to the Isles of Shoals and was initially captivated by this book which promised to cement the notion of who really killed those two women on Smuttynose Island in 1873. I wish I could say that I continued to be captivated, but I kept getting lost in the maze of facts overlaid by public perception, though some of them were mentioned repeatedly. I also had some difficulty trying to adjust to the choppy storyline. There was a wealth of interesting facts and details and I enjoyed much about the regional notations and story facts offered that I had never heard. After reading The Wight of Water years ago and having a differing, fictional perspective I found it refreshing to have something decisive and evidence-based to sink my teeth into. Unfortunately, the book dragged on a little too long for me. It had some great notes at the end but I found myself wishing that those notes could have been added to the chapters that were referenced while they were fresh in my mind instead of pressing me to turn back the pages to re-read what was being referred to. I hope this doesn't mean that I can't follow all the details of a complicated case. It's true that most of the "sensational" aspects occurred in the first half, but I can't help my feelings of frustration with it in the second half.
September 28, 2017
Like a few of the other reviewers, I have the same thoughts. I was thrilled to read this book as I wanted to know the entire story about the murders. In terms of giving me actual details about the murders of Karen and Anethe and the survival of Maren, I got what I wanted. However, the author went into way too much detail about what everyone else in the surrounding areas thought about the incident. He then tended to reiterate details over and over again. This book was about twice the size it should have been. Several times I put it down and couldn't bring myself to read any further. But I finally finished it.
That all being said, the author is exceptionally knowledgeable about this case and the area where it took place. He's very, very detailed and researched the case extensively.
That all being said, the author is exceptionally knowledgeable about this case and the area where it took place. He's very, very detailed and researched the case extensively.
August 6, 2019
This book was OK, it is certainly well researched and I liked that the author is a steward of Smuttynose itself, but over all I preferred David Faxon's Cold Water Crossing, his book about this same case. I also enjoyed Anita Shreve's fictionalised account The Weight of Water, which first brought this case to my attention decades ago. It's always fascinated me since.
The issue with this version is that it is quite repetitive in places and there are a LOT of dumb mistakes in it. For an established author I'd have expected way better. Plus, this WAS for sale originally at over £11 !! If I had paid that much I'd have been bloody furious !
However, pay for it I did and therefore had higher expectations. His main faults are with plurals. He pretty much only got the apostrophe correct just once or twice in these cases and also kept using the singular word when he meant the plural. Not a repeated fault I've happened upon before and I have no idea why it wasn't spotted by any self-respecting editor !! So many times he wrote fisherman and not fishermen, also workman's and not workmen's, patrolman instead of patrolmen, alderman not aldermen....He also misspells simple words, like writing teams and not teems, chards and not shards, Scotts, not Scots, elicit not illicit, marshall then also used marshal, Chamberlin not Chamberlain and also wrote Saco then Sacco all of a sudden as well. Aryan was always given to us as Arian, discernable ought to be discernible, council, not counsel, tenants not tenets.....Pretty sloppy as you can see. Quite a few sentences had missed-out words, too, adding to my irritation. Then he referred to June 25 1873 when he meant 1875.......just ouch !!
I'd never heard of a Vinegar Bible and that did me me chuckle !! I looked it up on Google as well and saw the culprit hailed from about 14 miles from where I live now. I enjoyed how he updated us on all of the main characters near the end as well-that was interesting.
But for me, if you want to read about the Smuttynose murders I'd recommend Faxon's version and not this one.
The issue with this version is that it is quite repetitive in places and there are a LOT of dumb mistakes in it. For an established author I'd have expected way better. Plus, this WAS for sale originally at over £11 !! If I had paid that much I'd have been bloody furious !
However, pay for it I did and therefore had higher expectations. His main faults are with plurals. He pretty much only got the apostrophe correct just once or twice in these cases and also kept using the singular word when he meant the plural. Not a repeated fault I've happened upon before and I have no idea why it wasn't spotted by any self-respecting editor !! So many times he wrote fisherman and not fishermen, also workman's and not workmen's, patrolman instead of patrolmen, alderman not aldermen....He also misspells simple words, like writing teams and not teems, chards and not shards, Scotts, not Scots, elicit not illicit, marshall then also used marshal, Chamberlin not Chamberlain and also wrote Saco then Sacco all of a sudden as well. Aryan was always given to us as Arian, discernable ought to be discernible, council, not counsel, tenants not tenets.....Pretty sloppy as you can see. Quite a few sentences had missed-out words, too, adding to my irritation. Then he referred to June 25 1873 when he meant 1875.......just ouch !!
I'd never heard of a Vinegar Bible and that did me me chuckle !! I looked it up on Google as well and saw the culprit hailed from about 14 miles from where I live now. I enjoyed how he updated us on all of the main characters near the end as well-that was interesting.
But for me, if you want to read about the Smuttynose murders I'd recommend Faxon's version and not this one.
August 11, 2019
This book is meticulously researched with excessively historical details sometimes to the detriment of the overall story. As a result, much of this book is easily skimable. If you are a fan of true crime, New England history, or a visitor to the Isles of Shoals, you would find this book interesting. Otherwise, not worth your time.
August 30, 2025
insanely researched to the point where some (even me sometimes) might argue that it’s over-detailed. but my god anyone in search of info about the smuttynose murders shouldn’t need to read any books than this exhaustive bad boy!!
February 12, 2022
I first heard about these murders years ago when my family and I took a day trip on the “Thomas Laighton” to one of the islands. This book was interesting to me because of the family connection to the Leightons. As far as the book itself goes, there’s a lot of rambling and repetition. It definitely could have been much shorter without all of the “filler” details and commentary. Lucky for me, though, I was able to gain a little insight into the life and family of the Leightons. The story of Wagner was intriguing also.
September 11, 2022
This was a fascinating book about a shocking crime. The wealth of detail was impressive!
Although some other readers complained at the amount of detail (and not all of it directly relevant to the crime), it provided an interesting background to the islands, the people and the way of life of 19th century America, so I enjoyed it.
On occasion, the author’s prose was a bit florid and there was some repetition of details (as others have also pointed out), but it was not enough to spoil this in-depth and terrific analysis of the crime, the trial, the blaze of publicity and its aftermath.
Although some other readers complained at the amount of detail (and not all of it directly relevant to the crime), it provided an interesting background to the islands, the people and the way of life of 19th century America, so I enjoyed it.
On occasion, the author’s prose was a bit florid and there was some repetition of details (as others have also pointed out), but it was not enough to spoil this in-depth and terrific analysis of the crime, the trial, the blaze of publicity and its aftermath.
October 30, 2016
The author's clear purpose with this book is to prove once and for all that the man (Louis Wagner) convicted and hanged for the murders on Smuttynose island was the man who really did it - despite over a century of speculation. J. Dennis Robinson makes it very clear early on that he's having absolutely none of the other theories that have bubbled away over the years - theories which gained more momentum with a novelisation and film (by Kathryn Bigelow), so much so that it almost became an accepted fact that the wrong person was hanged.
This is all well and good, but sadly it doesn't make for a particularly interesting read. It's less of a whodunnit and more of a 'He dunnit and I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD ABOUT IT'. As a consequence there isn't much drama in the storytelling, despite there being shedloads of drama in the actual (horrific) act this book is about.
The narrative does shift about on the timeline a fair bit too, and there are numerous diversions into local history which - while interesting - do take you off the scent of the story being told, and often at crucial points in the narrative. It's clear that this is very well researched, but at times it seems like the book was crammed with every piece of detail discovered, whereas a bit (and in some cases, a lot) of editing would have made the book tighter and more focused.
Have to say though that the last chapter - Smuttynose island as it is today, colonised by gulls - is an evocative, beautiful piece of writing. The book as a whole needed more of this.
This is all well and good, but sadly it doesn't make for a particularly interesting read. It's less of a whodunnit and more of a 'He dunnit and I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD ABOUT IT'. As a consequence there isn't much drama in the storytelling, despite there being shedloads of drama in the actual (horrific) act this book is about.
The narrative does shift about on the timeline a fair bit too, and there are numerous diversions into local history which - while interesting - do take you off the scent of the story being told, and often at crucial points in the narrative. It's clear that this is very well researched, but at times it seems like the book was crammed with every piece of detail discovered, whereas a bit (and in some cases, a lot) of editing would have made the book tighter and more focused.
Have to say though that the last chapter - Smuttynose island as it is today, colonised by gulls - is an evocative, beautiful piece of writing. The book as a whole needed more of this.
May 11, 2019
I won't fool you into thinking this is an easy read - it is packed with facts, names and well researched history. The murder in question seems like a very basic scenario - burglar got surprised and killed 2 witnesses. But it is so much more than that. Robinson has done an outstanding job to put this case into perspective, and included a wealth of background information, about immigrants into America, history of the shoal islands, fishing industries, environmental thoughts regarding overfishing, tourism both then and now, boats and rowing and legal aspects, especially regarding the death penalty in various US states. I felt a bit overwhelmed at times by all the details, especially if he kept hopping forwards and backwards in time. But I absolutely applaud him for his research, and for making his case with pretty much no room left for doubt, in spite of fictional stories and conspiration theories pointing another way. But the facts are on his side, and he owns these facts! Well done, Mr. Robinson. Just to add that (strangely) the chapter which touched and haunted me most was the epilogue, about the islands today, the isolation, and the birds.
September 18, 2015
This was one of my favorite non-fiction books I have ever read. I think that living in New Hampshire and being familiar with the places that the events took place in helped me to follow the narrative better.
abandoned-books
May 14, 2015I read about three chapters of this book before I gave up on it. I was not a fan of the author's voice; it struck me as a little self-righteous and shrill.
September 16, 2016
Great T.C.
The Story of an ax murder on a remote fisherman's Island in the 1800's Well researched and full of questions . If you like vintage True Crime you will enjoy this book.
The Story of an ax murder on a remote fisherman's Island in the 1800's Well researched and full of questions . If you like vintage True Crime you will enjoy this book.
June 9, 2017
This book was pretty good, though I'm not sure why he thinks he's conclusively solved the mystery.
January 19, 2020
Evidence that my fascination for true crime is very real comes in the discovery that this book was already on my TBR when I went to go place it on my TBR. I gained a newfound interest in this event while reading Anita Shreve's The Weight of Water.
Robinson lives in Portsmouth, NH, the "home" of the Smuttyhose murders. Truth be told Smuttynose is about 10 miles out to sea from Portsmouth's coast but the whole area is infused with this horrific, and still discussed, murder from 1873. Robinson has some ties to Smuttynose Island as he is one of many stewards of the island, living on it for a week in very primitive conditions, to take care of it and answer questions from people who land on the island for a visit. Being from Portsmouth, Robinson is familiar with all the various tales about the night of March 5, 1873, and the days, weeks, months, and even years that followed.
Drawing from written accounts, court transcripts, trial documents, and recorded eyewitness accounts Robinson examines the event and seeks to put to rest, once and for all, the continuing rumors that Louis Wagner died for a crime he didn't commit and the real murderer was the one who survived the attack. It's an unpopular, yet strangely popular, rumor that the real murderer was Maren Hontvet. This is the rumor Shreve decides to use in her fictional account of the event in The Weight of Water. Robinson, in my imagination, threw his hands up in the air one day and said, "Enough. Let's put this to rest finally." In my opinion, he succeeds.
First of all, this book had the potential to be dry. I think any non-fiction work has that potential. But Robinson wrote it with a narrative style, relaying facts and timelines with ease that made this title really enjoyable, and easy, to read. When I first picked it up I was concerned I would be bored to tears despite my fascination with true crime, however, I was captured from the first words and read it much more quickly than I anticipated. In truth, I couldn't put it down and the few times I had to I couldn't stop thinking about it.
Half the intrigue of events like this is what led up to the event itself. Why did it happen? What could the person who committed the crime possibly have been thinking? Robinson does a thorough job of researching the people and events leading up to the night of March 5, 1873. With the help of Celia Thaxter's A Memorable Murder and his own experiences of the town Portsmouth as well as the Isles of Shoals, he recreates the night of the murders and the actual event itself with such imagery that I forgot he wasn't an eyewitness to the thing itself. He brings it alive for the reader. His account of the hours and days following the murder, and the capture of Louis Wagner, was descriptive and page-turning.
Louis Wagner was the only suspect for this crime. One of his victims was heard by Maren during the assault yelling out, "Louis! Louis!" as he was known by the victims, having previously lived with them as a boarder. He was arrested and convicted on the basis of circumstantial evidence but it was in such abundance, as Robinson provides for the reader, that it was easy to see that Wagner was the culprit. There are, to this day, those who disagree but between Edmund Pearson's 1926 Murder at Smitty Nose: and Other Murders and this exhaustive dive into the murder I should think those that disagree will be fewer and farther in between those who can see the evidence, circumstantial or not, for what it reveals.
It seems impossible, what Wagner was accused of, but Robinson shows the reader, with reliable present-day interviews and past accounts, just how possible it was.
Robinson lives in Portsmouth, NH, the "home" of the Smuttyhose murders. Truth be told Smuttynose is about 10 miles out to sea from Portsmouth's coast but the whole area is infused with this horrific, and still discussed, murder from 1873. Robinson has some ties to Smuttynose Island as he is one of many stewards of the island, living on it for a week in very primitive conditions, to take care of it and answer questions from people who land on the island for a visit. Being from Portsmouth, Robinson is familiar with all the various tales about the night of March 5, 1873, and the days, weeks, months, and even years that followed.
Drawing from written accounts, court transcripts, trial documents, and recorded eyewitness accounts Robinson examines the event and seeks to put to rest, once and for all, the continuing rumors that Louis Wagner died for a crime he didn't commit and the real murderer was the one who survived the attack. It's an unpopular, yet strangely popular, rumor that the real murderer was Maren Hontvet. This is the rumor Shreve decides to use in her fictional account of the event in The Weight of Water. Robinson, in my imagination, threw his hands up in the air one day and said, "Enough. Let's put this to rest finally." In my opinion, he succeeds.
First of all, this book had the potential to be dry. I think any non-fiction work has that potential. But Robinson wrote it with a narrative style, relaying facts and timelines with ease that made this title really enjoyable, and easy, to read. When I first picked it up I was concerned I would be bored to tears despite my fascination with true crime, however, I was captured from the first words and read it much more quickly than I anticipated. In truth, I couldn't put it down and the few times I had to I couldn't stop thinking about it.
Half the intrigue of events like this is what led up to the event itself. Why did it happen? What could the person who committed the crime possibly have been thinking? Robinson does a thorough job of researching the people and events leading up to the night of March 5, 1873. With the help of Celia Thaxter's A Memorable Murder and his own experiences of the town Portsmouth as well as the Isles of Shoals, he recreates the night of the murders and the actual event itself with such imagery that I forgot he wasn't an eyewitness to the thing itself. He brings it alive for the reader. His account of the hours and days following the murder, and the capture of Louis Wagner, was descriptive and page-turning.
Louis Wagner was the only suspect for this crime. One of his victims was heard by Maren during the assault yelling out, "Louis! Louis!" as he was known by the victims, having previously lived with them as a boarder. He was arrested and convicted on the basis of circumstantial evidence but it was in such abundance, as Robinson provides for the reader, that it was easy to see that Wagner was the culprit. There are, to this day, those who disagree but between Edmund Pearson's 1926 Murder at Smitty Nose: and Other Murders and this exhaustive dive into the murder I should think those that disagree will be fewer and farther in between those who can see the evidence, circumstantial or not, for what it reveals.
It seems impossible, what Wagner was accused of, but Robinson shows the reader, with reliable present-day interviews and past accounts, just how possible it was.
August 16, 2022
”And it is Wagner’s own twisted words and actions that form the noose from which, should I succeed, he will be hanged again before your very eyes.”
From the very title, author J. Dennis Robinson promises a true crime, case closed account of the bloody double murder that occurred on Smuttynose Island in March 1873. Rich in fact and detail and pulled from a many volumed library of first and secondhand sources, trial records, and historical artifacts, Robinson traces the villainy of one of New England’s most notorious blackguards, the charismatic Louis Wagner. In the dread night, the penniless immigrant slipped away in a stolen dory to rob and butcher two women with an axe on an isolated spit of land in the Isle Shoals while a third woman, Maren Hontvet, ran for her life. It’s rare that a writer delivers on such a bold promise – case closed! – on a nearly 150 year-old killing, but Robinson delivers(!) leaving not a speck of space for doubt that the man whose neck was stretched on the gibbet at Thomaston State Prison was the culprit.
And while Mystery on the Isle of Shoals is principally a true crime clinic that surgically dissects the murder, victims, alibi, trial, perpetrator, and punishment adeptly presenting the ‘hailstorm of evidence’ that sent Wagner to gallows while shoveling into the privy all the speculation of the convicted murder’s innocence like so many gull droppings from the far coast of the island … to say this book is just a true crime tale would be selling it far short. Robinson is painting not just a picture of a crime but a picture of Shoals’ culture and the insular community that once thrived and eventually expired there. Peopling his tale with fisherman, hoteliers, lawyers, police officers, writers, and even more murderers, Robinson submerges us in the history of region and, more than most of books of this type, forces us to feel the reverberations that the Smuttynose murders caused across the islands. And how its shockwaves … marked the place … forever.
Robinson’s trail of evidence may clearly point to Wagner’s size-eleven boot heels, but to his credit, the author gives the criminal a fair enough shake, offering Wagner’s alibi in the criminal’s own words and pointing out that Wagner certainly had his proponents even from his jail cell. In fact, the author’s harshest words are for a contemporary: Anita Shreve who penned the very popular The Weight of Water. As a lover of books, I’m the generally the first to defend authors who bend history in the service of a great story –Make Abe Lincoln a vampire hunter? Chop on I say! – but there is a bit of tastelessness to Shreve’s fictionalization as she transformed convicted murder Louis Wagner into a guiltless patsy and his one surviving victim Maren Hontvet into the killer (who also preferred her brother’s bed to her husband’s). As Robinson points out, too many people take Shreve’s story for the truth, lionizing an unrepentant killer and accepting the smear against the lone survivor of the horrific crime.
I can see where historians become indignant.
The thickness of this one might be a heavy lift for some readers, but Mystery on the Isle of Shoals is worth the pages. Robinson is a perfect tour guide whose prose is crisp, his grasp of facts extensive, and his storytelling compelling. I like this one a lot and, while it will probably be seen mostly as counterpoint to Shreve’s bestseller, this book deserves to stand on its own as not just a great true crime casefile but also a perfect history of an intensely American ecosystem.
June 13, 2023
This book covers the Smuttynose Ax Murders of 1873. Smuttynose Island is an island of almost 30 acres that is part of a grouping of islands, called the Isles of Shoals. These islands are located in New Hampshire and Maine. On the night of March 06, 1873, Maren Hontvet, her sister, Karen, and her sister in law, Anethe were asleep in the house owned by Maren and her husband. An intruder entered the house and murdered two of the women, leaving one to escape. Help was dispatched to the house, and an investigation took place. A suspect was immediately named and apprehended. The evidence of this case was interesting and so were the conspiracy theories of some of the other residents.
This book is currently available to listen to on Audible Plus with your membership. It was a little less than a 14 hour listen for me, but I do have my listening speed up to 1.3-1.5, depending on the narrator. I picked this book out because I really like the older true crime cases, specifically Victorian Era crimes. If you are interested in state history, this could work for both New Hampshire and Maine. I learned that the murder weapon is on display at the Portsmouth Athenaeum, so if you are interested and near that area, you can check it out and learn about the case. As far as this book goes, the writing style was amazing. I really enjoyed the way that this author was able to tell this story in a way that was factual but that also kept my attention. I usually lose interest in super long audiobooks, but I did not lose interest in this one. The author absolutely did his research on this book. I have learned since that he has other books, and I am interested in checking those out as well.
This book is currently available to listen to on Audible Plus with your membership. It was a little less than a 14 hour listen for me, but I do have my listening speed up to 1.3-1.5, depending on the narrator. I picked this book out because I really like the older true crime cases, specifically Victorian Era crimes. If you are interested in state history, this could work for both New Hampshire and Maine. I learned that the murder weapon is on display at the Portsmouth Athenaeum, so if you are interested and near that area, you can check it out and learn about the case. As far as this book goes, the writing style was amazing. I really enjoyed the way that this author was able to tell this story in a way that was factual but that also kept my attention. I usually lose interest in super long audiobooks, but I did not lose interest in this one. The author absolutely did his research on this book. I have learned since that he has other books, and I am interested in checking those out as well.
July 8, 2023
This book looks at the dark side of the immigrant experience.
As a nation, we are deeply invested in the legend of successful immigration. It's a point of pride with us that people came from all over the world to settle in the U.S. They came for religious and political freedom or for greater economic opportunity. They made our nation stronger and carved out good lives for themselves and their families. We are proud to be a "nation of immigrants."
There's truth in the legend, but it's not the whole truth. The reality is that most immigrants faced economic hardship and sometimes discrimination and persecution. Fear of immigrants (and the politicians who feed on it) is as old as our country. Sometimes it was just a matter of the New World being "over-sold." Immigrants wrote home with glowing tales of their easy lives and financial success. When their relatives joined them, the real situation was sometimes far different than they pictured. It was common for new immigrants (bewildered and not speaking English) to be ripped off by countrymen who had preceded them by a few years. The success stories were proudly repeated. The failures died quietly or crept back home in silence and disappointment.
The middle of the 19th century saw waves of immigration from the Scandinavian countries. Many "Squareheads" were successful. Accustomed to harsh conditions in their cold, rocky homelands, they never expected an easy life or great wealth. They spread out across New England and on to the Great Plains, supported their families, and worked hard to achieve the American dream.
In 1873, on tiny Smuttynose Island off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the Hontvet/Christensen family fished for cod as they had in their native Norway. Three couples, united by blood and marriage, they shared a modest rented house on the isolated island. In a sense, their way of life was already doomed. Fishing was gradually giving way to the much more profitable tourism. Running a large resort hotel is hard work, but it pales beside the harshness and dangers of ocean fishing. But it was the trade that they knew and they managed to survive, if not thrive. The family members seem to have been compatible. If their lives weren't much easier than they had been in the Old World, they weren't any harder. The men fished and sold the fish; the women worked seasonally as maids in the island hotels.
Then the three men had to be away overnight. During the night, the three women were attacked. Two died and one escaped. According to her story, which was consistent with the evidence, a former employee had come to the island and attacked them. His motivation (apparently) was his belief that there was $600 hidden in the house. He left with $16, leaving behind the corpses of two young women who had been strangled and hacked to death with an ax.
Years ago, I read another account of these murders (COLD WATER CROSSING: AN ACCOUNT OF THE MURDERS AT THE ISLES OF SHOALS) and it's a story that I've never forgotten. Robinson deals with the murders in greater depth, but comes to the same conclusions. I found it fascinating to re-visit this subject and see it through the eyes of another writer.
This is one of the most celebrated (in the sense of being written and talked about) murders in New England history, but there are still so many questions left unanswered. I can understand the men failing to repair the broken lock on the house's door. Their lives as fishermen were ones of constant hard work, with little or no time for anything but what brought in a few more dollars.
But why did the three women not barricade themselves in on a night when their men were absent? Indoor plumbing was not the norm at the time and there would have been an "outhouse" but few people then used the privy at night. The "chamberpot" under every bed was used at night and emptied in the morning.
Built-in kitchen cabinets are a modern invention. Older kitchens had one or more "dressers" - huge, heavy pieces of furniture used for storing dishes, silverware, etc. One of those pulled across the door would have kept the intruder out long enough to give the women a fighting chance. He wasn't armed with a gun and these were three strong, healthy women who were accustomed to physical work. Only the fact that they were surprised in their sleep made them easy marks. Awake, they could have put up a good fight.
Why was there so much mis-information about the murders? It was before the days when police departments and district attorney's offices carefully controlled the dissemination of "inside" information. It was also a time when every town had several newspapers and they fought for readers by trying to out-do each other in gristly, sensational stories. Truth was of secondary consideration. And, of course, the murder of two young women is a stunning event at any time. Still....
Finally, why was there so much reluctance to accept the guilt of angry former-employee Louis Wagner? According to this author, the police did a thorough job of investigating the murders, given the primitive state of "forensics" at that time. Wagner was represented respectably.
Was it that he was an attractive, charismatic man who captured the imagination of at least some of the public, who wanted to believe him innocent? He passionately maintained his innocence up to the time he was executed, but he had nothing to lose by doing so. A confession would have still meant the rope. Up until his execution, he could continue to tell his version of the "truth." The dead women were unable to speak and their family was too heart-broken and bewildered to speak for them.
It's a fascinating story and I think the author tells it well. There's a LOT of detail, maybe too much for some readers, but I think you have to remember that he's dealing with a story that has been rehashed many times with (as frequently happens) lies and misinformation mixed in freely. He's trying to clear the record and he's pitting himself against other writers who have chosen to twist the story to suit their own purposes.
Does it matter who killed Karen and Anethe and tried to kill Maren? I think the truth ALWAYS matters and so does this writer. This is not a quick read, but it takes the reader back in time in a very convincing way. If you're interested in American social history, this book is worth your time.
As a nation, we are deeply invested in the legend of successful immigration. It's a point of pride with us that people came from all over the world to settle in the U.S. They came for religious and political freedom or for greater economic opportunity. They made our nation stronger and carved out good lives for themselves and their families. We are proud to be a "nation of immigrants."
There's truth in the legend, but it's not the whole truth. The reality is that most immigrants faced economic hardship and sometimes discrimination and persecution. Fear of immigrants (and the politicians who feed on it) is as old as our country. Sometimes it was just a matter of the New World being "over-sold." Immigrants wrote home with glowing tales of their easy lives and financial success. When their relatives joined them, the real situation was sometimes far different than they pictured. It was common for new immigrants (bewildered and not speaking English) to be ripped off by countrymen who had preceded them by a few years. The success stories were proudly repeated. The failures died quietly or crept back home in silence and disappointment.
The middle of the 19th century saw waves of immigration from the Scandinavian countries. Many "Squareheads" were successful. Accustomed to harsh conditions in their cold, rocky homelands, they never expected an easy life or great wealth. They spread out across New England and on to the Great Plains, supported their families, and worked hard to achieve the American dream.
In 1873, on tiny Smuttynose Island off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the Hontvet/Christensen family fished for cod as they had in their native Norway. Three couples, united by blood and marriage, they shared a modest rented house on the isolated island. In a sense, their way of life was already doomed. Fishing was gradually giving way to the much more profitable tourism. Running a large resort hotel is hard work, but it pales beside the harshness and dangers of ocean fishing. But it was the trade that they knew and they managed to survive, if not thrive. The family members seem to have been compatible. If their lives weren't much easier than they had been in the Old World, they weren't any harder. The men fished and sold the fish; the women worked seasonally as maids in the island hotels.
Then the three men had to be away overnight. During the night, the three women were attacked. Two died and one escaped. According to her story, which was consistent with the evidence, a former employee had come to the island and attacked them. His motivation (apparently) was his belief that there was $600 hidden in the house. He left with $16, leaving behind the corpses of two young women who had been strangled and hacked to death with an ax.
Years ago, I read another account of these murders (COLD WATER CROSSING: AN ACCOUNT OF THE MURDERS AT THE ISLES OF SHOALS) and it's a story that I've never forgotten. Robinson deals with the murders in greater depth, but comes to the same conclusions. I found it fascinating to re-visit this subject and see it through the eyes of another writer.
This is one of the most celebrated (in the sense of being written and talked about) murders in New England history, but there are still so many questions left unanswered. I can understand the men failing to repair the broken lock on the house's door. Their lives as fishermen were ones of constant hard work, with little or no time for anything but what brought in a few more dollars.
But why did the three women not barricade themselves in on a night when their men were absent? Indoor plumbing was not the norm at the time and there would have been an "outhouse" but few people then used the privy at night. The "chamberpot" under every bed was used at night and emptied in the morning.
Built-in kitchen cabinets are a modern invention. Older kitchens had one or more "dressers" - huge, heavy pieces of furniture used for storing dishes, silverware, etc. One of those pulled across the door would have kept the intruder out long enough to give the women a fighting chance. He wasn't armed with a gun and these were three strong, healthy women who were accustomed to physical work. Only the fact that they were surprised in their sleep made them easy marks. Awake, they could have put up a good fight.
Why was there so much mis-information about the murders? It was before the days when police departments and district attorney's offices carefully controlled the dissemination of "inside" information. It was also a time when every town had several newspapers and they fought for readers by trying to out-do each other in gristly, sensational stories. Truth was of secondary consideration. And, of course, the murder of two young women is a stunning event at any time. Still....
Finally, why was there so much reluctance to accept the guilt of angry former-employee Louis Wagner? According to this author, the police did a thorough job of investigating the murders, given the primitive state of "forensics" at that time. Wagner was represented respectably.
Was it that he was an attractive, charismatic man who captured the imagination of at least some of the public, who wanted to believe him innocent? He passionately maintained his innocence up to the time he was executed, but he had nothing to lose by doing so. A confession would have still meant the rope. Up until his execution, he could continue to tell his version of the "truth." The dead women were unable to speak and their family was too heart-broken and bewildered to speak for them.
It's a fascinating story and I think the author tells it well. There's a LOT of detail, maybe too much for some readers, but I think you have to remember that he's dealing with a story that has been rehashed many times with (as frequently happens) lies and misinformation mixed in freely. He's trying to clear the record and he's pitting himself against other writers who have chosen to twist the story to suit their own purposes.
Does it matter who killed Karen and Anethe and tried to kill Maren? I think the truth ALWAYS matters and so does this writer. This is not a quick read, but it takes the reader back in time in a very convincing way. If you're interested in American social history, this book is worth your time.
January 9, 2024
Great book. Honestly, my personal introduction to this horrific case was when I read Anita Shreve’s fictional work The Weight of Water, then saw the film adaptation. Afterwards, like many others, I went down the rabbit hole in search of facts vs. fiction. This book was perfect in that sense - meticulously researched, and right off the bat the author tells you what he has found to be the truth about the crime and who committed it.
What I found to be especially thought provoking was witnessing the beginning of sensationalized journalism, twisting facts and fiction, giving voice to hearsay or self-serving gossip to sell more newspapers, as well as society’s obsession with true crime and the criminals who commit them. A century and a half later, people still question who the murderer was, citing circumstantial evidence (which, btw, is still evidence) and lack of today’s technological and forensic science as a reason to doubt or rewrite history. Sometimes it is. And other times, they got it right.
What I found to be especially thought provoking was witnessing the beginning of sensationalized journalism, twisting facts and fiction, giving voice to hearsay or self-serving gossip to sell more newspapers, as well as society’s obsession with true crime and the criminals who commit them. A century and a half later, people still question who the murderer was, citing circumstantial evidence (which, btw, is still evidence) and lack of today’s technological and forensic science as a reason to doubt or rewrite history. Sometimes it is. And other times, they got it right.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 1, 2017
Great Writing & Research
As with all of J. Dennis Robinson's writing, Mystery on the Isles of Shoals treats his readership to his wide-ranging curiosity, and his compulsion to discover and share his knowledge. Because of Robinson's love of the New Hampshire seacoast and its history, we get both all of the facts needed to know who committed the murders in Smutynose, but we also get the historical and biographical background of both a developing Portsmouth, as well the murderer, his victims, and those who were dragged into the crime and its aftermath.
Even though the reader is told, early on, who the murderer is, Robinson keeps our interest with his sophisticated search and reportorial skills. I learned much about the area and this bizarre case.
As with all of J. Dennis Robinson's writing, Mystery on the Isles of Shoals treats his readership to his wide-ranging curiosity, and his compulsion to discover and share his knowledge. Because of Robinson's love of the New Hampshire seacoast and its history, we get both all of the facts needed to know who committed the murders in Smutynose, but we also get the historical and biographical background of both a developing Portsmouth, as well the murderer, his victims, and those who were dragged into the crime and its aftermath.
Even though the reader is told, early on, who the murderer is, Robinson keeps our interest with his sophisticated search and reportorial skills. I learned much about the area and this bizarre case.
June 16, 2017
Very much written in a "local history" style rather than "historical true crime narrative" style. The author is explicitly writing in response to misinformation about the murders, which can get a little tedious if you know nothing about them in the first place. The writing is good and the research is clearly extensive, but I would only recommend this to people with some sort of connection to the area or particular interest in it. I planned to push on through to the end but then I realized that I had a very long way to go. (There are a lot of digressions.) I may revisit next time I'm headed up to Portsmouth, but until then no particular desire to finish.
April 22, 2022
It’s better when you take your time.
Robinson’s book is very evenly paced but he also takes his time to make the reader understand the setting of the Isle of Shoals. The prologue takes up much more room than usual, but I personally believe it makes the murder and subsequent events more vivid. The Isle of Shoals has a rich history which needs to be explained and Robinson takes the time to do that.
The murder is very straightforward for the most part but still very compelling to read. The twist is actually the lack of a twist. People to this day think something else happened. Read and make the decision for yourself.
Robinson’s book is very evenly paced but he also takes his time to make the reader understand the setting of the Isle of Shoals. The prologue takes up much more room than usual, but I personally believe it makes the murder and subsequent events more vivid. The Isle of Shoals has a rich history which needs to be explained and Robinson takes the time to do that.
The murder is very straightforward for the most part but still very compelling to read. The twist is actually the lack of a twist. People to this day think something else happened. Read and make the decision for yourself.
November 30, 2017
I was expecting it to be more like a narrative of the crime, but it reads a lot like an investigative report. Although the story is interesting and I enjoyed reading/learning about the historic background, Victorian life and culture in America, including the description of New England during the time of the murders, there was something missing about the narrative. Something that could make me want to finish reading it. I guess the repetition of the facts, although from different perspectives, made the book rather slow-paced and boring.
November 4, 2018
This was interesting to me because I live in New England and spent vacations in Rye NH with views of the Isles of Shoals.
It was a bit of a slog to get through. It is certainly well researched and read like a history text. If you want to learn historical facts about New England, this book doesn’t disappoint. If you just want the facts of the murder without additional history, this isn’t the book for you.
After reading it I feel qualified to debate the case with someone who has heard that Wagner was not the killer. Having said all that, it was an interesting book and I learned a fair amount.
It was a bit of a slog to get through. It is certainly well researched and read like a history text. If you want to learn historical facts about New England, this book doesn’t disappoint. If you just want the facts of the murder without additional history, this isn’t the book for you.
After reading it I feel qualified to debate the case with someone who has heard that Wagner was not the killer. Having said all that, it was an interesting book and I learned a fair amount.
July 13, 2017
The book itself was just fair. The subject material is excellent and research done by the author is as well. However, many chapters delve into modern day interpretation of these events and relevance. I'd prefer if the author stuck to the facts and time period of this historic murder.
The description and history of Portsmouth, NH was very fascinating and enlightening for someone who lives so close. I had no idea!
The description and history of Portsmouth, NH was very fascinating and enlightening for someone who lives so close. I had no idea!
September 14, 2017
This was a fabulous book! Maine & New Hampshire history buffs may be familiar with the geography as well as the "mystery" which makes this book a must read for them as well as any true crime or mystery fan. Mr. Robinson's local knowledge coupled with his skills as an investigator and an historian serve to disassemble the "mystery" while assembling his findings step-by-step. There is far more to this story than I ever realized which led me to burn through this book in less than a weekend!
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