Blue Moon

by James King

Late in her life, acclaimed novelist Elizabeth Delamere makes a request of her therapist, Doctor Newman: she asks him to oversee the publication of her last book after she dies. It is a memoir in which she reveals that she is Evelyn Dick, the notorious "torso murderer" acquitted on appeal of dismembering her husband, and convicted of killing her infant son. In 1958 she was paroled, and disappeared into the mists of history.

In Blue Moon, James King draws on the historical case of Evelyn Dick, and imagines her life after her release from prison. It is a life in which she travels to Vancouver, renames herself, and settles into a position as sales clerk at Duthie Books on Robson. There she meets Ethel Wilson, begins therapy, and tries to understand the events that led to her imprisonment and current life. She also begins to write, and finds herself a successfully published author.

But did she murder her husband? Is she guilty of neglect of her baby boy? Was her life as Hamilton's most notorious prostitute her responsibility? With the help of Doctor Newman, she attempts to come to understand the violence in which she was involved, her sense of guilt, and the essential truth of her innocence.

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

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Reviews

[Erika Nerdypants · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second book by James King, and I have thoroughly enjoyed both. Blue Moon is the fictional account of Hamilton's most notorious female killer, Evelyn Dick. The murder case had everything to make it sensational: a young and beautiful villain, illicit sex, mob connections and mystery. Tried for the murder of her husband, Evelyn's conviction was overturned, but she served 11 years in Kingston's P4W for the murder of her baby son. Following her release, the trail goes cold, and although widely speculated over, Evelyn Dick's whereabouts remain a stubborn and frequently debated mystery. King gives us so much more than a fleshy version of the few known facts. He vividly paints a picture of working class Hamilton in the 40s, complete with famous landmarks and colorful characters. He thoughtfully makes the reader aware of how few choices were available to young women, and we watch as Ms. Dick transforms herself from a passive bystander in her own life into a strong, pro-active woman who has taken control of her destiny, even as she is trying to come to terms with a past that continues to haunt her. Of course this is fiction that has some basis in facts, and we do not really know what has happened to Evelyn Dick, which in itself is strange, given that in this age of technology very little remains hidden. King gives us a sympathetic heroine, a nostalgic look into the history of Hamilton, and pleasure filled reading hours.