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Secret Life and Brutal Death of Mamie Thurman
This is a true account of a prominent woman of Logan during the Depression, who is brutally murdered with a broken neck, throat slashed, and point blank gunshots to the head.
Mamie was a member of the tight lipped aristocracy who used a special room in downtown Logan for their private club for gambling, illegal drinking, wife-swapping and the like.
A local handyman was apparently framed for the murder and spent the rest of his life in prison. But recently a slew of evidence pointing to several groups from the mob, to the KKK, to rumrunners had a part in this gruesome story.
It has been called the Appalachian Dahlia, mostly because it closely parallels another famous homicide that took place years later in Hollywood. Over seventy-five years ago, in the cradle of southern West Virginia's most rugged mountain range, a bizarre and grisly murder grabbed national headlines due to the peculiar circumstances surrounding the senseless homicide.
Now, a book - a new revision offering greater detail and newly discovered information - takes another look at a puzzling true account, which involved a number of white-collar suspects, an intense community scandal and a shocking gangland-style execution that still baffles the public. This is a full re-write and revision of a former literary hit, The Secret Life and Brutal Death of Mamie Thurman.
The book represents the first in-depth work concerning socialite Mamie Thurman and her inexplicable, gruesome murder back in 1932. It includes a new investigation and several all-new chapters in the murder case. Mamie was savagely destroyed on a rainy night in shot in the head; neck fractured; face disfigured; throat cut; and her lifeless corpse dumped over a mountainside, like garbage at an illegal dump site.
According to Bill Clements, of Quarrier Press, "This new work is a complete reconsideration of its predecessor. It includes much more research and interview material than its former release. The author grabs the reader's attention from the onset. It's part crime drama, part roller coaster ride, and most amazing of all, this is a true story."
It is a terribly immoral and violent report from the heart of the Bible belt, during the final year of Prohibition. And since 1932, the story has taken on urban legend status, where there are now claims of ghostly sightings and other weird occurrences that only add to this fantastic story.
Mamie was a member of the tight lipped aristocracy who used a special room in downtown Logan for their private club for gambling, illegal drinking, wife-swapping and the like.
A local handyman was apparently framed for the murder and spent the rest of his life in prison. But recently a slew of evidence pointing to several groups from the mob, to the KKK, to rumrunners had a part in this gruesome story.
It has been called the Appalachian Dahlia, mostly because it closely parallels another famous homicide that took place years later in Hollywood. Over seventy-five years ago, in the cradle of southern West Virginia's most rugged mountain range, a bizarre and grisly murder grabbed national headlines due to the peculiar circumstances surrounding the senseless homicide.
Now, a book - a new revision offering greater detail and newly discovered information - takes another look at a puzzling true account, which involved a number of white-collar suspects, an intense community scandal and a shocking gangland-style execution that still baffles the public. This is a full re-write and revision of a former literary hit, The Secret Life and Brutal Death of Mamie Thurman.
The book represents the first in-depth work concerning socialite Mamie Thurman and her inexplicable, gruesome murder back in 1932. It includes a new investigation and several all-new chapters in the murder case. Mamie was savagely destroyed on a rainy night in shot in the head; neck fractured; face disfigured; throat cut; and her lifeless corpse dumped over a mountainside, like garbage at an illegal dump site.
According to Bill Clements, of Quarrier Press, "This new work is a complete reconsideration of its predecessor. It includes much more research and interview material than its former release. The author grabs the reader's attention from the onset. It's part crime drama, part roller coaster ride, and most amazing of all, this is a true story."
It is a terribly immoral and violent report from the heart of the Bible belt, during the final year of Prohibition. And since 1932, the story has taken on urban legend status, where there are now claims of ghostly sightings and other weird occurrences that only add to this fantastic story.
- GenresTrue Crime
216 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 2007
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23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 1, 2013
A true crime book about the 1932 murder of Mamie Thurman in Logan County, West Virginia.
This book -written in journalistic fashion, which rarely hooks me in the way that other narrative styles do- presents the legal documentation and news coverage of the case. This can make for a dry reading, but the author never presumes to lay the guilt on any party, leaving those assumptions for the readers to form. The author stays with the public record, while I would have like more intimate details about Mamie's private life. The author ends the book by discussing Mamie's impact on Logan, WV, recounting the local legends -including a couple of ghost stories- surrounding the Mamie Thurman mystery.
Unfortunately, no one has found the grave of Mamie Thurman - it would be interesting to see what modern forensics could tell us about this case now.
This book -written in journalistic fashion, which rarely hooks me in the way that other narrative styles do- presents the legal documentation and news coverage of the case. This can make for a dry reading, but the author never presumes to lay the guilt on any party, leaving those assumptions for the readers to form. The author stays with the public record, while I would have like more intimate details about Mamie's private life. The author ends the book by discussing Mamie's impact on Logan, WV, recounting the local legends -including a couple of ghost stories- surrounding the Mamie Thurman mystery.
Unfortunately, no one has found the grave of Mamie Thurman - it would be interesting to see what modern forensics could tell us about this case now.
December 30, 2015
The story was not as exciting as the title.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews