Historical Mystery Lovers discussion

Do you enjoy reading about crimes that have caught and held the public imagination for decades or even centuries?

This is the place to discuss crimes and books about crimes including Jack the Ripper, H. H. Holmes, Lizzie Borden, Black Dahlia, Leopold and Loeb, etc.

This subject has always fascinated me! On my first trip to London I took the "Jack the Ripper" tour twice, once with Donald Rumbelow, and I've stayed in the "Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast". I'd love to exchange ideas and info with like minds! For example, T. E. Huff's Jack the Ripper crime/romance novel, "Nine Buck's Row" is being published on Kindle under his romance pseudonym, Jessica Braithwaite 2/15/15.

Thanks for the info, Sue. I'm a huge Jack the Ripper groupie (can't say fan - that's way too creepy, lol!)

Duel with the Devil: The True Story of How Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Teamed Up to Take on America's First Sensational Murder Mystery and The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime that Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars, both by Paul Collins, I thought were really good.

Lauren wrote: "Do you enjoy reading about crimes that have caught and held the public imagination for decades or even centuries?

This is the place to discuss crimes and books about crimes including Jack the Rip..."

All of these are fascinating cases!

Also - the NYC Stamford White Case

Terri wrote: "Also - the NYC Stamford White Case "

Are there any books about it, Terri?

the one I read was American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the "It" Girl and the Crime of the Century
but here are some others:

Madison Square Tragedy: The Murder of Stanford White
The Murder of Stanford White

The Murder of Stanford White

Defintely; true crime is what got me into historical mysteries. I remember reading Jack the Ripper Mammoth book when I was younger and being completely hooked. The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper. Currently I am reading Murder as a Fine Art which deals with the Ratcliffe Highway Murders in England in 1811. Another interesting crime where the identity of the suspect is not 100% solidified.

Sue wrote: "This subject has always fascinated me! On my first trip to London I took the "Jack the Ripper" tour twice, once with Donald Rumbelow, and I've stayed in the "Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast". I'd lov..."

That sounds amazing. If I ever travel to England I will definitely have to take that tour if still offered.

I'm currently reading and enjoying The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime, which covers a lot of 19th century English true crime cases. (As well as how the newspapers covered these stories, which was generally extensively and without too much concern for the facts, and what novelists and playwrights and the popular culture did with the stories afterwards.) I'm near the end and we've covered everything from the Ratcliffe Highway murders through to the Poison Panic of the 1840s and Jack the Ripper.

We always hear a lot about Lizzie Borden, but how many know about the Polly Bodine case in New York City in 1843? She was accused of the axe murder of her sister-in-law and baby niece. It had NYC in an uproar for many years. PT Barnum created a horrible wax statue of a fiendish Polly Bodin dripping blood, called her the "Witch of Staten Island," and stationed it outside the courtroom. Edgar Allen Poe wrote editorial condemning her. She had three trials, was on death row for awhile, and was finally exonerated. The crime was never solved. Google Polly Bodine for more info.

Robert Tell, Author,
The Witch of Maple Park
www.roberttell.com

I hadn't heard of that one, Robert. It sounds fascinating.