Murder, New England: A Historical Collection of Killer True-Crime Tales by M. William Phelps

I know what you are thinking- I read a book. Not a graphic novel. Not a comic book. And not just a book about super heroes, cooking or culinary, I read an honest-to-god true crime anthology!

Now, I've read these types of books before. But I'm not like the average true crime buff. The story has got to really pique my interest. I like Sherlock Holmes, Victorian Era, serial killer stuff. Erik Larson's Devil In The White City was a perfect combination of those macabre interests.

This previous father's day, I took a day trip to Bald Head Island. While we waited for our golf cart reservation to come up, my wife and I perused the island library, which is a tiny single room building with no A/C. There's not even a full-time staff. The idea is to give a book/take a book. Or make a donation, which is what my wife and I decided to do. 

As we were about to leave, I saw this book in the window. My wife, being from New England, would really enjoy this I thought. So I showed it to her. My bride was very interested and upon reading about some of the tales, which take place around that Victorian Era, I wanted this book too!

Since my wife had a bunch of other things on her list and I didn't bring a book to read at the beach, I drove into this collection of 8 true crime stories. 

Stories include:

• Pre-Colonial Times: What could be the first recorded event of spontaneous combustion. Or it could be one of the first times that an accusation from a ghost (during someone else's dreams) doomed a man to death by hanging.
• Post-War of 1812: A he said/she said tale of a murdered single mother. The teenage victim who survived the assault isn't a very good witness. But the man accused isn't a very nice person when he drinks. Who was telling the truth?
• The Mafia in New England. Not really a true crime tale as much as a historical account of how the Irish mafia went from being the #1 crime family in Boston, dropping to #2 after the rise of the Italians and then coming back into control of Beantown thanks to the demented Whitey Bulger.
• Modern Times- A trio of teens who get high and enjoy true crime TV shows plan the perfect murder; only to really make a giant mess of things!
• More Modern Times- A woman brings her husband breakfast one morning. She found him lying in a terrible pool of blood. And she blames the family horse on the crime!
• And From This Sure Ain't Sesame Street File- the landscaper and handyman for TV's Big Bird, Carol Spinney, is the prime suspect in the disappearance of a respected school employee.

M. William Phelps is an engrossing writer. He does seem to put his opinions into the story. But Phelps isn't the first such writer of true crime to do this. I think it would be kinda hard to write about these types of grisly tales and not need to express some of your disgust at these repulsive acts. Plus, the author isn't a journalist per say. As long as he wasn't on the 11 o'clock news doing a report on a recent killing, I don't think Phelps is in a situation here where he must keep his opinions to himself and just relate to facts.

Now I do think something is seriously wrong with the editors at Lyons Press because I found several inaccuracies that just didn't make sense. On the back cover, when talking about the trio who plan the perfect crime, it says they murdered a grandmother. Yet in the segment about them, it's plainly mentioned that the woman killed was one of the guy's aunts and that she had never married or bore children. There's no way this woman could have been a grandmother!

There's also an instance during the segment where the lady accuses her horse of killing her husband. That murder occurred in 2006. According to Phelps, the last murder in that community was in 1980. But about a paragraph later, it's mentioned that there was 'that murder in 1983'. So which is it 1980 or 1983? Really, I think the editors should have caught this. 

Another issue I had, and I really don't think it is the author's fault, is the spacing of the sentences. There's several sentences where there's no space between the period and the start of the next sentence. Several words are done like this as well. I understand that Phelps uses quotes from the time periods. And sometimes the letter S looked like a F. People omitted letters and used commas in their place. That kind of stuff I overlook. It's the errors that are riddled throughout the author's commentary that are hard to forgive. And yes, I checked. This was not an advanced reader copy that I got my hands on.

I would love to read another book by M. William Phelps. The two books advertised on the last page of this one look interesting. The Devil's Rooming House, about the first female serial killer and The Devil's Right Hand about the tragic life of the Colt family. Hopefully, the editing is better in them.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.