Mondo Lizzie Borden

If you are into other true crime cases like I am (especially Victorian ones), I highly recommend subscribing to a Jack the Ripper journal tltled Ripper Notes: The International Journal for Ripper Studies. I cannot get enough of this informative, interesting, and well crafted magazine. Editor Dan Norder does a yeoman’s job at pulling together scholars from around the world to educated us on so many different aspects of the case.

Check out their sample articles here.

I started my Ripper Notes collection buying individual back issues from Amazon.com, but soon realized I could also purchase them through the publisher as well. And they offer a good deal on them.

Give them a try. You will be very glad you did.

In the latest Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine are two pieces related to the topic at hand—Lizzie Borden.

One is a new work by James T. Shannon that takes place in the Portuguese-American community of Fall River, Massachusetts. I have read the story and note that while the author changes the names of locations around town (for a reason I don’t understand) you can still figure out where he is and recognize the sights and sounds of this city on the Taunton River. Shannon’s detective tale has a nice twist, and is recommended for not only the Fall River local but for the breezy writing style.

This issue also includes a classic work by Marie Belloc Lowndes, author of Lizzie Borden: A Study in Conjecture (recently reviewed by the profound Eugene Hosey in the latest issue of The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies). The story included is her seminal work “The Lodger”—one of the earliest fictional works about Jack the Ripper published.

From the Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazne site:

“Crime” may be the umbrella for our magazine, but it is a wide one to encompass the variety of stories we publish. James Lincoln Warren, author of this month’s cover story, is familiar to AHMM readers for his series featuring eighteenth-century “indagator” Alan Treviscoe, but “When the Wind Blows” is a dark, contemporary tale through which California’s hot Santa Ana winds snake like a musical motif. He has recently teamed up with some mystery aficionados to start a wonderful blog dedicated to mystery short fiction. When you get a chance, check out Criminal Brief: The Mystery Short Story Web Log Project (you’ll find a link to it on our Links page).

Halifax schemers Beemer and Benny team up to make a run for contraband lottery tickets in Jas. R. Petrin’s “The Golden Rule.” “A Sign of Peace” is a tale of miscues in a church in the Portuguese-American community of Fall River, Massachusetts, by James T. Shannon; and we have a new story from Bruce Graham called “Either Way” in which a crime-fighting team finds a way to snare a killer and make it stick in court.

New to AHMM this month, Frank T. Wydra is the author of the gritty procedural “Street Justice.” We also welcome the return of Birney Dibble, author of “Too Cold a Trail.” Like his first story for AHMM, “Peace to Her Bitter Bones” (December, 2001), “Too Cold a Trail” reaches back to solve mysteries from the past while exploring human emotions in the present.

We also bring you two private eye tales. “The Survivor of the Storms” by Dick Stodghill is a Depression-era historical featuring Akron, Ohio, P.I. Jack Eddy and young reporter Bram Geary. Loren D. Estleman’s story “Needle” is a tightly told tale of evil and misfortune compounded over decades and played out on the back porch of a Detroit bungalow.

Our Mystery Classic this month is Marie Belloc Lowndes’s “The Lodger,” capturing the fear that once gripped London. Plus we have top-notch reviews by Robert C. Hahn of some recent private eye novels in our Booked & Printed feature and an in-depth look at a new sequel to the ’70s hit Death Wish in Steve Hockensmith’s Reel Crime column.

The August 2007 issue of The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies has been placed ONLINE.

This issue is JAM packed with interesting articles—and I really mean jam packed! The new issue runs a whopping 120 pages!

And it includes news, information, and images not published elsewhere on the newly discovered Emma Borden’s years at Wheaton Seminary School. Lizzie Borden Society Forum member and Borden historian Shelley Dziedzic and I spent two days doing research at Wheaton and found some really wonderful things you won’t want to miss.

Plus we have some fabulous pieces on Fall River History by Neilson Caplain, Bill Goncalo, and Michael Brimbau. Other pieces are included by Borden historians and forum members— Kat Koorey, Harry Widdows, Sherry Chapman, Richard Behrens, Denise Noe, Douglas Walters, and Melissa Allen.

Not a subscriber? It only costs $20 for a year’s worth of issues of The Hatchet, and you have access to that entire year’s issues no matter when you subscribe during that calendar year. So if you join us today, you can download all previous issues of 2007 immediately. Remember, there is one more issue to go this year!

Sound interesting? You can read more details about the August issue and subscribe here.

Subscribers, you can download your copy immediately and/or view a slideshow of the magazine here.

Happy reading!

Stefani Koorey
Editor and Publisher
The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies

Len Rebello, author of Lizzie Borden Past and Present, Borden historian Shelley Dziedzic and I went to Wheaton College today and conducted a lot of research on Emma Borden’s time there as a Seminary Student in the mid 1800s. The library staff was stupendous in finding all the info we could possibly need!

An extensive article on Wheaton and Emma’s time there is soon to be published in the next issue of The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies. The Online journal will be full of brand new information, photos, and all sorts of amazing things about the quiet and lesser known Borden sister.

This is the second trip for me and Shelley to Wheaton, and we were honored to have Len Rebello join us to absorb all the new information.

The photo above is Len, Shelley and myself. Behind us is a painting of the lovely Caroline Cutler Plimpton Metcalf, Emma’s principal during her stay there, and probably her English grammar instructor as well. The painting is by William Page, an internationally respected artist and one of the leading exponents of figure painting among the American Romantics.

This is just a photo of me and Len Rebello. One great guy!

168 Belmont Street, the Victorian home of Richard Cormier and Judith Levesque, has just received a variance from the Fall River Zoning Board to convert their existing single family dwelling into a bed and breakfast and install a non-illuminated wall sign. The house looks like a lovely place to visit and just around the corner from Maplecroft on French Street. It looks to me like you can see Maplecroft from the second floor of this beautiful home.

Cormier and Levesque plan to continue to live in the house and function as owner-operators.

The Fall River Zoning Board was beside themselves with praise for the idea, and added their heartfelt good wishes for the success of this new establishment in the Highlands.

Completely off topic, but fascinating to me, is this odd little find. While out taking photos I came across this Barbie doll garden in Mattapoisett, MA. At first I thought it was some sort of play area for a child, but then I saw the stone marker that designated this as an “official” Barbie Garden. Kewl!

I had been visiting the little lighthouse there in Ned’s Point.

If only this state had a Weird Massachusetts like New Jersey has! (BTW, I subscribe to Weird New Jersey and LOVE it!)

Mattapoisett, MA. Home of Ned’s Point Lighthouse and the Barbie Garden!

I was saddened to hear that the Lizzie Borden Conference scheduled for next August (2008) was cancelled. Not only because it was going to be the first big official get together for Lizzie Borden aficionados since the 100th anniversary conference in 1992, but because the brains and creativity behind this event really wanted it to happen and deserved a happier outcome.

If you have never met Shelley Dziedzic, you have not yet lived Lizzie. Shelley is one of those rare individuals who really cares about the experience people have when they visit Fall River to further study the case. Yes, she works at the Lizzie Borden B&B, but she also goes above and beyond the call of duty on a regular basis! Last week she took a day off of work to give three Lizzie Borden visitors a tour of Lizzie hotspots in Fall River. She wants everyone to enjoy their stay and get the most out of what little time they have in town. And all this from a person who lives in another state!

Shelley is a writer, historian, actress (in her time playing both Lizzie and Abby in the re-enactments at 92 Second Street on the 4th of August), wardrobe mistress, social director, textile expert, and I hear can even sing a mean tune. I find her of another time and place, a Victorian to the core. And I wish I knew where she gets her energy. Bottle that and you have found the fountain of youth.

Do I sound like a fan of hers? Yes I am. And the very day that the conference was cancelled, I had interviewed her for this blog to help promote the event. She was upbeat and positive and raring to go. And then the bottom dropped out when she lost her co-chair—-she couldn’t go on alone with all this planning and organizing to do—no one could. So she made the tough decision to stop now, while the planning was still in its initial stages.

I applaud her dream and know that if she could have made it happen she would have. That is the kind of gal she is.

So next time you are in Fall River stop by 92 Second Street and ask for Shell. You will be glad you did.

By the way, don’t forget to read her blog titled Warps and Wefts. She has some news in there you can’t get anywhere else, and some really kewl photos of the mantles at Maplecroft!

Check this site out for ideas for party games on New Year’s Eve! Victorian Games - Party Games Rules Parlor Game for Groups.

The Laughing Game

- - All players sit in a circle. One player starts the game by saying “Ha”. Then, going around the circle, the second player says “Ha Ha”, third player says”Ha Ha Ha”, and so on. All players must not laugh or smile, but must proceed with straight faces. Anyone who fails to do this is out of the game.

Cat and Mouse

- - Place two rows of chairs facing each other with just enough space between the rows for a person to pass through. Select one player to be the cat and one player to be the mouse. All other players sit in the chairs. Blindfold the cat and mouse and have one stand at each end of the pathway of chairs. Cat and mouse walk around the two rows of spectators and must stay within touching distance of them. The cat attempts to catch the mouse - he should stay blindfolded and hunt the mouse entirely by listening. When the mouse has been caught, two new players are chosen to be the cat and mouse.

The Minister’s Cat

- - All players sit in a circle. The first player describes the minister’s cat with any adjective that starts with the letter “A”. Example: “The minister’s cat is an adorable cat.” The next player must also use the letter “A” - such as “The minister’s cat is an angry cat.”, and so on all the way around the circle. When it comes back to the first player the letter “B’ is used - example: “The minister’s cat is a bashful cat.” Anyone who can’t come up with an adjective or repeats one that was already used is out of the game.

Thanks to Sherry Chapman for this fun find!