Lizzie

It took me about 75 pages to realize that "Lizzie" by Evan Hunter (a.k.a. Ed McBain, of the 87th precinct series fame) sounded awfully familiar. I thought I hadn't read it before, since neither the library where I work nor the next closest library that I frequent own it, but I guess at some point in the last 15 years they did, and in the interim have discarded it (or it went missing) and that was why it didn't show up in the catalogs and made me think that I hadn't read it. I had, so I reread it, which was fine, because it had been so long I kinda remembered it but not word for word. It's a fictionalized account of the Borden murders that took place in Fall River, Massachusetts, on August 4, 1892. The Borden murders have long been a fascination of mine: I've read everything I can get my hands on about it (and Lindbergh, and Jack the Ripper. Those are my three favorite true crimes). Hunter has an interesting take on the case: he posits that back in 1890, when Lizzie went to Europe with three friends, she met a lady named Alison, who introduced her to the pleasures of lesbianism (not exactly a far stretch: later on in life, after the trial where she was acquitted, there were many rumors that Lizzie was a lesbian, mostly because she hung out with theater people). Upon returning to Fall River, Lizzie is so miserable with her life without Alison that she eventually takes up with Bridget, the Borden's maid. On that fateful day in August when her stepmother catches the two of them together, Lizzie, in a fit of anger, smashes her skull in with a candlestick. When her father returns home and finds the body of his dead wife, he accuses Lizzie of having done it, and she goes at him with a hatchet. It's a terrific idea, and explains all the problems the prosecution had in finding blood spattered clothes or the murder weapon. Oh, and for the record, I don't think Lizzie did it, but I think she knew who did and let them in, covered for them. One book I read a long time ago had a great theory that her half-brother, Mr. Borden's long neglected bastard son, did it. I liked that book. One day, when I have time (ha!) I fully plan to go through all my old book journals and make a spreadsheet of all the books I've read (well, since I started keeping track. I think I was 14 or so). That will be a good after-I'm-done-with-grad-school project.