The Murders of Annie Hearn : The Poisonings that Inspired Agatha Christie

Title: The Murders of Annie Hearn : The Poisonings that Inspired Agatha Christie
Author: Jonathan Oates
Publisher: Pen & Sword True Crime
Release Date: April 30, 2024
Page Count: 304
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

After a day spent in the coastal town of Bude on the north coast of Cornwall, followed by tea and sandwiches, Mrs. Alice Thomas fell seriously ill and later died on November 4, 1930. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas were accompanied by their neighbor Annie Hearn, who prepared the sandwiches, and after it was determined that Mrs. Thomas had perhaps died of arsenic poisoning, an investigation was begun. 

What followed was an inquest, a disappearance, a trial, and questions still remain over 90 years later. Agatha Christie used the poison sandwiches as a plot device in her 1940 novel Sad Cypress but the case in general has been lightly covered in true crime movies, videos or books. 

In a nutshell, Annie Hearn claimed she was married and quickly widowed, but it appeared none of this was true. Annie was a caregiver for her family, several of whom may have died due to arsenic poisoning. After Mrs. Thomas died, Annie disappeared, leaving the impression that she is going to commit suicide. She was found, was tried for Mrs. Thomas' murder .... and was found not guilty. 

The author has done extensive primary research, uncovering newspaper articles, inquest and trial transcripts in order to piece together the events and the bibliography is very extensive. 

But I sorely missed a cohesive narrative throughout this book. At times, the lawyer's cross examinations of witness are basically reprinted, without any commentary or insight. An in-depth examination of Annie Hearn's personality and psyche is needed, as we get details about what she did and said, but not why . There is a list of arsenic poisoning symptoms, but no discussion of what arsenic does to the human body, how it kills, why some symptoms are not always understood or correctly perceived by doctors, etc. The account of the horrific death of Annie's sister is heartbreaking, especially since the doctor who examined her didn't have a clue about what was causing her symptoms, and didn't suspect poisoning. 

 3.5 stars for The Murders of Annie Hearn. The mere facts of this case are compelling and disturbing, and while the author's research is admirable, a strong narrative would have greatly improved this true crime re-telling. 

I received an ARC from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

A Murder on the Hill

Title: A Murder on the Hill: The Secret Life and Mysterious Death of Ruth Munson
Author: Roger Barr
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Release Date: April 2, 2024
Page Count: 320
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

In December of 1937, the body of Ruth Munson was discovered in the derelict Aberdeen Hotel, a once-grand luxury apartment hotel, felled by the stock market crash and the Depression. This was the St. Paul of John Dillinger and Babyface Nelson, where bootlegging and prostitution flourished, and in 1935 the City finally started cracking down on rampant police corruption within the St. Paul Police Department. 

There was every reason to hope that the murderer would be brought to justice, yet the Munson murder remains unsolved. I found the book very frustrating in that the police hopped from one theory of the case to another without uncovering much of anything. It was a boyfriend or former lover, it was someone who left three small metal shear pins at the site, it was the black porter at the Union Depot, it was someone from Munson's "secret life" involved two mysterious women who were often seen at local bars with Ruth, it was a vagrant, maybe Ruth was involved in selling drugs, etc. And once the police determined that Ruth's death may have come "at the hands of someone from the black community," that racism probably prevented the case from being solved. 

The author carefully details countess reports and unfortunately, the sheer abundance of similar reports is overwhelming. I'm not sure that every detail is necessary and perhaps a concise summary would have been more compelling than an exhaustive point-by-point accounting. There is a very brief chapter at about 80% of the book called "Missed Opportunities" which very briefly summarizing possible legitimate suspects, but at this point it is a little bit too later. 

The exhaustive research is impressive but perhaps more interpretation and less listing of details would have resulted in a more cohesive gripping story. 3.5 stars. 

I received an ARC from the publisher, via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

Blood on Their Hands: Murder, Corruption, and the Fall of the Murdaugh Dynasty

Title: Blood on Their Hands: Murder, Corruption, and the Fall of the Murdaugh Dynasty
Author: Mandy Matney and Carolyn Murnick
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: November 14, 2023
Page Count: 272
Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

Prior to reading Blood on Their Hands, I had no idea who Mandy Matney was, had never heard or listened to her popular podcast. However, I had read several books about the Murdaughs and knew a lot of the basics of the case(s). 

My first impression was that the author spent a lot of time establishing her credentials, then continuing to expound on them, to the point where I despaired that she would begin focusing on the Murdaughs. However, as I continued to read, I saw how her skill set and her on-the-ground network was able to provide information that the media was not picking up at the time, or was unwilling to report. 

But, if you are expecting a "true crime" book, adjust your expectations. There is little discussion of the background of the Murdaughs and their dubious heritage of influencing the entire Low Country court system. There is no framework in which to place the deeds and actions of the Murdaughs. And, frankly, I grew very tired of the author's constant commentary about how her former bosses held her back, how she wasn't appreciated, etc. At the end of day, this book seemed to me to be more an accounting of those perceived wrongs. 3 stars. 

I received an ARC from the Publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Down the Hill : My Descent into the Double Murder in Delphi

Title: Down the Hill: My Descent into the Double Murder in Delphi
Author: Susan Hendricks
Publisher: Hachette Books
Release Date: September 18, 2023
Page Count: 288
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

I was not very familiar with the particulars of this horrendous case involving the murders of Libby German and Abby Williams in tiny Delphi, Indiana - a town so small it doesn't have a motel, and where everyone knows everyone. And that's the real horror of this story - someone in this town murdered these two teenagers. 

If you're looking for the traditional "true crime" book, this is not it. Instead, Susan Hendricks gives us a nuanced story of the effect such a crime has on the community, on the family, on law enforcement and on social media. Delphi's murder rate was virtually nonexistent and as such, Delphi's law enforcement was relatively untried. But they had heart and truly cared about the families and solving this crime. Hendricks spent time with LE over the years she covered the case and knew how deeply they cared about this case and how much it affected them. 

Hendricks very carefully shares how social media in particular can be a two-edged sword. As she notes "But what happens when the ask for a tip from law enforcement and family members turns into or perpetuates the public's desire to solve the crime no matter the cost? Can that desire lead to an online witch hunt? The short answer is yes." And especially in this case, where virtually no information was released from LE and details on possible murderer(s) was vague and inconsistent, social media "influencers" posted speculation about many members of the community and family, not considering how deeply their careless conjectures could wound. As Libby's grandmother said "The best revenge is none. Heal more, move on. Don't become like those who hurt you." 

As the book ends, a suspect has been arrested and a new phase of the case begins. It leaves the families in new territory, not setting their grief aside, but entering into a new and different stage of grief. 4 stars for this very insightful and heart-rendering account.

I received an ARC from the Publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Tangled Vines : Power, Privilege and the Murdaugh Family Murders

Title: Tangled Vines;  Power, Privilege and the Murdaugh Family Murders
Author: John Glatt
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: August 8, 2023
Page Count: 310
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

In Tangled Vines, John Glatt does an excellent job of delving into the Murdaugh family dynamic, giving us behind-the-scene details of this Southern Gothic "crime family." It begins with a history of the past 110 years or so of the Murdaugh family; it's a bit hard to follow, given that almost every male of the past several generations had been named either Randolph or Buster. But once we finally get to the current generation, we have a good understanding of the tight network of judges, lawyers, and law enforcement that enabled the Murdaugh family's stranglehold on the judicial system in their part of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

 It's all a heady mix of murder, white-collar fraud, misappropriation of funds (almost $9 million dollars from personal injury clients), money laundering, forgery, drug manufacture and trafficking and more. It's hard to feel any kind of sympathy for the truly deplorable Murdaugh family. As one of Alex Murdaugh's victim said "I know Mr. Murdaugh as my attorney ... A very nice man and very cordial. I never had any issues and would communicate with him on a regular basis. Now here's the problem. He treated me that nice and he stole every dime I had from the injury I incurred." 

Perhaps because the scope of all the crimes is so huge, it's hard to get a sense of wife Maggie's personality, and sons Paul and Buster - other than spoiled sons of parents who encouraged and abetted their violent fits of anger, underage drinking, vehicular manslaughter (Paul's drunken boat accident that killed Mallory Beach), the mysterious death of Steven Smith, and the mysterious death of Gloria Satterfield. 

At four years old they cussed like sailors [...] and Maggie thought it was funny. [She] instilled in them from a very young age that they were better than anyone else because they were Mardaughts. The same rules didn't apply to you that apply to these other people. 'You're a Murdaugh! You're a Murdaugh.' 

As the book was, for the most part completed in late 2022 and early 2023, the advance-reading copy did not include trial updates and developments. It is my understanding that the final version does contain trial information. 

If you are looking for a great over-all examination of the Murdaugh family and their numerous crimes in the context of the Southern Lowcountry where they "ruled" for over a hundred years, you won't do better than Glatt's account. The book is a bit light on specific details on the actual murders of Paul and Maggie, and Paul's drunken boat accident is skimmed over, but then again there is so much crime, murder, corruption, fraud and the like that a true accounting could be almost endless. 4 stars.

I received an ARC from the Publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.