Vintage Vermont Villainies: True Tales of Murder & Mystery from the 19th and 20th Centuries | 
 enlarge | Author: John Stark Bellamy Ii
Publisher: Countryman
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $8.80
You Save: $5.15 (37%)
New (12) Used (3) from $8.80
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 476062
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0881507490
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.152309743
EAN: 9780881507492
ASIN: 0881507490
Publication Date: September 17, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A bona fide collection of dreadful and diabolical true-crime stories you'll never believe took place in Vermont.
Containing accounts of ten classic murders and two inexplicable disappearances, Vintage Vermont Villainies is a veritable "best of the best" of Vermont homicides occurring between 1874 and 1957. Bellamy's catalog of miscreants includes Mary Rogers, whose seduction of two brothers paved the way to eliminating her inconvenient husband; and John Winters, whose date with the electric chair enlisted the sympathies of Clarence Darrow. This is true crime for every country home bed table.
|
| Customer Reviews:
An antique and gothic read September 11, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
John Stark Bellamy II's "Vintage Vermont Villainies: True Tales of Murder & Mystery from the 19th and 20th Centuries" contains 12 stories of disappearance, mishap, manslaughter, and murder, all of which are straight out of the annals of Vermont history. If you're familiar with the area it's a tad chilling recognizing so many names of towns, newspapers, roads and so on, but even if you aren't the stories are quite compelling.
Bellamy worked with cases at least several decades old and sometimes more than a century old. This gives the entire book a gothic, antique feel, much strengthened by Bellamy's style of writing. It's clear he did quite a bit of reading from period newspapers and journals, and that he allowed the old styles to infuse his work. This creates a beautiful and oddly enchanting hybrid of real-life and an almost otherworldly feel, rendering his subjects quite captivating.
Bellamy deliberately chose cases based on the odd and inexplicable personalities involved, or the unusual events. Many of these stories do not have clear endings. The disappearances weren't always solved; the guilt or innocence of the perpetrator wasn't always proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. We can only guess at the thoughts that went through the heads of victim and attacker alike. These stories do have a few things in common, however. They're fascinating. They're a window into another time, one we're often tempted to think of as far simpler--but which held plenty of its own dangers. They're a stark look at some of the failings and triumphs of the justice system, as well as the ways in which attitudes of the time (particularly with regard to gender and insanity) shaped justice.
[Review copy courtesy of Countryman Press]
|
|
|
