Stewart H. Holbrook (1893–1964)

Short, lively summaries of 10 true-crime incidents, most from the early 1900s, that occurred in rural settings from remote Oregon homesteads to isolated Maine fishing villages.

The lead story is probably the standout, dealing as it does with the trifecta of sex, religious mania, and murder. Close behind that is the tale of a homicidal Indiana widow whose long-distance suitors showed up with cash to help her lift a non-existent morgage, and were never seen again. (And you thought romance scams were an invention of the internet age!) Most of the others deal with such mundanities as money, property, sex (there it is again), and revenge.

Holbrook sums it up with the perfect ending paragraph: "My research has also convinced me that the most interesting crimes in the United States have been committed by persons with rural and backwoods, or at least small-town, backgrounds. I don't think this proves anything in particular, or if it does that it is very important; but it does amuse me when I hear city people wonder, as I often do, what on earth the folks at the forks of the creek can find to talk about."… (mer)