98. The Borden Tragedy

The Borden Tragedy by Rick Geary
A Treasury of Victorian Murder Book 3

Pages: no page numbers
Finished: May 29, 2008
First Published: 1997
Genre: graphic novel, true crime
Rating: 4.5/5

Reason for Reading: Joy wrote a review of this recently and I just had to read it myself. My library didn't have it so I ordered it through ILL.

First sentence:

The grim and seething summer of 1892 will never depart my memory ... nor, I daresay, will it be ever forgot by the good citizens of Fall River.

Comments: Rick Geary takes his account of the famous Lizzie Borden murder case from the unpublished memoirs of an unknown lady of Falls River. Being very familiar with this case, it has been one of my obsessions since I was a child, I found the author wrote a very realistic and unbiased presentation. Most of the important facts are here and it is a compelling read. Geary does not try to point a finger at any one suspect but gives the list of suspects and lets the reader deal with the facts themselves. The heavily shaded black and white illustrations are a perfect complement to the mood and subject matter. This is very well-done and an intriguing use of the graphic novel format. I intend to read the others in the series. My only quibble with this volume is the sourcebook at the back which has reproductions of actual newspaper accounts of the murder and trial which would be fascinating to read. Unfortunately, they've been shrunk down so much I couldn't read it without eye strain so gave up trying.