On a freezing morning in December 1832, a woman named Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead on a local farm. The mystery was covered by Catharine Williams, a contemporary who became convinced it was murder. Kate Winkler Dawson takes another look at Williams’ work and brings modern technology to the case.
Mikita Brottman’s deep dive into this suburban true crime goes beyond the ‘whodunit’, and even the ‘whydunit’ aspect. Instead, she focuses on the aftermath from the point of view of the murderer.
One of the Belvedere’s residents is going through her normal daily routine when she notices a “missing” poster outside of her building. Unlike most of us, she becomes intrigued by the disappearance. Then, when his body is found on the roof of her hotel, she becomes obsessed.
Sometimes the creepiest thing is a gaping unknown. Whether it’s a disappearance or a mysterious death, there are plenty of books about unsolved events to keep you awake at night.
Perhaps there was something about knowing the horrible crime had been committed, was already out in the real world, that he wasn’t inventing it, that allowed Nabokov to finally put his novel into a cohesive form.