On November 17, 1920, two Chicago-based actresses, Marie Ramey and Lillian Thompson, were killed and thrown from a car after they had allegedly “indulged in an automobile flirtation with four young men.” While two of the men turned themselves into the police shortly afterward, they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) identify their companions. The investigation stalled until…
CHAPTER 1 CHICAGO OCTOBER 1929 The black delivery truck pulled up to Mr. Rosenstein’s drugstore, its movements stealthy and smooth as it parked, not a squeaking brake or rattling screw to be heard. Its shadow from the dropping sun stretched across the sidewalk, just touching the store’s glass windows, which displayed mortars and pestles, vials,…
In 1929, there were two “Canary Murder” Cases. The first was a film starring Louise Brooks, William Powell, and Jean Arthur, released in February, which told the story of a showgirl (“The Canary”) who was strangled after a failed attempt at blackmail. The second “Canary Murder” occurred in Chicago towards the end of the year,…
In 1963, Ellis Peters’ Death and the Joyful Woman was awarded the Edgar for Best Novel, edging out Dell Shannon’s Knave of Hearts, Mark McShane’s Séance, Shelley Smith’s The Ballad of the Running Man, Jean Potts’ The Evil Wish, and Ross Macdonald’s The Zebra-Striped Hearse. I’d never read any novels by Ellis Peters, one of…
