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A review by kikiandarrowsfishshelf
Midnight Assassin: A Murder in America's Heartland by Patricia L. Bryan, Thomas Wolf
3.0
I first read Trifles when I was thinking about teaching it. It is a marvelous play, and to be honest, not everyone gets it right away. A shame really, but that seems to be the point. The devil is in the details as it were and where does guilt truly lie is a question that concerns everyone, everywhere. Society too, sometimes at least, does shoulder some of the blame.
This book is about the murder trial that inspired Trifles for Susan Glaspell covered the trial in her years as a reporter. One night, a wife wakes up and finds her husband dying beside her in bed. He has been stuck by an axe. She gets her children, the doctor, the law, and eventually after her husband is buried, she is arrested and charged for his murder.
While the authors cannot solve the murder after so many years remove, they do offer possible scenarios. At the very least, the wife’s guilt is in question simply because of how the evidence was handled. The book details not only the crime, but the trial as well as dealing with the life of a homestead wife. Believe me when I say, Little House on The Prairie (the TV series) got it all wrong.
The book offers not only a look at how women were treated at the turn of the century as well as how family was viewed. In some ways, we have changed, but in others, modern society still carries the echo. We all should do well to pay attention to this story.
This book is about the murder trial that inspired Trifles for Susan Glaspell covered the trial in her years as a reporter. One night, a wife wakes up and finds her husband dying beside her in bed. He has been stuck by an axe. She gets her children, the doctor, the law, and eventually after her husband is buried, she is arrested and charged for his murder.
While the authors cannot solve the murder after so many years remove, they do offer possible scenarios. At the very least, the wife’s guilt is in question simply because of how the evidence was handled. The book details not only the crime, but the trial as well as dealing with the life of a homestead wife. Believe me when I say, Little House on The Prairie (the TV series) got it all wrong.
The book offers not only a look at how women were treated at the turn of the century as well as how family was viewed. In some ways, we have changed, but in others, modern society still carries the echo. We all should do well to pay attention to this story.