In The Mistress of Murder Hill, Sylvia Shepherd relates the story of female serial killer Belle Gunness, whose terrible crimes were discovered when her farmhouse in LaPorte, Indiana, burned in 1908. A determined brother, Asle Helgelein, came to LaPorte looking for his missing brother Andrew who had reportedly come to Indiana to marry the widow, Mrs. Gunness. Asle's insistence led authorities to find the body of Andrew Helgelein buried on the Gunness property. This gruesome discovery was not to be the last, however; many other bodies were found buried in Belle's barnyard. In time, it became clear that Belle had been placing matrimonial ads in newspapers to attract victims. She would invite interested men to her farmhouse promising marriage and control of her farm, stressing that they should sell all of their belongings and bring the money as a show of good faith. Once Belle was in possession of the money, she would murder and dismember the men and bury them on her land. A local man named Lamphere had worked for Gunness and the two had reportedly been lovers prior to a falling out that had led Gunness to file charges against Lamphere for trespassing and harassment. When Gunness's house burned down, Lamphere was the main suspect. Authorities found four bodies in the ruins, three children and one woman, seemingly Belle and her three children. However, the female body was missing its head, leading some to believe that Belle had faked her own death and escaped, while others were convinced that Lamphere set the fire and killed Belle out of jealousy. So what really happened? Did a heartless murderess die in a fire fueled by jealousy or did cunning killer fake her own death and continue her murderous spree? Read Sylvia Shepherd's detailed account of the crimes of Mrs. Gunness and the trial of Mr. Lamphere and draw your own conclusions.
Review
Before I begin, I have to say that I am not a fan of non-fiction. I love to read--it's an escape for me--so I enjoy fiction, particularly fantasy. So, true stories aren't generally on my "to read" list. So, perhaps you should take my review with a grain of salt. I found the story of Mrs. Gunness interesting, but, for me, the writing style was difficult. It took me forever to read this book. I wanted to know what happened, wanted to know if she was really dead or if she escaped, but I found the writing dry despite the high drama of the material. I also found the organization difficult to follow at certain points. Perhaps it was Shepherd's background as a journalist that made her style so unappealing to me. In short, I think the story of Belle Gunness is a fascinating one, but I think the writer, in this case, lacked the skill to do the story justice. Also, I found it frustrating that I spent the time to read the entire book but could not come away with a definitive answer on what really happened. I guess that in today's world of DNA evidence I am a bit spoiled; obviously, in 1908, the authorities were limited in what forensics they could use to determine the true identify of the body in the fire. I suppose it would be a waste of time and funds to exhume the bodies to try to determine the truth once and for all, but I certainly would be interested in finding out. I also found it shocking that, once Belle Gunness's crimes were discovered, no one pushed to examine the grounds around her former Chicago home for evidence of early murders. It seems clear that Belle murdered her two husbands, begging the question: were they her only Chicago victims? It seems likely that the remains of other victims are left undiscovered in Chicago and perhaps in LaPorte as well.
References
[Photograph of book cover]. (2011). Retrieved from
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/forensics/
psych_autopsy/9.html
Shepherd, S. E. (2001). The mistress of murder hill: The serial killings of
Belle Gunness. Fairfield, CA: 1st Books Library.
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