| "Oh!
What a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott |
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Web
Mystery Magazine, Summer 2003: Volume II, Issue 2 |
| Welcome
to Issue #2, Fall 2003 |
"The Web Mystery Magazine is extremely proud to present this issue ... featuring articles by experts on forensic science, on pulp fiction, on humor in mystery fiction, as well as reviews and new fiction, the second issue of Web Mystery Magazine celebrates good research and good writing." | |||
| by Rosalie Stafford | The editor of Web Mystery Magazine teaches writing in San Diego. | |||
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| Psychological Detectives, Past and Present |
"Sherlock Holmes was a profiler! So were Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin and Dostoysevky’s Inspector Porfiry. The FBI didn’t train them, but John Douglas, chief of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit during its first decade, has observed that criminal profiling has fictional precedents in these early detective stories. That comment, it turns out, has been both positive and negative for the profilers, but that’s often because most people don’t know the history of psychology and crime detection." | |||
| by Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D. | Dr. Katherine Ramsland teaches forensic psychology at DeSales University in PA, and has published twenty books, including The Forensic Science of CSI and The Criminal Mind: A Writer’s Guide to Forensic Psychology. She writes for Court TV’s Crime Library and co-wrote The Unknown Darkness with Gregg McCrary. | |||
| History of Criminal Identification and Some Famous and Historical Cases of Identification |
"There was a big news in the newspapers on Wednesday, 23 July 2003, claiming that the two sons of Saddam Hussein Uday and Qusay were killed in a fierce gunfight with the American troops. ... Many persons have asked me, 'How can we positively say that these were the sons of Saddam?' ... Let us see how we solve it as forensic specialists. "Cases like these (the Tichborne Claimant case and the Bhowal Sanyasi case) stirred the imagination of the whole world in those times. Indeed, they added a touch of romanticism to that era. It was a time when any trickster with a fair amount of skill and confidence could come forward and pose as someone who he wasn't. Today, science has taken most of the fun out of such questions of identity. With the development of fingerprinting, and the more recent popularization of DNA profiling, it is extremely doubtful, if cases like these would ever surface again and cause so much controversy." |
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| by Dr. Anil Aggrawal | Dr. Anil Aggrawal is a professor of Forensic Medicine at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. | |||
Forensic Nurse Death
Investigators |
"There
is no standard definition of a death investigator, making it extremely
difficult to delineate differences between Forensic Nurse Death Investigators
(FNDI) and Non-Nursing Death Investigators (NNDI). Literature provides
very limited descriptions of the death investigator’s role. The lack of
research on the death investigator role has resulted in an inability to
link skills and knowledge used in death investigation with those used
in nursing.
"A composite definition states that the death investigator’s role is to represent and advocate for the deceased. The investigator should possess scientific and experiential knowledge in order to make professional and accurate judgments on manner of death based on pre-death symptomology, history, post-mortem appearance, toxicology, and other diagnostic studies. In addition, the current literature suggests a death investigator must be able to recognize and integrate other evidence, such as patterned injuries and patterns of injury, revealed during the investigation." |
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| by Meliss Vessier-Batchen, RN, MSN | Meliss Vessier-Batchen, RN, MSN, is an assistant professor with Charity School of Nursing/Delgado Community College. She is a doctoral student at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans; her focus is forensic nursing with a concentration in death investigation. She is also a death investigator with the St. Tammany Coroner's Office. |
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| The
Downfall of Cellophane Man How Legal History in Britain was made when Forensic Science Solved the Horrific Murder of Lynette White |
"As revellers
enjoyed their Friday night parties in the early hours of St. Valentine’s
Day 1988 night, the tragically short life of Lynette White had come to
a brutal end just yards away from the local nightclub, the Casablanca.
She had been stabbed more than fifty times: her throat had been slit from
ear to ear.
"The following day a miscarriage of justice that blighted the criminal justice system of England and Wales became all but inevitable. There were bloodstains that had been shed by the murderer, among a plethora of other scientific evidence in that flat. None of it tied any of the five men charged with Lynette’s murder to the crime. The alleged eyewitnesses irreconcilably contradicted themselves, each other, and irrefutable scientific evidence." |
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| by Satish Sekar | Trained in sociology, and a freelance investigative journalist since 1990, The Lynette White case was the first Mr. Sekar worked on. Since then, his work has often appeared on English television and radio. Fitted In: The Cardiff 3 and the Lynette White Inquiry is his first book. | |||
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| The
Devil in the White City, a Review |
"I'm
not a big fan of serial killer books. ... Despite the ever more elaborate
Grand Guignol filigree, I often feel that the authors are consulting
Serial Killers for Dummies, charting the same kind of obscenely
sick childhood, the same kind of scripted acting out. The books don't
tend to reveal anything emotionally or psychologically because the incredible
savagery perpetrated by the villains is not only derivative but actually
seems beyond the pat explanations of Intro to Abnormal Psychology. ...
In The Devil in the White City however, Erik Larson has spun
a whole new variation on the serial killer story that has left me feeling
anything but cynical.
"Larson originally intended to write a nonfiction about a killer that would, he said in an interview with me, 'produce the same nice effect as Caleb Carr's novel The Alienist,' which he read in 1994 and was inspired by. But Holmes, whom he came across early in his research, at first seemed 'too lurid, too over-the-top bad.' It was reading about the Chicago World’s Fair that hooked Larson and helped him write a book that hooks readers with its twin stories of amazing civic goodwill and a slew of murders. 'The two together really did seem to tell a story greater than the sum of their parts,' he said." |
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| by Lev Raphael | Lev Raphael is the mysteries columnist for the Detroit Free Press and prize-winning author of 14 books including the critically acclaimed Nick Hoffman series, Let’s Get Criminal, The Edith Wharton Murders, The Death of a Constant Lover, Little Miss Evil, and Burning Down the House. His latest novel is The German Money. | |||
| The
Devil in the White City, a Review |
"I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing...I was born with the Evil One standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since." Dr. H. H. Holmes, confession, 1896 ... A statement wrought with melodrama from a man that could be described with equal drama as the devil incarnate. | |||
| by Jennifer Jordan | Essayist Jennifer Jordan reviews Erik Larson's excellent history of architect Daniel Burnham's White City and psychopathic Dr. Holmes' deadly hotel. | |||
| Death’s
Acre: The Book on the Body Farm a Review |
"If you’ve ever read Patricia Cornwell’s novel or seen gruesome footage of this place, you may (or not, depending on your nerve) be thrilled to know that there’s finally a book about that strange area in Tennessee known fondly as the Body Farm. Founder Bill Bass has at last organized his notes and teamed up with writer Jon Jefferson to present a definitive history in Death’s Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab, the Body Farm, Where the Dead Do Tell Tales." | |||
| by Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D. | Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D. has published twenty books, including The Forensic Science of CSI, teaches forensic psychology at Desales University, and writes forensic science articles for Court TV’s Crime Library. | |||
The
Unknown Darkness: |
"In 1991 when Canadian Paul Bernardo committed his first sexual homicide, he didn't have a clue that FBI behavioral profiler Gregg McCrary was among those who would be responsible for his eventual identification and prosecution. Actually, McCrary had first profiled Bernardo four years earlier when Bernardo first began his crime wave. Yet he was not caught then, and the full extent of his activities would remain unknown until after they had evolved into something much more dangerous. Then McCrary would face him again. "McCrary's new book, The Unknown Darkness, written with Dr. Katherine Ramsland, tells Bernardo's terrible tale along with many others. In these pages, McCrary plumbs the depths of darkness to identify those who commit society's worst criminal nightmares." |
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| by Albert Sproule | Albert Sproule is a former FBI Special Agent, an expert on terrorism, and an assistant professor of criminal justice at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. | |||
| The
German Money a Review |
"I
know summer is drawing to a close here because yesterday I saw my first
sulfur yellow butterfly—an unmistakable sign—and also because
lately people have been seeking advice on choosing books for their book
groups. Many book clubs take the summer off, and return tanned and energized
and with the kids in school, in September.
"I am careful about the books that I recommend to reading groups.
It isn’t enough that the book be a "good read" (easily
enjoyed and as easily forgotten). People join book clubs for a variety
of reasons, sometimes social ones, and often because they are starved
for a decent conversation. But the conversation will only be as good
as the book ... I agree with Kafka when he says 'A book must be the
ax for the frozen sea within us,' especially when it comes to book club
reading." |
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| by Nicki Leone | Nicki Leone is manager of Bristol Books in Wilmington, NC. This review is a transcript of her recent public radio broadcast on WHQR 91.3 FM. | |||
| New
Books |
Web Mystery Magazine celebrates a rich harvest season: The Unknown Darkness: Profiling the Predators Among Us by forensic psychologist Dr. Katherine Ramsland and FBI profiler Gregg O. McCrary; The German Money by Lev Raphael; and Lucrezia Borgia and the Mother of Poisons by award-winning Roberta Gellis (whose article on historical research will appear out the Winter issue) are published this September. And that's not all! |
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| Unsolved Crimes International | "To fans of the genre, mysteries are intriguing puzzles that challenge the imagination and deductive thought processes, neat little adventures of crime, deduction, and resolution all nicely wrapped up in a paperback book or rented videotape. But to the family and friends of the victims of real life mysteries, the unanswered questions are a source of terrible pain and frustration." | |||
| by David Webb | Unsolved Crimes International was started on July 10th of this year. |
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Pulp
Magazines:
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"In the early 1800s, with printing technology improving, newspapers became a part of life across America. So did fiction publications such as the so-called story papers and magazine libraries – the dime novels. From 1830 to about 1920, the dime novels were the mass market paperbacks of the day." |
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| Gold
Seal Detective Magazine June 1936 cover art |
"Although not a popular title at the time, Gold Seal Detective is rare today and is highly sought after." The cover of the June 1936 issue promises "Smashing Stories of American Crime-Busters" as well as lurid sex and mayhem. | |||
| by Virginia E. Johnson | By publishing their magazines (Behind the Mask & Action Adventure Stories, Detective Mystery Stories, and Echoes), pulp historians Virginia E. Johnson and her husband Tom over the last 20 years have shone new light on countless "lost" stories from the pulp heyday. | |||
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| Funny
Bones: |
"I’ve thrown a few books in my day, but never at the author. And not at these authors, in particular. Their books go beyond entertainment. They can coax you away from a vexing day and, in many cases, teach you something about the big bad world to boot. ... So, I say to these authors: 'Thanks!'" | |||
| by Jennifer Jordan | Jennifer Jordan talked early and walked late. And nothing has changed. A voracious reader and a prolific writer, her personal interviews with authors give Ms. Jordan's readers the inside scoop. | |||
| Invitation
to Participate in a Survey of Mystery-Readers' Personality-Types |
"What type of person loves
to curl up with a cozy? Or walk through a police procedural? Or analyze
true-crime? Or delve into the depths of noir? Or match wits with
a Golden Age detective? Take part in this informal survey of personality
type and genre, and let's find out.
"No, it's not terribly scientific ... but it's fun ... and the information you share with Rosalie will be used for nothing more than to try to figure out what the readers of the Web Mystery Magazine enjoy reading." |
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| by Editor | Rosalie Stafford, Editor of Web Mystery Magazine, teaches writing in San Diego. | |||
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Winter
2003 |
The next issue of Web Mystery Magazine will bring you articles on historical research techniques by writers such as award-winning novelist Roberta Gellis and renowned forensics psychologist Dr. Katherine Ramsland, reviews of historical novels, and other delights! |
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"Oh! What a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott
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Web Mystery Magazine (ISSN:
1547-9609) is an on-line quarterly journal dedicated to investigating the mysterious genre in print, in film, and in real-life. Web Mystery Magazine welcomes well-researched, well-written articles, reviews, and mystery fiction. Writers are invited to send comments and inquiries to editor@lifeloom.com. Copyright 2003-2005, lifeloom.com |