| "Oh!
What a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott |
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Web
Mystery Magazine, Fall 2004: Volume II, Issue 3 |
| Welcome
to Fall 2004: Volume II, Issue #2 |
"Web Mystery Magazine is extremely proud to present this issue ... with in-depth articles on the 18th century trial of Admiral Byng and the 20th century Scopes Monkey Trial by historians Karen G. Whitehurst and Carole Shmurak, regular columns by forensics professor Dr. Anil Aggrawal, private investigator Ann Flaherty, Unsolved Crimes International Organization, and pulp-historian Virginia E. Johnson, as well as articles on the Charles Manson case and the Martha Moxley case. And, for a change of pace, computer expert Jo G. Meador reviews Dan Brown's rollicking Digital Fortress. "Web Mystery Magazine celebrates good research and good writing!" |
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| by Rosalie Stafford | The editor of Web Mystery Magazine teaches writing in San Diego. | |||
| Dr.
Anil Aggrawal's Forensic Files |
"Very few people know that just like fingerprints, even lip prints can be instrumental in identifying a person positively. Stand before a mirror and look at your lips carefully. You would find that they present several fissures and some other criss-cross lines. You may be surprised to know that these fissures and criss-cross lines are different in different people and at many times can form a very good basis of identification. "More adventurous readers can do an interesting experiment..." |
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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. | |||
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A Man more Sinned against than Sinning: The Trial and Execution of Admiral the Honourable John Byng Part I |
"Article XII of the 1749 Articles of War read as follows:
"Under this provision of the Articles, Admiral the Honourable John Byng, having been convicted of failing “to do his utmost to relieve St. Philip's Castle, in the Island of Minorca , then besieged by the Forces of the French King. . . [of failing] to do his utmost to take, seize, and destroy, the Ships of the French King. . . [of failing] and to assist such of His Majesty's Ships as were engaged in Fight with French Ships. . .” (“Defence” 39), met his death on board HMS Monarch at noon on 14 March 1757." |
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| by Karen G. Whitehurst | Karen G. Whitehurst holds a history Ph.D. from the University of Virginia; her area of expertise is early modern Britain -- 15th to 18th centuries. While much of her scholarly work deals with the religious and political machinations of the early English Reformation (1520s-1550s), her current work focuses on the 18th century, the setting for her fictional character Richard Eden, earl of Avon and lord lieutenant of a West Midlands county. | |||
| The
State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes: The "Monkey Trial" and the Movie |
"Why
was the Scopes trial important enough to be considered The Trial of
the Century? Because it exposed many Americans to the deep cultural
divide between science and faith, modernism and traditionalism, the city
and the country. And it revealed these conflicting facets of America to
unprecedented numbers of Americans in the form of a mesmerizing drama
that entered their living rooms through the new miracle of radio. The
Scopes Trial also produced what the New York Times called "the most
amazing courtroom scene in Anglo-American history," the calling of
prosecutor William Jennings Bryan to the stand by defense attorney Clarence
Darrow for examination on the question whether every story in the Bible
was literally true. "Yet fundamentalist attacks on evolution in the biology curriculum continue to this day, so what exactly did the Scopes Trial accomplish? And what really happened in that courtroom in Dayton, Tennessee? There are many ironies connected with the Scopes trial, most of which are ignored by the textbooks. If, like me, you first learned about the Scopes trial from a typical history textbook or from the movie Inherit the Wind (1960), you may be surprised by some of the actual facts." |
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| by Carole Shmurak | Dr. Carole B. Shmurak is Professor Emeritus at Central Connecticut State University, where she still teaches a course in the history and philosophy of education. A chemistry and biology teacher for 20 years prior to coming to CCSU, Dr. Shmurak is author of eight books, including the newly released mystery Deadmistress, featuring professor/sleuth Susan Lombardi, and she has just completed the second Lombardi mystery, Death by Committee. | |||
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| The Bizarre Trial of Mass Murderer Charles Manson |
"Although the O. J. Simpson case ranked as the number one Trial of the Century in an NBC poll conducted at the close of the millenium, the designation of most unusual and bizarre would have to go to the 1970-71 trial of mass murderer Charles Manson and members of his nomadic hippie Family. The case spawned the top-selling true-crime book in publishing history, Helter Skelter." | |||
| by Chester D. Campbell | A former newspaper reporter, magazine editor, advertising copywriter, PR professional, and trade association executive, Chester D. Campbell is the author of two books in the Greg McKenzie mystery series: Secret of the Scroll and Designed to Kill. A third, Deadly Illusions, will be released in March 2005. |
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| Ann
Flaherty, P.I., On The Case: Elder Abuse |
"The year was 1994 and I had just begun working for The Rat Dog Dick Detective Agency. The owner, Fay Faron, had been investigating, for the past year, an alleged murder-for-profit scheme involving several elderly men in San Francisco. The main suspects were all part of a Gypsy family. As word of this unusual type of crime spread through the media, our agency became inundated with cases of financial elder abuse. I was thrown into this an area of investigation, learning everything and anything I could about crimes being perpetrated against the elderly..." | |||
| by Ann Flaherty, P.I. | Ann Flaherty, a licensed private investigator in the state of California with over 25 years' experience in the investigative field, is the owner of the R.D.D. Detective Agency and is a noted authority on missing persons, fraud, scams, and elder abuse. Her investigative expertise is sought after and highly respected. | |||
| Defrosting
a Cold Case: How Author Dominick Dunne Helped Catch a Killer |
"Sometimes murders go unsolved. Sometimes there are no suspects. Sometimes there is a suspect, but not enough evidence to pin a charge on him or her. "Belle Haven is an exclusive, gated community, where people belonged to country clubs and yacht clubs. In murder mystery books it might make an intriguing setting for a murder, but in real-life murder just is not supposed to happen here. And when it did, it went unsolved for nearly twenty-five years." |
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| by Courtney Mroch | A member of Mystery Writers of America and the Short Mystery Fiction Society, Courtney Mroch's award-winning short stories have appeared in numerous zines. | |||
| UnsolvedCrimes Casebook of Unsolved Crimes International Organization |
"Elizabeth Falco had a hard life but faced it with determination and a positive outlook. So when she disappeared in September of 1990 it caused quite a bit of speculation. "Some thought she'd left town to follow the Grateful Dead. She was devoted to the band and had attended two concerts the week she disappeared. Others thought she had gone to New Jersey There were even people who thought she had gone to Italy. Joanne Falco, her mother, knew something was wrong. She knew that her daughter was not missing because she wanted to be." |
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| by David Webb | Unsolved Crimes International is dedicated to publicizing unsolved cases. Victims' photos and their case details will remain for public view on the organization's website as long as their cases remain unsolved. | |||
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| An Inside View | "When I was a full-time prison chaplain with the Florida Department of Corrections, the assistant warden of programs and I were summoned to the regional office for a meeting with the director—something that happened only twice during my seven years with the department.... And when he told us [why], I was stunned." |
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| by Michael Lister | Before becoming a full-time writer in 2000, Michael Lister served seven years as a chaplain in the Florida Department of Corrections. His prison chaplaincy brings realism to his mystery series (Power in the Blood, and Blood of the Lamb) featuring ex-cop turned prison chaplain, John Jordan. | |||
| Execution of the Innocent |
"At first glance it may appear that this is no place for a discussion on executions. After all, where is the mystery or the uncertainty in that? These people committed a capital crime and paid the due penalty of the law. No matter what your thoughts are on capital punishment, there is still no conundrum here. "Yet I argue that there is much mystery in the stories behind the 865 people executed in the United Kingdom during the twentieth century and it is the research that tells the truth." | |||
| by John J. Eddleston | John J. Eddleston is author of The Encyclopaedia of Executions, an analysis of 865 death sentences; he has concluded that around 100 of those sentenced were in fact innocent. | |||
| Best
Detective Magazine December 1947 |
"Best
Detective was published for one issue in December 1947 by
Exclusive Detective Stories, Inc., a late-comer to the pulp houses, and
one that did not survive for long. Little is known about the company.
"The cover for this lone issue of Best Detective is top-notch, as are the stories. Unfortunately, the pulps were already dying at this point, and the paperback novels were taking over. Late-comers such as Exclusive Detective Stories, Inc. didn't have a chance. Their magazines are very rare today, and bring high prices when they can be found." |
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| 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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| Digital
Fortress A Review |
"Entei Tankado collapses in a plaza in Seville from an apparent heart attack. Gasping his last breath, he points to his deformed hand and the gold ring with its enigmatic numerical code. So Dan Brown opens his first published thriller, Digital Fortress. Here we find the seeds of what will be vintage Brown: the clock is set on page one, the central character is knocked off with flair in the first scene, raising the question that drives the remaining 350 pages of plot: What is the meaning of the ring’s code? "Meanwhile at headquarters of the National Security Agency just outside Washington DC, Commander Trevor Strathmore is transfixed on the large screen revealing the inner workings of TRANSLATR, the secret code breaker that “couldn’t be built...” |
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| by Jo G. Meador | Jo G. Meador has spent 25 years in database and data resource management, working for Fortune 500 companies in the banking, telecommunications, and aerospace industries, including special projects with IBM in data administration and application development. | |||
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| New
Books |
New
books by Web Mystery Magazine contributors include
Dr. Carole B. Shmurak's Deadmistress,
Chester D. Campbell's Designed to Kill,
Courtney Mroch's Beneath the Morvan Moon,
and Michael Lister's Blood of the Lamb. See
covers, read synopses ... |
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Fall
2004 (II, 2) |
| "Oh!
What a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott |
| |
Web
Mystery Magazine, Fall 2004: Volume II, Issue 3 |
|
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 |