Unsolved!: Classic True Murder Cases

This collection includes reprints from American and British books and newspapers, the earliest dated 1924, the latest 1968. American crime writer Edmund Pearson, we see here, was among the first to theorize on Lizzie Borden's guilt or innocence, 67 years ago. The following decades saw differing versions published on many other crimes, for example Julian Symons's stylish investigation into the murder of Canadian millionaire Sir Harry Oakes in Nassau in 1943. Readers will agree with critics who praise the late Dorothy L. Sayers for meticulously balancing evidence for and against Harry Wallace, the logical suspect but declared innocent of killing his wife Julia in England in 1931. For mystery buffs who haven't already read these pieces by, among others, Colin Wilson, Alexander Woollcott, Elizabeth Jenkins, the book is a find. Illustrations not seen by PW. (May 15)