The Tragedy of Brinkwater

A few months back, when I was taking advantage of Newspapers.com's free-access weekend to do some genealogy research, I ran across a column of book reviews in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, 2 September 1888. Various books were described as "educational, "charming", "wholesome", etc.

And then there was The Tragedy of Brinkwater by Martha Livingstone Moodey:

"This is a murder story. A woman is accused, with the help of her son, of having murdered her step-son. The story is not a good one, nor is it very well told. Murder stories, to be good, ought to be able to harrow one's feelings—to send, so to speak, cold chills up and down one's back, and to render one altogether very uncomfortable. This story does nothing but bore one."

One-star review from 1888? Of course I had to track it down on Google Books and read it.

TL;DR: Yeah, it's bad. Which is a shame, because there's a potentially good story buried in the Noble Suffering Of Virtuous People.

( summary and cast )

( the solution to the mystery )

This could have been a really fun melodramatic romp. It ended up being a compelling letdown.