I have a friend who read this book by Sarah Schmidt two or three years ago and really enjoyed it. I thought it would make a good Halloween read, so I got the audiobook from Audible and listened to it last month while doing some fall baking.
I was not as impressed by this book as I was hoping to be, although the more I think about it, the more I think I do appreciate it.
The story is told from four different perspectives: Lizzie Borden, her older sister, Emma, their maid, Bridget, and a stranger named Benjamin who specializes in “solving problems”.
Benjamin is hired by Lizzie’s Uncle John, the brother of Lizzie’s late mother, because Lizzie’s father, Andrew Borden, is “causing problems”. We see Andrew hit Lizzie, but John wasn’t there for that and it’s unclear whether he’s referring to Andrew’s violent temper or something else.
Benjamin has a history of beating up deadbeat dads, starting with his own, plus he needs the money, so he takes the job, only to get poisoned (not fatally so), pass out while hidden in the house, and miss all the action.
Benjamin is never clear on whether he would have killed Andrew if he had been given the chance. He makes it sound like he just wanted to teach Andrew a lesson, but he didn’t seem to rule out the possibility that he would end up killing him.
Killing the stepmother, Abby, was never part of the plan, so he’s perplexed when he wakes up and finds someone else has already done his job for him and killed Abby to boot. He still wants his money from John even though he never actually did anything.
Lizzie was the one to discover her father’s body in the sitting room. She alerts Bridget, who calls the police. A neighbor happens to stop by during the commotion to visit Abby. Lizzie tells her Abby has gone to visit a sick relative, but when the police arrive, the neighbor gets swept up in the commotion, including the discovery of Abby’s body in the bedroom.
Lizzie’s story doesn’t get any more straight from there. At one point she says she was in the barn, at another point she says she was in the pear arbor. Neither she nor Bridget heard anyone come into the house, which was locked.
Lizzie herself seems more like someone who’s confused than someone who’s trying to cover up a crime. She gets easily agitated when people ask her questions about the day, and gets defensive when her sister tries to get the story straight.
Her sister, Emma, was on vacation with friends at the time, and was called home as soon as the murders were discovered. She and Lizzie are both spinsters in their 30s, and while they share a very deep love, it’s also a disturbing relationship in which Lizzie controls and manipulates people and situations to her liking. In Emma’s case, it means making sure Emma can never marry so she has to stay with Lizzie.
I think Emma and Bridget were my favorite characters. I felt sorry for both of them and the different ways they found themselves trapped by two different mentally unstable women (Lizzie and Abby).
I thought the chapters written from Lizzie’s perspective were interesting as a look at someone who’s sanity is questionable at best, but I have to admit to being a little disappointed. When I pick up a book about a brutal ax murder, I want to see the brutal ax murder, even if it’s only peripherally, or vaguely. I felt like this book committed a little too hard to the idea that Lizzie may or may not have been guilty of hacking up her father and stepmother, but maybe that’s just me. I might be the only bloodthirsty one here.