Ten Years of The Bunburyist.

Elizabeth Foxwell in an investigative mode.

It's hard to believe that 10 years ago today, I clicked the "Publish" button, and this blog began. I thought a blog could provide visitors with a way to learn about the contents of Clues: A Journal of Detection; read about neglected mystery works; and find links to interesting aspects involving the history of mystery, detective, and crime fiction—especially vintage audio and video. Although I tend not to receive a lot of comments, people seem to like what they see. Statistics indicate that the blog receives more than 5000 hits a month and has 59 loyal followers.

Sadly I have needed to reduce the number of posts per month because of my publishing and job commitments, as well as the work entailed for my new blog on American women in World War I.

The following are the top 10 posts of The Bunburyist based on views. Do you have other favorites?

The Top 10 Posts on The Bunburyist, 2005–15:

10. "Fri Forgotten Books: Charlotte Armstrong's The Chocolate Cobweb (1948)"

9. "Clues 31.2: Collins, Harvey, Highsmith, Parker, South African and Spanish crime fiction"

8. "Cornerstone: The Horizontal Man, by Helen Eustis"

7. "Fri Forgotten Books: The Mystery of Central Park, by Nellie Bly (1889)." After I posted about this rare book and mentioned it on a women's studies listserve, the Library of Congress digitized its copy and made it available via the Internet Archive.

6. "A Jury of Her Peers" (on the first U.S. female jurors)

5. "Dr. Barbara Mertz, Trailblazer"

4. "The Dude Abides: The Big Lebowski and The Big Sleep"

3.  "Cornerstone: Re-Enter Sir John (1932)"

2. "'The Grave Grass Quivers,' by MacKinlay Kantor (1931)"

1. "Dozen Best Detective Stories Ever Written"

Foxwell on American women in World War I.

Over on Ed Gorman's blog I discuss my new collection In Their Own Words: American Women in World War I, describing its background, mentioning some of the women featured in it, and discussing their varied roles in the war. As I explain, "I set out to collect first-person accounts of U.S. women that dated from the war period, wanting the immediacy and the 'I was there' point of view." Mystery fans will be pleased to find two pieces by Mary Roberts Rinehart included in the collection (publication date is September 25).

There is an additional resource: my new blog, American Women in World War I, where I cover women for whom I could not find a first-person account.

Update, Bly's The Mystery of Central Park (1889).

Cover of The Mystery of Central Park
by Nellie Bly (1889)

My earlier post on Nellie Bly's only mystery novel, The Mystery of Central Park, may have had some results. The Library of Congress informed me that it has digitized its copy of the novel, which is now available through the Internet Archive. This is excellent news, as there are only three copies in US libraries.

Fri Forgotten Books: The Mystery of Central Park, by Nellie Bly (1889).

He was questioned why he used the definite article instead of the indefinite in answering the officer's question.
—Nellie Bly, The Mystery of Central Park

In The Mystery of Central Park, lazy man-about-town Richard "Dick" Treadwell must prove his worth to prospective fiancee Penelope (and clear his name) by discovering who killed a young woman in Central Park. Dick finds that he is being followed as his investigation leads him into less savory areas of New York. Bly's interest in portraying the plight of the working class is evident in Dick's acquaintance with pretty factory worker Dido and her friends who are deprived of a living wage (a relationship not regarded with favor by Penelope).

"Penelope, with calm but serious face, kept close to the
morgue-keeper." Illustration from The Mystery of
Central Park by Nellie Bly. New York World,
19 July 1889

The modern reader will find it hard to give credence to Dick's chance discoveries of information that prove so crucial to the case, and those with even a passing acquaintance with forensics will loathe the fact that Dick is permitted to take the dead woman's clothes from the morgue (although his reason for doing so shows some logic). The portrait of the Pygmalion-like murderer has some elements of interest. The Mystery of Central Park should perhaps be regarded as a curiosity of a famed journalist's career and a continuation of her focus on progressive issues rather than as a significant contribution to the mystery literature.

Nellie Bly, ca. 1890.
Library of Congress,
Prints & Photos Div.

The intrepid Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, 1864–1922) became a reporter at age 16 and made her name as a "stunt" journalist, accomplishing a celebrated around-the-world journey in 72 days (meeting Jules Verne along the way and beating the 80 days of his character Phileas Fogg) and arranging her commitment to a mental asylum so she could write about the treatment of the mentally ill (see Ten Days in a Mad-House, 1887). The Mystery of Central Park was her sole mystery novel.

There are only three copies in U.S. libraries of the book version of The Mystery of Central Park. I found the serialized version in the New York World and have uploaded the parts as a resource for readers:

• Parts 1–4
• Parts 5–8
• Parts 9–12 

Update, 6-11-13. The Library of Congress has digitized its copy of The Mystery of Central Park (available at the Internet Archive). 

Happy birthday, Nellie Bly.

Elizabeth Cochran, better known as intrepid journalist Nellie Bly, was born today in Cochran's Mill, Pennsylvania, in 1864. Best known for beating the fictional 80-day, around-the-world trip by Jules Verne's Phileas Fogg (she did it in 72 days in 1889–90 and met Verne en route), she also managed (in 1887) to get herself committed to an insane asylum so she could write about the inhumane treatment of the mentally ill.

About the photo: Elizabeth Cochran, ca. 1890. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.