Mark T. Givens

The authors here investigate a murder that occurred near Troy, New York in 1908 that caused a brief, nation-wide sensation, as it involved a beautiful young girl with a very mysterious lifestyle. Where did a housemaid get the wherewithal to have nice clothes and travel? And who were the men that sent her such mash notes? And why were certain members of her family acting in such a strange fashion? The authors do a good job at reconstructing the investigation that was undertaken by the District Attorney, albeit I believe they used the old dodge of made-up dialogue in certain sections. The authors come up with a solution that, while it is certainly plausible, is based on a great many assumptions and circumstantial evidence, and isn't completely convincing. Still, the authors do a good job of setting time and place. The foreword to the book (and for that matter, the title) links the crime to probably its greatest influence -- it was a direct inspiration for the famous "Twin Peaks" television show, since one of the creators spent time as a child in the area of the murder, and had been told stories about it.… (mehr)

In 1908 the body of the young, blonde, and beautiful Hazel Drew was found floating face down in Teal’s Pond in Sand Lake, New York. In 1990 the television drama Twin Peaks debuted with the discovery of the body of the young, blond and beautiful Laura Palmer, dead by the side of a river.

The authors of Murder at Teal’s Pond are huge fans of Twin Peaks. Bushman is a curator at the Paley Center for Media and a former editor of Variety who has written books on Twin Peaks. Givens is host of the podcast Deer Meadow Radio, which has Twin Peaks as its focus.

So, what’s the connection between the TV show and the murder at the heart of their book? It comes from Mark Frost, David Lynch’s co-creator on Twin Peaks. His maternal grandparents owned a farmhouse in Sand Lake, and his grandmother used to tell him ghost stories about the murdered girl whose body was discovered in the pond.

When Bushman heard Frost tell the story of Hazel Drew in an interview, he contacted Frost for his blessing on a book project about Drew. Frost readily agreed, and wrote the foreword to the book.

The two authors spent five years researching the story of Hazel’s murder and have produced a book that is a rewardingly deep dive into the 1908 communities of Sand Lake and Troy, New York. But the true crime story at the heart of the book is frustrating. Hazel Drew’s murder was never solved. The authors provide possible reasons why, and speculate as to who the actual murderers may have been. But over 100 years after the fact they can’t do much more than that.

I enjoyed reading this book primarily because of my interest in history. The pictures the authors paint of life in 1908 have great detail, and there are a number of photos that help you to put yourself back into that time period. It’s clear that a lot of research went into the book. If you are a history buff you’ll enjoy this book.

A drawback though is the limited scope of the story. Confined to the greater Albany area of New York, it may not appeal to a wide range of history fans.

As for everyone else? Well, true crime fans will find the history perhaps a little TOO detailed for their liking. The inconclusiveness of the real life mystery will frustrate many. From a historical perspective I appreciated that the authors didn’t try to slant the book toward their conclusion too soon. But I suspect true crime fans will hate that, and it doesn’t make for a compelling arc to the murder mystery.

In his Foreword, Frost talks about “the pervasive threat of sexual violence that women face on an everyday basis” as being the thread that ties Laura Palmer and Hazel Drew. If the authors could have found a way to put that theme more front and center in the book, it would have been a much better read.

Murder at Teal’s Pond is a Two Star ⭐⭐ read for me. I enjoyed the history in the book, but ultimately was disappointed at the inconclusiveness of the main story.… (mehr)

This is the cold case that inspired Twin Peaks, as one of the creators was often in the area as a child and grew up hearing hazy accounts of the mysterious murder of a beautiful young woman at the nearby pond.
In 1908, twenty year-old Hazel Drew was found floating in a small pond near Troy, New York. She was a local girl who had grown up in the smaller towns outside Troy and worked as a domestic servant to several well-connected families. Her body had been in the water for several days before being found, making the determination of cause of death difficult. Strangely, her family hadn't reported her missing even though she hadn't been seen in many days. She had quit a good job and had been spotted taking various trains and walking about the pond alone on what must have been her last day alive, which set detectives and the press trying to puzzle out how this local girl from a poor family could have so many social connections that her family and even her best friend were unaware of, and how she could afford expensive clothes and vacations on a servant's salary. The authors follow-up the facts of the case and inquest with their own theories of what happened to Hazel Drew.
Because Drew's death was a major story at the time, there is quite a bit of information from newspapers of her day, along with city records. And because of the connections of many of the men involved in investigating her death, and Drew's attractiveness, her story received a lot of attention.
Personally, I don't like when authors make up conversations and actions in order to make history seem alive, and that's what happens here at times, with the tone switching between the style of reporting facts and then becoming obvious fiction, such as conversations between detectives that no one would be privy to, but maybe that's just my quibble.
Interesting case.… (mehr)