tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post8348698287265270034..comments2024-03-18T11:01:42.459-05:00Comments on Pretty Sinister Books: FFB: The Hex Murder - Forrester HazardJ F Norrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-12459006476507054252016-10-09T14:59:11.393-05:002016-10-09T14:59:11.393-05:00Hey, go for it! In a month or so I'm hoping t...Hey, go for it! In a month or so I'm hoping to be able to announce something similar myself (he teased)...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-35663451814084134312016-10-09T14:05:26.776-05:002016-10-09T14:05:26.776-05:00I discovered a nephew of the author in a serendipi...I discovered a nephew of the author in a serendipitous Google search. I'm now seriously looking into getting this reprinted. If all goes well it will be the inaugural book for a long wished for enterprise.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-67500118839610426362016-10-09T11:14:38.168-05:002016-10-09T11:14:38.168-05:00You sold me on this with the denouement revolving ...You sold me on this with the denouement revolving around sheep-herding...anything that original and justified, I am in! I shall join the rest of the people here in fervently hoping I stumble across this at some point...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-86161866226680782542016-10-08T17:21:51.958-05:002016-10-08T17:21:51.958-05:00Another winning review, John. But as usual, good l...Another winning review, John. But as usual, good luck finding the book. Ha! I LOVE the alibi by sheep thing. Great cover too. Well, bloody good. Yvettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08919246184376538331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-90295829192389704792016-10-08T12:42:42.708-05:002016-10-08T12:42:42.708-05:00This is one of the most positive, enthusiastic rev...This is one of the most positive, enthusiastic reviews you've written in a long while, so of course many of us who read it want to also read the book, but won't because of scarcity. Too bad, because you sell this one to a "T". Honestly, I wouldn't know a hex sign if it bit me on the toe, so your illustration was helpful, though if the murderer took the time to make that intricate design he/she was sure in no hurry!<br /><br />I have seen similar designs on quilts.Rick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07978136287154214297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-7641793437685831532016-10-07T20:42:17.711-05:002016-10-07T20:42:17.711-05:00In my mother's house they served scrapple and ...In my mother's house they served scrapple and shoofly pie. My mother wouldn't touch scrapple, but her grandmother ate it regularly. My mother's favorite dessert was Montgomery Pie as I recollect. The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-35717828846713146042016-10-07T20:34:27.453-05:002016-10-07T20:34:27.453-05:00Shoo fly pie came the American South? Can't be...Shoo fly pie came the American South? Can't believe that. My family travelled all over the south on vacations when I was a kid (Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia) and I never heard of it until I set foot in Lancaster.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-41502157751325389832016-10-07T20:26:50.246-05:002016-10-07T20:26:50.246-05:00Though snickerdoodles, scrapple, and shoo fly pie ...Though snickerdoodles, scrapple, and shoo fly pie are all kinda widespread Mid-Atlantic things anyway, even if scrapple tacks northward, shoo fly southern...glad you were able to post this!Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-49028792882843080202016-10-07T14:04:35.960-05:002016-10-07T14:04:35.960-05:00That is indeed very cool. My maternal grandmother ...That is indeed very cool. My maternal grandmother used to like calling herself a gypsy because her parents came from Bohemia which we think was Czechoslovakia...or Romania. Never really verified that. She did a good job of convincing my five-year self that she could tell the future. When I was older and knew better than to be fooled by her tricks she often impressed me with her intuitive skills. Maybe she really did have some kind of "gypsy gift"!J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-87055934476268652112016-10-07T13:46:38.934-05:002016-10-07T13:46:38.934-05:00Had to add some charge to the tablet, but, anyway,...Had to add some charge to the tablet, but, anyway, my mother's grandmother was considered a powwow woman because of her knowledge about herbal healing, which I always thought was pretty cool. She died a couple of years after this book was published. The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-86556502226554435032016-10-07T13:33:36.866-05:002016-10-07T13:33:36.866-05:00I am descended from Yoders, along with myriad Germ...I am descended from Yoders, along with myriad German lines. My mother had only one English great grandparent, everyone else was German descent. In fact even the English one was half German.<br /><br />Used to love visiting the family home and, yeah, I went in for those hexes when a kid back in the 1970s. The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-76892706609090354352016-10-07T13:21:14.997-05:002016-10-07T13:21:14.997-05:00Wow! And I always thought those ads for the "...Wow! And I always thought those ads for the "In Preparation" title of <i>The Powwow Murder Case</i> would incorporate Native American mythology. Makes sense it would be modeled after the Rehmeyer case. Horrible story. Beaten to death, house set on fire, two teenage boys enlisted as accomplices. Perfect fodder for tabloid newspapers and lurid crime fiction.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-48851583913948431272016-10-07T13:14:40.875-05:002016-10-07T13:14:40.875-05:00So you must be familiar with snickerdoodles, scrap...So you must be familiar with snickerdoodles, scrapple, and shoo fly pie, right? I went to college in Allentown which oddly had a small population of "Dutchies" though it's far away from what I think of as the heart of Penn Dutch country. I still remember a security guard on our campus named Dalton Stonebeck who had the thickest Dutchie accent I've ever heard. One of our favorite Allentown hangouts was a Pennsylvania Dutch diner called Yoder's.<br /><br />Back in the late 1970s my family took a vacation to Lancaster County and I loved it. My father kept making rude jokes about Intercourse, PA that made all of us laugh and had my mother in a furor. I lapped up all the hex sign lore and I bought a couple of the mass produced replicas sold in the tourist shops. I had one with a distelfink motif hanging in my bedroom all throughout high school. Wish I sill had it. Have no idea where it went to.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-52778066378926090382016-10-07T13:01:55.209-05:002016-10-07T13:01:55.209-05:00By the way, my mother's family is Pennsylvania...By the way, my mother's family is Pennsylvania Dutch and the whole hex thing definitely bemused me as a kid!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-42402245681922803532016-10-07T13:00:11.023-05:002016-10-07T13:00:11.023-05:00Whoops, I see you mentioned the true life case in ...Whoops, I see you mentioned the true life case in a comment at the same time I was posting. Yup!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-18115278162542500852016-10-07T12:58:34.115-05:002016-10-07T12:58:34.115-05:00Nice piece, John. There was a notorious murder ca...Nice piece, John. There was a notorious murder case in PA a few years before this book was published that I imagine was an influence. I believe that Van Dine's next book after the uninspired Winter Murder Case was supposed to be The Powwow Murder Case. I think that would have been an interesting one!The Passing Tramphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09830680639601570152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-91599931896641123372016-10-07T12:56:26.723-05:002016-10-07T12:56:26.723-05:00I never stop looking! I confess this is another on...I never stop looking! I confess this is another one of those rare instances where I stumbled across a photo of the DJ and had to own a copy of the book. I shelled out quite a chunk of cash for this one and it was worth every dollar. Unusual, gripping and imaginatively told. Perhaps the first ever Amish detective novel.<br /><br />As a side note: the novel may have been inspired by a notorious true crime murder that took place in York County, PA in 1928. You can a read the bare bones story at the Wikipedia page for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehmeyer%27s_Hollow" rel="nofollow">Rehmeyer's Hollow.</a> There several other stories all over the web about the Nelson Rehmeyer case as well as a couple of non-fiction books and a recent documentary film.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-81243431277833304442016-10-07T12:47:52.307-05:002016-10-07T12:47:52.307-05:00John, I enjoyed reading your insightful review of ...John, I enjoyed reading your insightful review of what is no doubt a fascinating vintage mystery. I don't recall having read mysteries with a passion for culture, at least not in recent years. I'd be extremely lucky if I found such rare books in my neck of the woods. But then, I never know what awaits me at the next book exhibition or the neighbouring old paper mart.Prashant C. Trikannadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16079354501998741758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8787364257168822822.post-17157465769690868442016-10-07T12:22:55.112-05:002016-10-07T12:22:55.112-05:00John, from where do you unearth these books? This ...John, from where do you unearth these books? This seems very different with its focus on a culture, I know practically nothing about.neerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01986509319841061021noreply@blogger.com