Member: normanpc

Hi, I am not sure. I read a couple of her novels in graduate school and purchased the biography for a paper I did. I actually have the biography for sale on half.com if you are interested. On half.com, I am langu03m.

posted by AngieK at 11:27 am (EST) on Jan 1, 2009

I'm a local historian in Chautauqua County, N. Y. The first unsolved murder in this county was a double murder, mother and daughter, in December, 1894. Nearly everyone else in the family and neighborhood was at the funeral of 3 family members killed in a rail accident. The papers implicated 30 or more suspects. There was nation wide publicity. There was even an attempt to extract a photograph from the victims' retinas. Anna Katharine Green lived in Buffalo much of her active life and must have heard of this. I've seen only one of her books, written well before the murder, but I wonder if she worked any of this into any of her books.

posted by normanpc at 7:17 am (EST) on Dec 31, 2008

Good luck, normanpc

I've no idea whether or not elements of that historical local murder you mention were used in "THAT AFFAIR NEXT DOOR", or any other of Mrs Rohlf's tales but, if so, the details were likely transformed out of all recognition. In my experience, the sort of correspondence that exists between, say, Poe's 'Marie Roget' story and the real-life (American) murder of Mary Rogers is actually fairly uncommon.

Hope you can find a helpful retired member of your New York State Bar Association to talk your project over with. Maybe a retired Judge or (Assistant) D. A.?

posted by AurelArkad at 4:08 pm (EST) on Dec 30, 2008

I don't know but it could be possible. There was no mention of her basing a novel on a actual murder in the introduction of the books I have. I haven't been able to find a couple of my reference books, they are still in boxes, but when I come across them I'll look.
There is a scholarly publication called CLUES. Maybe they would be a good place to ask.
bob

posted by bjbookman at 6:22 pm (EST) on Dec 28, 2008

Quite possible. Mrs Rohlfs was waaaay ahead of other mystery writers of her time and, as she was raised in a lawyer's family, legal processes and personalities had as much fascination for her as actual detection. Not sure what you'd have to do to confirm it, though. Perhaps you could start by approaching a retired member of the New York Bar with historical interests.
Good luck!

‘Aurélien Arkadiusz’

posted by AurelArkad at 4:39 am (EST) on Dec 28, 2008