The Trial of Lizzie Borden: A True Story
Simon & Schuster, 2019

Excerpt: Abby was acutely aware of her stepdaughters’ feelings, but it was not until April 2, 1892, two days before her death, that she considered them life-threatening. Despite the oppressive heat of summer, the Bordens ate leftover swordfish. That evening, the elder Bordens spent a nauseated, sleepless night and Bridget and Lizzie experienced a milder form of the same malady. Emma was not at home; she had been away for nearly two weeks visiting friends in Fairhaven. Though such incidents were common in Fall River—they were colloquially known as “the summer complaint”—Abby did not view her distress as typical. Instead, on the following morning, she went across the street to her doctor’s house and confided that she thought she had been poisoned. Learning of their fish dinner, Dr. Seabury Bowen was not alarmed, but he did accompany Abby back across the street to examine Andrew, who refused his medical expertise. In fact, the Borden patriarch stood angrily on the threshold, blocking Dr. Bowen’s entrance and shouting that he would not pay the doctor for the visit.

The subject might have remained closed, but the household—with the exception of Lizzie—fell ill again that evening after a meal of mutton stew. The prosecutor would later argue that the happenstance of food poisoning “was an illness suggestive of an opportunity to a person desiring to procure the deaths of one or other of those people.” The same evening, Lizzie paid a call on her friend and former neighbor Alice Russell and confided her fears. She believed the milk had been poisoned and alluded to the nebulous threats against her father by unnamed men. Alice Russell was a sensible woman and she pointed out the absurdity in Lizzie’s fears. Despite Miss Russell’s reassurance, Lizzie spoke of her uneasiness and sense of foreboding, remarking, “I feel as if something was hanging over me that I cannot throw off, and it comes over me at times, no matter where I am.” She added, “I don’t know but somebody will do something.”

Praise: “A fascinating and definitive account of the notorious trial of Lizzie Borden, the woman accused of the brutal murder of her father and her stepmother. Beautifully written and rich in detail, The Trial of Lizzie Borden sheds new light not only on the trial itself but also on the setting, the period, and, in a sense, on the American soul at the end of the nineteenth century.”
—Lawrence M. Friedman, Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law, Stanford University

“Robertson presents the story with the thoroughness one expects from an attorney. … Fans of crime novels will love it.”
—Kirkus Review