"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott

"Web Mystery Magazine is extremely proud to present this issue ... best-selling author P. J. Parrish (pen-name of sisters Kelly and Kristy Montee) as well as Karen Weisner (who writes the Falcon's Bend mystery series with Chris Spindler) talk about their long-distance collaborative writing techniques; Dr. Anil Aggrawal's column "Forensic Files" and Cheryl Ritzel discuss hypnosis and crime; noted forensic phychologist Dr. Katherine Ramsland revisits the century-old mystery of Belle Gunness; investigative reporter Satish Sekar takes the lid off judicial wrong-doing in England; Lisa Polisar reviews a Western with a mysterious twist, and Nicki Leone reviews a Spanish gothic mystery. Regular columns include Ann Flaherty, P.I.'s "On the Case," Unsolved Crimes International Organization "Casebook," and Virginia Johnson's notes on pulp magazine history (scholarly and fabulously lurid). Web Mystery Magazine celebrates good research and good writing!

Dr. Anil Aggrawal's Forensic Files
Making Will
under Hypnotic Trance

"It has been known for quite some time that hypnotized persons may be asked to write things which they really do not want to. However the writing under hypnotic trance differs substantially from the normal writing. It is this part of hypnotism that concerns us here...

"Coming back to our case. When the police approached me for the post-mortem of Rama Devi, I asked them what the case was, and they told me the whole story. I immediately suspected that Surendra Mohan must have somehow hypnotized Rama Devi and during the trance stage, must have dictated her to write what he desired. I demanded to see the will. The police officer was initially surprised, but when I told him that the will was the key to the whole mystery, he produced the will before me. I studied the will for two hours, and came to the conclusion that it was indeed written during a trance state. Rama Devi had been killed because later on she would have repudiated her will, knowing that she had been hoodwinked into writing a wrong will."

"Belle Sorensen Gunness, a Norwegian-American farmer, was an enigmatic figure both in life and in death. Described variously as a criminal most foul and as a generous, doting woman who was a hapless victim, her fate was the central factor of a sensational trial during the early 1900s. One newspaper called it the most famous trial in history ...

"Public interest ran high, as newspapers increased both their circulation and the amount of space they devoted to the grisly tale. Thousands of tourists came from miles away to view the farm and catch sight of the bodies or parts, still held on the property. People whose loved ones were missing were especially interested, and soon most of the remains were identified via circumstantial evidence.

"Strangely, the debates over Belle’s fate aligned according to political affiliations, with Republicans believing that Belle was dead and Democrats insisting that she had faked her death and gotten away. The corpse in the burned building, they said, was likely a woman she had hired as a housekeeper. In the ruins were found a partially burned book about anatomy and one on hypnosis. When poison was found in the bodies, the Democrats considered this proof for their side — but that, too, was contested..."

Here Dr. Ramsland discusses the strange case of Belle Gunness, who placed matrimonial ads in various papers to lure men with money — many of whom disappeared. That is, until they were found buried on her farm.

"In February 1996, more than six years after the controversial convictions, the first appeal of Gary Mills and Tony Poole was heard. The appeal judges – headed by Lord Justice Otton – were distinctly unimpressed by the delay in bringing the case to them. By now the statements gathered by both the Hedges and Claridge Inquiries had been disclosed following a decision by the Law Lords in 1994, but the investigating officers’ reports were still subject to Public Interest Immunity (PII). This was to become a festering sore that still has not been resolved in this case even though such reports became disclosable from April 2004, when the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) took over from the discredited Police Complaints Authority (PCA). The statements of Juke were also disclosed."

"The dawn paints the sky with the glimmer of pink. It’s not yet six a.m. but you know the time to quit is near. And you are ready to stop for a while. The last few precious hours have been exhausting, but they are hours well spent.

"They are private hours, spent totally alone with your second family. Those strange, lovable, but sometimes dangerous individuals who call to you in the dark of the night, tap you on the shoulder in the middle of your favorite television show, or interrupt your day job with their incessant whispers. Their daily lives are always in turmoil, filled with a melodrama of good versus evil. They are some of the most important people in your life, and you are the most important one in their lives, for without you, they would be nothing. Their very existence is dependent upon only a few taps on a computer keyboard."

"The most difficult of cases to investigate involve the premature or unexpected death of a loved one. Family or friends of the deceased come to our agency because there is this nagging feeling that something is wrong. These cases are wrought with emotion and it is important to remain subjective yet sympathetic."

Ann Flaherty, a licensed private investigator in the state of California with over 25 years' experience in the investigative field, is the owner of the R.D.D. Detective Agency and is a noted authority on missing persons, fraud, scams, and elder abuse. Her investigative expertise is sought after and highly respected.

"Fiction House got its start in the 1920's. By the 1930s, Fiction House had entered the detective genre."

"Jennifer Lynn Olson was a small town girl making good, an attractive, petite blond from Montana who had found a position as a television reporter in Abilene, Texas. With her smarts, her drive, and her talent, everyone from her professors to her coworkers knew she was going far. But on September 16, 2002, person or persons unknown would put a brutal end to a good person and a promising career.'"

"The Shadow of the Wind is to all appearances as gothic a story as it gets; ancient crumbling Spanish villas are cursed by ghosts of heathen priestess and inhabited by beautiful, but blind, women in white. Hidden family crypts are discovered behind hastily bricked up walls. Sinister figures follow Daniel as he traces his way through the life of Julian Carax, always on the edge of his vision. Tragic women, desperate love affairs, and the ever-present threat of some otherworldly form of justice—or perhaps I should say retribution—literally swirl at Daniel’s heels where ever he goes in his obsessive quest for the truth. The symbolism, the atmosphere, and the story of several doomed lovers make the book close cousins with anything ever written by Edgar Allen Poe or Emily Bronte."

"Best-selling author Scott Phillips' latest release, Cottonwood, is a traditional western - with a mysterious twist.

"There are two kinds of Westerns. The lighter version, a Riders of the Purple Sage variety, is a sort of romantic suspense woven into the dusty backdrop of the Old West. These stories are as much a part of vintage Americana as The Green Lantern and the Red Ryder B.B. gun. And like other relics from this lost age, these stories come complete with rough riders, pretty young girls, and a happy ending. Then there's a darker version of Westerns, such as the world Sam Peckinpah envisioned in his groundbreaking film, The Wild Bunch.

"This is the world of Scott Phillips' Cottonwood, a darker Western caught up a tangle of prairie shadows."

New Books
by Web Mystery Magazine Writers

New books by Web Mystery Magazine contributors include Island of Bones by P.J. Parrish; Knee Deep by Lisa Polisar; The Unknown Darkness: Profiling the Predators Among Us by Dr. Katherine Ramsland; Beginner's Luck by Cheryl Ritzel; and Degrees of Separation by Karen Wiesner and Chris Spindler.

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"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott