With winter showing no signs of letting up in New England, seems a good time to stay inside by the fire with a few good blogs and web sites to read.  Here are some you may enjoy which include Victoriana, fictional and true crime. It’s hard to narrow it down to just ten, but here’s ten good ones you might have missed.  Hours of reading- pack a lunch!

  1. Murder by Gaslight  http://murderbygasslight.blogspot.com/

2. Clews- historic true crime  http://laurajames.typepad.com/

3. Anne Perry - Detective Pitt in Victorian England, and other great series  http://www.anneperry.net/

4. 1893 Columbian Expo in Chicago  http://columbus.gl.iit.edu/

5. Victorian Station- all things Victorian  http://www.victorianstation.com/home2.html

6. Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes (ASH)  http://www.ash-nyc.com/AboutASH.htm

7. Victoriana- free online magazine, great articles and links http://www.victoriana.com/site_map.htm

8.  Historic New England Homes and events http://www.historicnewengland.org/

9.  Victorian Society in America - lectures, events, tours, classes http://www.victoriansociety.org/

10.  Jack the Ripper http://www.casebook.org/

The pansies are blooming, the grass is greening, and the Borden house is getting a new lick of paint this week.  The Travel Channel returns next week to film a new -for-autumn bed and breakfast program, and April 15th will see the Return of the Mutton Eaters, the armchair Bordenian sleuths who gather once a year to chase the cold trail of the 1892 crime.  This year the group will have the annual banquet at the Quequechan Club on North Main since the old Abbey Grille is no more. 

The pace will be hectic with many venues to visit and the  focus this year set on Fall River and Swansea.  Experiments in the house, presentation of new information found over the year , and special guests are part of the annual endeavors.  April will be a very bizzie Lizzie month.

April 16-18 has been selected for the dates of the next Mutton Eaters assembly at the Borden house in Fall River. The group, begun in 1993, is a coterie of armchair sleuths who enjoy researching famous crime cases, with a focus on the Borden case.  Annual awards are handed out for different achievements ranging from best new case discovery to best performance as a Borden -related character in a dramatic production.  Side trips to places involved in the Borden case, and other Victorian venues are a highlight of the weekend as well as an annual banquet and presentation of research projects by individuals .

This year Taunton , where Lizzie was in jail for 10 months is the city focus as well as an indepth tour of Oak Grove Cemetery, St. Patrick’s, and Old North where many connected to the case are buried.  Remaining homes in the city where those involved in the case resided will also be part of a Fall River City Tour on Saturday.  The first ever Hyman Lubinsky Ice Cream Social will be held on Saturday evening.  Mr. Lubinsky, whose grave was recently discovered, was an ice cream vendor who testified to seeing a woman come from the barn on the day of the murders in 1892.  His testimony was eagerly embraced by the defense.  For more about the Mutton Eaters, please visit their web site at http://secondstreetirregulars.org/

Those who follow the dark side of Victoriana, murder, mystery and mayhem might consider attending some of the events marking Poe’s 200th birthday.  Although Mr. Poe’s actual birthday on January 19th has just passed, there will be many events year long.  Visit the link  to see what’s in store for 2009 – just imagine what Poe might have made of the Borden story! http://www.nevermore2009.com/

The fifth biennial U.S. conference on Jack the Ripper will take place October 10-12th in Knoxville, Tennessee.  It will be held at the Four Points by Sheraton Knoxville Cumberland House Hotel, which is immediately adjacent to the World’s Fair Park and its distinctive Sunsphere and less than an hour’s drive from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For more information please visit the website at http://www.ripperology.com/conference/where.html

The Salem local papers announced this morning the date of the long-awaited Lizzie Borden Museum -August 4th, the date of the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden in Fall River. According to Leonard Pickel, the designer of the exhibit “This is going to be very much like a museum. More like the Peabody Essex than the witch museums. Don’t expect to come and be entertained, but come to learn something about the true story of Lizzie Borden.”

It should be interesting to see how the Salem Witch venue will succeed with a Fall River legend.

http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_207000848.html