Many Sides of the Law
I have been reading a lot of local true crime lately, between my work for this column, and in developing the Nanaimo Museum’s current feature exhibit, Nanaimo Mysteries. This exhibit focused on murders, a safe-cracker, Brother XII’s cult, and the supernatural. Many laws were broken in Nanaimo’s history to make the exhibit happen!
This issue’s law theme is a great opportunity to present a strong selection of books on British Columbia’s history. Diverse voices, land use, murder, and the far-reaching impacts of federal government legislation seem like scattered stories at first glance. But the impacts of the law in British Columbia—how it was made, broken, enforced, who it enfranchised, and what that meant—is an undercurrent that links these books.
We have switched up the review format for this issue and have included archival photos, a couple of short snappers, and two excerpts, one from 21 Things You Don’t Know About the Indian Act and the other courtesy of
The Ormsby Review.
What British Columbia history book are you reading right now? Post your latest read on British Columbia
History’s social media or send me an email at [email protected]
Aimee
Murder by Milkshake: An Astonishing True Story of Adultery, Arsenic, and a Charismatic Killer. By Eve Lazarus. (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018) $21.95
A man poisoned his wife so his mistress was free to take her place. Sound like a story out of Victorian England? Rene Castellani murdered his wife, Esther, with arsenic-laced milkshakes in 1960s Vancouver. And he almost got away with the crime.
Esther Castellani’s murder first caught my attention a year ago on a tour of the Vancouver Police Museum and Archives, home to the historic Coroner’s Court and autopsy facility. When I found out that Eve Lazarus, best-selling British Columbia crime about the case, I promptly added the book to my must-read list.