Death at the Selig Studios

May 7, 2018
McNamara’s seventh historical featuring university lecturer Emily Cabot (after 2016’s Death at the Paris Exposition) combines a well-crafted plot with fascinating period detail. The year is 1909, and Chicago is establishing itself as the center of the U.S. film industry. Word of a shooting death at the Selig Polyscope Company, producer of films for nickelodeons, reaches Emily and Det. Henry Whitbread of the Chicago PD. Alden Cabot, Emily’s newspaper reporter brother, has been found bending over the body. Emily and Henry head for the scene, where she receives a shock that’s perhaps even more disturbing than Alden’s possible involvement in a murder: his eagerly embraced new career as a scenario writer for nickelodeons, which, in Emily’s opinion, are merely “cheap amusements” for the uneducated. As Emily digs deeper in an effort to save Alden, who protests his innocence, she also discovers more about film censorship, movieland magic, and rapacious Thomas Edison. Historical figures such as Tom Mix and Bronco Billy move easily among the strong fictional cast. This is a must for film buffs, as well as those simply looking for a cracking good mystery.