The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey: A Nonfiction Novel [Paperback]

Bland Simpson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1993

As compelling as fiction, The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey tells the dramatic story of the disappearance of nineteen-year-old Nell Cropsey from her riverside home in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, in November 1901. Bloodhounds, detectives, divers, and even a psychic were brought in to search for her, and the case immediately became a national sensation.

Bland Simpson, who first heard the tale as an Elizabeth City schoolboy, weaves this true story into a colorful nonfiction account, told in three first-person voices: Nell's sister Ollie; famous newspaper editor W. O. Saunders, who covered the case as a young reporter; and Jim Wilcox, Nell's beau, who was implicated in the case. Nell and Jim's romance, her disappearance, the great search, the trials, and their aftermath are artfully reconstructed from interviews, court records, and newspaper accounts.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Subtitled "a nonfiction novel," Simpson's ( The Great Dismal ) tale is based on the disappearance of 19-year-old Nell Cropsey from her Elizabeth City, N.C., home in 1901. The last person known to have seen Nell alive was her suitor Jim Wilcox: he had called on her to end their deteriorating relationship and, he said, left her crying on her father's porch. Bloodhounds tracked Nell's trail to the end of a pier on the nearby Pasquotank River, but it was weeks before her body was found floating in the water. Popular feeling convicted Jim of Nell's murder even before his trial (Nell's father refused to lead a lynch mob), and Jim served time, although he repeatedly protested his innocence and the evidence against him was circumstantial. Simpson alternates third-person narration and pastiches of town gossip with first-person narration by Wilcox, Nell's sister Ollie Cropsey and newspaperman W. O. Saunders, who covered the case. Not one of them can reveal why Simpson wrote this book. All but devoid of suspense--despite the fact that we never learn how Nell died--it has the flavor of a well-executed writing exercise on voice and storytelling, a demonstration of style for the sake of style. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

On the evening of November 20, 1901, Gibson girl Nell Cropsey, oldest daughter of a transplanted Brooklyn family, stepped out into her family's front hall in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to join her suitor Jim Wilcox--and was never seen alive again. In a kaleidoscopic examination of this celebrated case, Simpson (Writing/University of North Carolina; The Heart of the Country, 1983) reviews and renews its enduring mystery. As soon as Cropsey's body was discovered in the Pasquotank River five weeks later, suspicion fell on Wilcox, who'd never joined the search for the missing girl, and he was convicted of murder (narrowly escaping a lynch mob) and served 16 years in prison before a pardon returned him to the town that had condemned him. But in his own voice--one of three that Simpson alternately uses to unfold the story--Jim stoutly maintains his innocence, though secretly admitting that he knows what really happened to Nell. Simpson's second narrator, Nell's sister Ollie, sees the family's whole history--from her father's unfortunate decision to take up farming in the South to the suicides of her brother and of her own caller on the fatal evening--refracted through the moment when she sent Nell out into the hall to join Jim. The third narrator, newspaper editor W.O. Saunders, after attempting for years to persuade Jim to talk to him, finally succeeds in 1934, two weeks before Jim's own suicide, but takes the secret of Jim's revelation to his grave. Simpson persuasively re-creates the decorously frenzied, boomtown atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Elizabeth City in the grip of a tabloid mystery complete with bloodhounds, anonymous tipsters, and a famous spiritualist. Don't be disappointed, though, if you never do find out who killed beautiful Nell Cropsey. (Five illustrations) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (September 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807844322
• ISBN-13: 978-0807844328
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #850,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, well-written historical murder mystery, February 22, 2000

By 

Spencer K. Stephens (Rockville, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey: A Nonfiction Novel (Hardcover)

The most interesting mysteries are those of a different generation. After Bland Simpson learned this simple lesson, he applied it, turning out an absorbing and true tale of murder, love and damning coincidence taken from the Victorian Age. The story takes place in remote Elizabeth City, N.C., and focuses upon the murder of a beautiful young woman and the possible involvement of her spurned lover. It follows the footsteps of those closest to the story and builds to a climax of uncertainty and mystery.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very well written book. Couldn't put it down., January 29, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey: A Nonfiction Novel (Paperback)

I thought this book was very well written. I just wanted to keep reading and reading. I also enjoyed the pictures and maps. Great book. It is definately one I will read again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Wondeful Haunting Story from my Adopted Hometown, October 15, 2002

By 

Gregory D. Rakes "Greg" (Elizabeth City, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey: A Nonfiction Novel (Paperback)

What a great and tragic story Simpson tells! Having moved to Elizabeth City three years ago, I'd heard the history and legend of the Cropsey murder, but this book brought so much life to it. Now when I jog by the old Cropsey place on Riverside, the Courthouse and Baptist Church on Main St, the bend on Road Street where Wilcox took his own life years later, Williams Circle (site of the old Fairgrounds where Nell visited the circus weeks before her death), the story is real and vivid. I also heartily recommend Simpson's "Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals". Mr. Simpson affection for the North Carolina low-country is contagious. What a treat!