Florence Kinrade: Lizzie Borden of the North

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By Frank Jones

A Great and Little-Known Canadian Murder Mystery!

In 1909, Florence Kinrade is, by all appearances, the dutiful daughter of a wealthy Hamilton, Ontario land-owner, engaged to the parson’s son. Intriguingly, she also leads a double life as a vaudeville showgirl in Richmond, Virginia. Holding many parallels with Lizzie Borden, another famous mystery involving a family murder and an inscrutable young woman, Florence becomes the central figure in a gruesome crime—the murder of her sister, Ethel. By digging deeply into contemporary accounts and the testimony from Florence’s high-profile court inquest, Frank Jones’ masterful narrative details the challenges of an upper-class woman seeking a showbiz career, reveals the racism and the little-known “tramp menace” feared by people of the era, and exposes Florence’s mental diagnosis by a famous psychiatrist. Florence’s adventures span the Canadian cities of Hamilton, Toronto, Calgary, and Lethbridge, Alberta, as well as the American locales of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Richmond, Virginia. In the book, we discover, for the first time, the secrets of Florence’s inner life, suppressed emotions, and romantic escapades.

Keywords: Murder, True Crime, Canada, Vaudeville

What they say

“A real whodunit by a masterful crime writer who tells it like no other.”
—MARK McNEIL, The Hamilton Spectator


“... will grip readers. Whether he is writing about the popularity of vaudeville theatre, the evolution of forensic psychiatry, or the Kinrade family’s deceits and delusions, Jones’ pace never flags.”
— CHARLOTTE GRAY, The Massey Murder


“Frank Jones has always had a knack for finding the quirkiest and most interesting true crime tales, and relating them with the skill you’d expect from a lifelong, first rate journalist, and this latest is no exception.”
— LINWOOD BARCLAY, A Noise Downstairs

Info about the book

DURVILE Imprint of Durvile Publications

TRU010000 TRUE CRIME / Historical
Book Five in the True Cases Series
6.25” x 9” | 272 pages
ISBN 978-1-988824-35-2 (Trade Paperback) |
E-book 9780995232280 | Audio 9781988824314
Price: $29.95 in Canada, $24.95 in US
Book release date, May 31, 2019

Individuals: Ask your bookseller or buy online.
Booksellers: Order through University of Toronto (UTP)  

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