Jerry Drake really, really wants you to know that Hazel Drew inspired Twin Peaks.

It if were just brought up once or twice, I'd understand - but no, he mentions it CONSTANTLY. Hazel Drew, like Laura Palmer, was a "sexy blonde woman" (the phrase you're looking for there is "abused teenager," Jerry). Hazel Drew's case bears some similarities to that of Grace Brown, whose murderer wrote a letter to a woman named <i>Hazel</i> just before his execution - synchronicity! Just like in Twin Peaks! It's "eerily coincidental" that self-proclaimed psychics at the time of Hazel's death claimed to see the murder in dreams, just like Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks! Hazel's ghost led Drake to her grave via an oak tree in the cemetery, which when you think about it is kind of like something that might happen in Twin Peaks, and also the root of "Drew" is the same as the Celtic word for "oak," which means that Hazel came from a "druidic lineage," which when you think about it is the kind of thing that might come up in - say it with me now - Twin Peaks. (No it's not. Twin Peaks is full of Tibetan Buddhist mysticism, but it has no interest in druids.)

There is a subset of true crime books out there where the author is as fascinated with themself and their process as they are by the murder they're covering: I'd call it the James Renner special, but frankly, I don't want to give James Renner that much credit. Either way, that's very much the attitude on display here. In fairness, however, at least part of Drake's insistence on his own presence in the narrative is simply down to the fact that there's not much to write about Hazel herself: there's such a dearth of information on her life and death, Drake is left writing whole chapters about the layout of the hotel where she was last seen alive just to bump up the word count. He cautions against "supposition and speculation which, if we are not careful, could become irresponsible," and then immediately spins off into accusing Hazel's aunt of covering up for her murderer and getting rewarded with a rich husband. ("The D.A. and the investigators could never get a middle-aged domestic to say a damn word -" oh, okay, cool to get this glimpse into how you view middle-aged women <i>and</i> the working class.) Maybe Hazel was having a lesbian affair with Mina Jones! This suggestion comes directly before Drake looks down his nose as Will Clemens as a man who "liked to write about the deaths of pretty girls, introducing some grandiose mystery man into the mix as the murderer," a fairly rich accusation coming from a guy who's writing a book claiming that Hazel Drew was (spoilers?) murdered by the married employer who she was having an affair with, and that said murder was covered up by her aunt, the district attorney, and half a dozen railroad tycoons. The "solution" in this book is pure uncut speculation.

The murder of Hazel Drew is never going to be solved. It's been over a hundred years; witnesses are dead, evidence is gone, and the truth of the matter has long since been lost. So I don't want to come down too hard on someone for speculating; at this point, it's all we can do. But I can and will come down hard on him for writing this nonsensical ramble where he casts himself as Dale Cooper and drags a bunch of dead people through the mud so that he can play detective. Hazel Drew was not Laura Palmer, and this book isn't about either girl. It's a book about Jerry Drake.

Also: frankly, this book is really badly edited. "Presumptuous, then, to assume they were all written by men, then?" Come on.

When Hazel drew is found murdered, she not only inspired Police officers to quickly solve the case the case but she also inspired a TV show.
This is a well researched book and i found myself googling the facts.

It is also a sympathetic account and the author has drawnon emotion and personal feelings in order to make the book less dramatic.

An fascinating read.

This is a very well structured and written account which strikes the unusual balance of careful research with effective story telling. Without sacrificing any detail or potential evidence, the author paints a picture of the subject as an individual and the people around her as characters in her story. There are plenty of useful references to explore and I liked how the author wove in the odd personal story, such as the events at Hazel’s gravesite.