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Taj Magruder
Author
In the Day of Trouble
Taj Magruder, author
On the night of March 17, 1934, in a small town in rural Pennsylvania, a man crept to a window and shot a woman through her heart. Her name was Susan Mummey, but she was better known as the Witch of Ringtown Valley. The shocking true story of her life and murder has never been told…until now. The cold-blooded shooting of a woman in her home would have been news on its own. But the victim who lay on her sitting room floor wasn’t just any woman. For years, the people of Schuylkill County whispered about how Susan Mummey practiced magic from her isolated farmhouse. She fought with her family, her neighbors, and the law. Death, it seemed, followed in her wake. Then, death claimed her. The case was taken up by the formidable team of Detective Louis Buono and District Attorney LeRoy Enterline. When they apprehended Susan’s killer and obtained a confession, the startling revelations sent shockwaves far beyond Schuylkill County. For 40 days, this small corner of the world held the nation’s attention. But as quickly as it began, this astonishing story came to an astonishing end. Today, it is the most famous murder you’ve never heard of. In the Day of Trouble is an unforgettable look into a misunderstood woman, a disturbed man, and perhaps even ourselves. Pulled from historical records and insights from survivors of those involved in the case, it takes you beyond the headlines to relive one of the strangest chapters of American history.
Reviews
Magruder fictionalizes a fascinating real-life murder in his impressive debut. One morning in 1910, Susan Mummey warned her husband not to go to work at DuPont Mill in Western Pennsylvania after dreaming he was in danger. He ignored her, went to work, and died in an explosion, earning Susan the nickname the “Witch of Ringtown Valley.” Two decades later, Union Township resident Albert Shinsky breaks into 63-year-old Susan’s home and shoots her while she’s sleeping. Detective Louis Buono and DA LeRoy Enterline learn that Shinsky had fallen on hard times and blamed Susan, believing she placed a hex on him. While the case appears open-and-shut, the Schuylkill County prison warden takes note of Shinskey’s erratic behavior, insisting he undergo a psychiatric evaluation that finds him insane and unable to stand trial. Magruder supplements his evocative prose (Union Township is “nestled, or imprisoned, in the foothills of a rugged and majestic mountain range”) with news clippings that capture the paranoid tenor of Pennsylvania’s so-called “Hex Belt.” Readers will thrill to this well-paced resurrection of a forgotten crime story. (Self-published)
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