The Massey Murder
Author(s): Charlotte Gray
Winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Non-Fiction
Winner of the Toronto Book Award
Winner of the CAA Lela Common Award for Canadian History
Winner of the Heritage Toronto Book Award
A Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year
Finalist for the RBC Taylor Prize, the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, the Ottawa Book Award, the Libris Award, the OLA Evergreen Award
A scandalous crime, a sensational trial, a surprise verdict—the true story of Carrie Davies, the maid who shot a Massey
In February 1915, a member of one of Canada’s wealthiest families was shot and killed on the front porch of his home in Toronto as he was returning from work. Carrie Davies, an 18-year-old domestic servant, quickly confessed. But who was the victim here? Charles “Bert” Massey, a scion of a famous family, or the frightened, perhaps mentally unstable Carrie, a penniless British immigrant? When the brilliant lawyer Hartley Dewart, QC, took on her case, his grudge against the powerful Masseys would fuel a dramatic trial that pitted the old order against the new, wealth and privilege against virtue and honest hard work. Set against a backdrop of the Great War in Europe and the changing faceof a nation, this sensational crime is brought to vivid life for the first time.
As in her previous bestselling book, Gold Diggers—adapted into the Discovery Television miniseries Klondike—multi-award-winning historian and biographer Charlotte Gray has created a captivating narrative rich in detail and brimming with larger-than-life personalities, as she shines alight on a central moment in our past.
Review(s):
“Canada’s pre-eminent historian. . . . A captivating read, balancing intense research with richly drawn characters and lively storytelling.”
“Engaging. . . . Gray’s cast involves meticulously researched historical figures, whose behaviour she depicts with psychological insight. Narrated with a great sense of presence, irony, and verve, this book recreates a vanished world of Canadian jurisprudence and politics, invests it with life, and makes it memorable.”
“An engrossing chronicle of Toronto’s social life at the beginning of the 20th century.”
“Gripping and insightful . . . . Gray has managed to resurrect a devilishly intriguing character.”
In The Massey Murder, Gray shows real kindness and compassion, bringing a sense of humanity to a once-lurid tale from the tabloids.”
Arthur Ellis Award for Non-fiction, RBC Taylor Prize, OLA Evergreen Award, CAA Lela Common Award for Canadian History, Toronto Book Award, Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year, Heritage Toronto Book Award, CBA Libris Award for Non-Fiction, Ottawa Book Award for English Non-Fiction, British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9781443436427