Murder at Teal’s Pond

David Bushman dug into a real 1908 unsolved murder in upstate New York, the death of a young woman named Hazel Drew, and Murder at Teal’s Pond is the result. The case has long been rumored to be one of the inspirations for Twin Peaks, since Mark Frost’s family came from the area and grew up hearing the story.

Bushman approaches it as a journalist, not a novelist. He works through period newspaper coverage, court records, and what survives of the original investigation, building a portrait of the town and the people in it.

The Twin Peaks connection runs in the background. Readers coming for a deep dive into the show will find some material, but the book stays focused on the actual case.

For true crime readers who like the historical end of the genre, this sits well alongside Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City. The unresolved nature of the case is a feature, not a flaw.