Asking me to choose a favorite book to review is akin to asking me to pick a favorite grandchild. I have 6 of them, and I love them all.

But after giving it some thought, I realized I do love them differently. Because they are different.

I love them for their unique personalities, the special relationship I have with each one based on that personality and how we relate together.

So it is with books.

I love most all genres but for different reasons. The book I choose often depends on my mood.

Do I need something uplifting or humorous?

Maybe I’m dying to delve into a serious topical study or a biography.

Whatever the genre, I am a true lover of books and could happily spend a day wandering around a library.

It’s often the clearance table that catches my eye, and that is how I discovered “The Trial of Lizzie Borden.”

Oh, you say, I know all about that. That’s old news. There are books and books and movies galore about that axe-wielding wench.

True. Then there’s this book by Cara Robertson.

I must warn you.

Robertson’s “The Trial of Lizzie Borden” is not for the casual reader.

It is for the dedicated detective/investigator/lawyer/ judge wannabe.

To the skimmer, it is tedious. To the speed-reader, it is laborious. To the impatient, it is torturous.

To the lover of detail, it is glorious. To the craver of minutiae, it is delectable. To the patient, to the dedicated, it is a revelation.

Robertson holds a PhD in English from Oxford University, a JD from Stanford Law School and spent decades researching the Borden case.

Her attention to detail is unmatched, yet she manages to bring new life and drama to our nation’s likely oldest true crime saga.

It is no small feat to turn a trial into a captivating story, but Robertson does it.

From the gruesome crime scene’s discovery to Lizzie Borden’s last days on earth, you will see everything through the eyes of those involved as though you, the reader, were transported backward in time to bear witness to among the most fascinating legal legends in history.

Did she, or didn’t she? Did the jurors get it right? What would you have done? How would you have voted?

Robertson’s coverage is no sensational treatise on the brutal murders of 2 people. It is a look into the minds and methods of the murderer, victims, neighbors, witnesses, police and the legal system itself.

And yet, many questions remain even today.

Lizzie Borden is a name chiseled in criminal history, rightly or wrongly. A name associated with intrigue and innuendo, immortalized in a silly child’s song:

Lizzie Borden took an axe Gave her mother 40 whacks When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41.

Lizzie Borden was either an innocent bystander, a victim of circumstances, the recipient of exorbitant luck or a wanton killer filled with inscrutable rage, able to maintain a visage of ladylike purity over a black heart.

Either way, her arrest and trial is a fascinating read, leaving the reader breathless at times, spellbound always.

Cat FitzGerald resides deep in the South Carolina woods near beautiful Lake Murray with her husband and an ornery, overweight black cat named Rajah. She is the author of 2 novels. You can connect with her at catfitz45@gmail.com and find her books at www.amazon.com/author/catfitzgerald .

Local author Cat FitzGerald is a wife, mother and grandmother who’s been writing stories and poetry since she could hold a pencil in her chubby little hands. Here she reviews the true story of one of America’s most controversial murder trials.