Shotgun Jennie

Book excerpt: In the spring of 1903, Nancy Jeanette Flood stood accused of a horrific crime--bewitching two elderly bachelors and luring one of them to his premature doom. Far from a romantic story of a love triangle gone wrong, Jennie's is an earthy tale of a desperate woman, a cranky handyman, and a few sizable life insurance policies. Condemned as a ruthless Black Widow by suspicious neighbors and convicted by a sensationalized press, she became known as the woman that area residents loved to hate. This book is a historical investigation of the woman behind the headlines, drawing on archival documents and never-before-seen crime scene sketches to uncover the true story of Jennie Flood and the crime that rocked Michigan at the turn of the century.