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 03 July 2009

 Author Norman Mailer Believed Murdered 5:28 pm EST

BOSTON (Reuters) - Little known to the literary world, an autopsy was performed on Norman Mailer not long after his death. The local authorities were acting on a tip. A young French woman who had been caring for the grizzled old author is the subject of an active investigation. The young lady in question, 23, has been identified as one, Marie St. Lachette. Detectives were only recently able confirm her true identity through the help of INTERPOL and confirmation by her boyfriend, Jacques Dumont. This confirmation was only procured after he was arrested for transportation of stolen goods. It seems as the duo, Marie and Jacques, were stealing items from the combative author’s home for some time preceding his death. “Several signed first editions, cash, jewelry and other items of value were believed to be stolen by the suspects,” said Lieutenant Charles Abernathy. In order to obtain a lighter sentence, Dumont told the police a rather sordid story of Marie’s murderous intent.     

     On visits to Mailer's home the French thief witnessed, on no less then four occasions, Ms. Marie attempting to take the life of Mailer. Twice seen was the female death merchant sitting on the chest of the author. When asked by the boyfriend what she was doing, she wryly replied, "Pressing the life out of the old man." The shocked Jacques stopped her, as too, when she attempted to suffocate him with a pillow over his face in other incidents. When asked by Dumont why she was doing such things, she merely offered up a veiled reference to her grandfather. Those close to the case said she finally succeeded in smothering him with a pillow.     

     Marie was originally detained, but was able to gain freedom through her attorney’s successful bail application. She was not long for these United States and in a flash, fled back to France. The French government has agreed to extradition and it is said American officials will travel the first week of July to retrieve St. Lachette.     

     In an odd footnote, the young lady has adamantly stated that she will surrender in no other place in France, but at the gravesite of rock legend Jim Morrison. U.S. officials have agreed to the demand.  

05 July 2009

Mailer Murder Suspect Stabs Herself 4:00PM EST

PARIS (Reuters) - Murder suspect Marie St. Lachette has been moved from a jail in Paris. She apparently got hold of a sharp instrument and stabbed herself in the chest. It was more of a glancing strike and doctors believe it was more of a suicidal gesture, then an actual attempt to end her life.

     Those that were with her in the last week leading up to the incident described her as incoherent and disheveled. In one of her more lucid moments she said to anyone that would listen that she had been in the company of Adele Morales Mailer on a daily basis. This is of course impossible. It is a manifestation of her troubled mind. Adele, having been stabbed near the heart by Mailer many years ago, "bled profusely" according to Marie as they sat in the day room of the asylum quietly conversing. The imaginary Adele's voice cut through the subdued atmosphere to become a screech as she made use of every epithet in her vocabulary in regard to Mailer and thanked Marie for having snuffed out the life of "that intolerable man." Marie replied by denying any complicity in killing the author.

    When she was asked about the "self-stabbing," Marie claimed to want to feel the pain Adele experienced and in turn, the loathing of the author of whom many literary critics have expressed in unison that his nonfiction novel "The Executioners Song" was a poor man's "In Cold Blood" who's author, Truman Capote, forever revealed wheat fields not filled with jovial scarecrows, but drifters dead set on destroying. Capote's work adjusted the iconic Norman Rockwell painting on the wall to a different angle in order to reveal a less banal image but more of a vibrating violence running through the brushstrokes.

     What is interesting is a little known addition to the lexicon of American "pop speak" that Mailer created. It was through his many interviews, he famously turned down nary a one, that the phrase "performance piece" came to be. A reporter for the Washington Post, Dante Revelo coined it and said that when Mailer was stuck on a question he would flail his small arms about as if to make them bigger. His eyes would bulge and his face turned beet red. He than peppered Revelo with his own questions so as to deflect his lack of knowledge of the question asked of him. This Mailer had done innumerable times before with other interviewers, but Revelo put a name to it and it stuck. 

     Marie is now in a secure mental facility in the French countryside. Authorities refuse to disclose the location. It is up in the air as to whether U.S. lawmen will be able to gain custody of their prisoner as was planned for the first week of July. 

  09 July 2009

U.S. Detectives and French Officials Collide over Mailer Murder Suspect 6:30 EST

FRANCE (Reuters) - Boston Detectives arrived in Paris yesterday. There was no less than six of Boston's finest, led by the indomitable Lieutenant Charles Abernathy. They took up entire city streets in their combined mass and were no less a battering ram as they forced pedestrians to seek the shelter of the streets.

     Once at Paris police headquarters, they received an icy reception. Captain Louis Renald let the Americans have it in no uncertain terms - strong-arm tactics may fly in the U.S., but have no place in the City of Lights. Lieutenant Abernathy "requested" that Marie St. Lachette be turned over to him and his men in order to have her tested stateside. Renald flatly refused, said Lachette was undergoing psychiatric testing and would remain where she was. Renald considered the matter closed and the Americans were physically escorted out of the building like so many ruffians.

     As this article goes to press, the detectives have requested the assistance of the U.S. Consul and are holed-up in a rather seedy, second-rate Paris Hotel. The better establishments, having heard of their heavy handed goings on about town, have refused them better accommodations. What is pressingly clear and must be commented on is the old adage; "you attract more bees with honey than vinegar." According to confidential sources charged with Marie's care what awaits the Boston policemen at the asylum in the French countryside is a bee from an entirely different world.

15 July 2009

Events and Figures from the past Weigh in on Norman Mailer Investigation 5:00 EST     

PARIS (Reuters) - The six Boston detectives who attempted to retrieve their murder suspect, Marie St. Lachette, are under house arrest in Paris. They have also been relieved of their passports. The bully boy tactics employed by Lieutenant Abernathy and his men in interviewing Parisians clearly crossed the cultural divide and has accented and emboldened the famous French dislike of Americans. One can even go so far to say that the French mindset is that the only good American tourist is one on a departing airplane flight out of the country. The Mayor of Boston has been made “unavailable” The Police Chief is all “no comments.”        I

     It is now that the situation takes a turn towards the historical. And the very fate of the six policemen, of the rough and ready ways, hangs on this famous personage of the past.       

     Singularly, this episode will go down as the most bizarre element of the Norman Mailer alleged murder story as a whole. Perhaps the author is looking down…or up… and is having a good laugh or more likely is enraged, as the French famously turned their collective backs on his works after the stabbing of Adele Mailer in 1960 and because they thought him a poseur. And so with this backdrop, the French Government weighed in on the matter of the U.S. detectives. For the release of the American policemen, the French are asking in return reparations for the wounds received by no lesser a personage than The Marquis de La Fayette, wounded well over two-hundred years ago.       

     It was during the Battle of Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania on September 11, 1777 that The Marquis was wounded. The Continental Army was soundly routed by the British and subsequently George Washington ordered a payment of one-thousand in silver coins to La Fayette for his bravery and embracing the fight for a new democracy. Apparently this payment was never made. It has been determined that The Marquis’ favorite number was seven. French accountants applied the base $200,032 dollars accrued at one-thousand per year over 232 years, multiplied it by seven and the price for six civil servants with guns is a princely sum of 1,400,224.00.       

     There has been no official reply from the United States Government. Behind the scenes, insiders are unanimous in their reactions. Simply told they see this blackmail not for the detectives. It is rather about payback fueled by the French perception that former President Thomas Jefferson manipulated then First Consul of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, in the purchase of Louisiana. Knowing Bonaparte was lacking any pecuniary sensibility and sophistication the purchase was secured at three cents per acre. And long the French citizens have not forgotten, in their words, “this scandalous robbery.”

So, ancient history comes to call in the Mailer mystery.  

 20 July 2009

Reversal by French Government on Mailer Detectives 7:50 EST

FRANCE (Reuters) - The government of France has decided to forego the payment demand of late in regard to the six American detectives being held under house arrest. The supposed one-thousand dollars in silver coins promised the Marquis de La Fayette after he was wounded in a Revolutionary War battle has been deemed null and void. There are some that held out for the reparations, but were silenced by the French majority.

     It has also been announced that the six lawmen are to be flown out of the country this evening, the proviso being no other American authorities attempt to come to France in regard to Marie St. Lachettee, the Norman Mailer murder suspect. When and if her battery of psychiatric tests are complete and it is deemed safe for her to travel stateside, only then will it be done.

     No doubt of the errant policemen arriving back in Boston, someone will have to answer for this semi-international incident. First in line is the redoubtable Lieutenant Charles Abernathy. He undoubtedly has become the lightning rod for this whole sordid affair. He has become one of France’s most hated men. The carpet is ready in Boston, he is just waiting to be called.

24 July 2009

 Lead Detective in Norman Mailer Murder Inquiry Fired 6:15 EST

BOSTON (Reuters) Detective Lieutenant Charles Abernathy was dismissed outright from the Boston Police Department. This is due to his conduct overseas in pursuit of the Mailer murder suspect, Marie St. Lachette. He struck numerous French citizens that happened to be in his way as he strode violently to the local Paris police station. Some have likened his actions to Civil War General Sherman’s march to the sea, burning and pillaging as he went. The five other detectives have each been given a three month suspension. They are expected to appeal this censure through police union delegates. Some are considering retaining private attorneys, given the high profile attention that has surrounded their ill fated trip to Paris.

     Boston P.D. union delegates are of the like mind that Abernathy is a disgrace and he is having a hard time obtaining representation. Prior incidents by the volatile Lieutenant have been made available. Throttling a suspect unconscious, verbal abuse of a pregnant woman, accidental discharge of his weapon, locking a disturbed homeless man in a small closet for six hours, suspected frequenting of prostitutes while on the job, suspected of robbing a bookie joint and the list goes on. As it stands now, Detective Lieutenant Abernathy has been stripped of his pension and any and all benefits associated with his former position in the police department. He had nineteen years of service.

     There are ongoing negotiations between officials of Boston and Provincetown Massachusetts. There is a very strong possibility that Provincetown will takeover the Norman Mailer suspected murder investigation. As that is where the alleged crime took place, it is a logical step. At the onset of the murder inquiry it was thought that with Boston’s resources, they would be better equipped to engage in a vigorous investigation. Given past events, it is thought that the inherent low key atmosphere of Provincetown and this ease of nature found in its police force will be more effective in dealing with the French and the investigation itself as a whole.

31 July 2009

Boyfriend of Mailer Murder Suspect Escapes 8:30 EST

BROOKLYN, NY (Reuters) - Jacques Dumont, lover of Norman Mailer murder suspect Marie St. Lachette, has escaped from the Brooklyn House of Detention situated on Atlantic Avenue. The details are rather unclear as far as a chronological detailing of events, but what is known is he scaled down two stories from a small conference office. He also seems to have secured a pistol. The police will not confirm this, but witnesses on the street are certain they saw a gun on his person. A search is currently being conducted in the surrounding neighborhoods of Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Brooklyn Heights. Police helicopters and search dogs are being used.

     Brooklyn Heights is what this story is all about. Dumont was taken by Amtrak train from Boston yesterday to New York. Brooklyn detectives took charge of the prisoner. It is known that Mailer had a home here and was located near the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. The promenade offers a stunning view of the lower Manhattan skyline to both tourists and locals alike. Besides Provincetown Massachusetts, Dumont, St. Lachette and bristly author Mailer spent time at his house in Brooklyn. Detectives Archibald and Coreleone were to bring Dumont to the house, so he could itemize the property taken from the house, as per his cooperation agreement. It looks like all bets are off on that and he is sure to face additional charges and perhaps, a role in the alleged murder of Mailer.