Secrets of the Congdon Mansion: The Unofficial Guide to Glensheen and the Congdon Murders (Minnesota)

"The best-selling book about the Congdon Murders in Duluth, Minn., is a classic tale of murder, money and mansion. Reporter Joe Kimball, who has covered the case from the beginning, reveals the inside information behind the murder of Elisabeth Congdon, who was smothered in her bed in the 39-room Glensheen Mansion. The night nurse was beaten to death with a candlestick holder on the mansion's grand stairway while trying to protect the partially-paralyzed heiress. Police immediately suspected Congdon's adopted daughter and her new husband. The motive: speeding up the inheritance. The husband was convicted of the crimes, but the daughter -- Marjorie Congdon Caldwell Hagen -- was found not guilty of charges that she helped plan the murders. But that's not the end of the story. Marjorie has been in the news -- and in prison -- in the years since the mansion murders. Bigamy charges, two arson convictions, charges of another murder, and the mysterious death of an elderly man she befriended in Arizona have kept her story alive. Kimball updates the book regularly to bring readers the latest news on this fascinating case." --Amazon An inside look at Minnesota's most infamous murders. Elisabeth Congdon, an 83-year-old heiress, and her nurse, Velma Pietila, were brutally murdered in the 39-room Congdon mansion on the shores of Lake Superior in Duluth. Accused were Congdon's adopted daughter and new son-in-law. The greed, speeding up an $8 million inheritance. The son-in-law was convicted, but a jury found the daughter not guilty of planning the crime. In the mind-boggling aftermath, the killer was freed, the daughter accused of bigamy and convicted of arson in two states. And she's been investigated in other deaths. Guides on the popular tours at Glensheen won't say much about the murders, so the book helps guide visitors understand the crime as they go through the mansion. Don't expect to get all your questions answered when you take a tour of Glensheen, the Congdon Mansion in Duluth.