Hellfire in Shediac

On February 13, 1805, Amos Babcock, in a fit of religious frenzy, scalped and disembowelled his sister Mercy Hall, while his wife, their nine children and neighbours looked on in horror. Babcock was hanged for this outrage, becoming only the third convicted murderer in New Brunswick’s history. A subject of passing interest among historians and crime writers, Mercy Hall’s murder also inspired song-writer John Bottomley to write “The Ballad of Jacob Peck” in 1992, pointing to a shadowy figure deeply implicated in the crime and providing this publication with a catchy title.

The wonder of this book is that Debra Komar ever connected with Mercy Hall. A forensic anthropologist with a PhD from the University of Alberta, Komar has taught at universities in the United States and the United Kingdom, investigated human rights violations for the United Nations and testified as an expert witness...