Janel Campbell lost her mother when she was eleven years old. Along with stories of her own life, Janel weaves together the backdrop of her mother's life, from Idaho to Los Angeles, to Utah, to Seattle, to New Jersey, and back to Kent, Washington-a path that eventually led to her mother's brutal murder on March 8, 1961. Mary Kelley Campbell was a witty, high-spirited Irish girl, a devout Mormon, a compassionate Christian, and the mother of six children. The confessed murderer, a member of Mary's church, was a Lennie-type Of Mice and Men; a strong, lumbering, simple-minded man oblivious of his actions and desperate to please. The crime was labeled by King County prosecutors as "...one of the weirdest murders in the annals of the Pacific Northwest." With Mary's legacy banished for nearly sixty years by the pain and circumstance of her death, Janel has quelled the fears she had to face in order to bring her mother's tales of betrayal, heartache, love, and forgiveness to Mary's progeny, and to the world.
The Multiple Murders of Mary Kelley Campbell has been selected by INDIE EDITORS in Kirkus Reviews November 15 Special Issue, THE BEST BOOKS OF 2020. "In this richly detailed memoir, a woman revisits the murder of her mother more than half a century ago. Campbell begins her story on the day of her mother Mary's death: March 8, 1961, when she was 11 years old and her family lived in a farmhouse in Kent, Washington, just outside of Seattle. The first chapter moves through the day of the murder but stops short of the crime itself, leaving readers in suspense as the author traces her maternal and fraternal lines. What initially seems like a true-crime whodunit effectively becomes a history of settlement, hardship, and opportunity in the American West of the 19th and 20th centuries. Campbell goes on to meticulously sketch a family portrait, lingering with affection and reverence on her descriptions of her mother: 'Mary was nick-named Mary Sunshine by her sisters because every morning she would run to all the windows and pull back the curtains to let the warmth and light of the morning sun pour into the house.' Religion is another steady theme, as the family belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is a key element of their identity; 'I am a descendent of polygamy, ' Campbell declares at one point. However, Campbell clearly has a goal beyond simply spinning a gripping yarn; she also seeks to memorialize her mother. In this regard, she'