And I don’t just mean murderesses who have been neglected by history. I mean Neglected Murderess, the series of illustrations by Edward Gorey of The Gashleycrumb Tinies fame, about…well, murderesses who have been neglected by history.
Although the source material is appropriately macabre for the actor, this is a weird choice for The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus to try to turn into a TV series. For starters, Neglected Murderess isn’t a story — it’s a collection of separate portraits of unrelated women who had murdered someone or another, along with brief captions of their crime. Here are a few examples:
Mrs. Daisy Sallow eviscerated her daughter-in-law with a No. 7 hook, afterwards crocheting, over the course of three evenings, her shroud in a snowflake pattern (1921).
Miss Q. P. Urkheimer brained her fiancé after failing to pick up an easy spare at Glover’s Lanes, Poxville, Kansas, 1936.
Miss Emily Toastwater smothered her father after evening prayers, London S.W.7 (1916).
Natasha Batti-Loupstein pulverised a paste necklace and sprinkled it over a tray of canapés, Villa Libellule, Nice, 1923.
That’s not much to work with, and the real draw of Neglected Murderess — pun not intended, I promise — is Gorey’s inimitable illustrations, which were published in a single volume in 1980 alongside his collection Dancing Cats. Neglected Murderesses is one of Gorey’s lesser-known works and hasn’t been reprinted since, but you can see a few of its images here.
[referenced id=”1110375″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2018/06/killing-eve-did-the-sexy-serial-killer-trope-right-by-not-focusing-on-the-sexy-serialkiller/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/02/ira1gb79e1s3xvcdiz2z-300×169.jpg” title=”Killing Eve Did The Sexy Serial Killer Trope Right By Not Focusing On The Sexy Serial Killer” excerpt=”A tense scene between Villanelle (Jodie Comer) and Eve (Sandra Oh) in Killing Eve.Photo: BBC America I like to think this is something that doesn’t need to be said, but let’s just throw it out there anyway: Serial killers are not sexy. Or fun. Or funny. They’re monsters. But then…”]
Variety describes Reedus’ show as “a black comedy that tells the story of 12 enterprising, fictitious female killers, who use particularly unique methods to off their victims. Among them are: Nurse J. Rosebeetle, ‘who tilted her employer out of a wheelchair and over a cliff at Sludgemouth in 1898,’ Mrs. Fledaway, who ‘laced her husband’s tea with atropine in the spring of 1903,’ and Miss Q. P. Urkheimer, who ‘brained her fiancé after failing to pick up an easy spare at Glover’s Lanes.’”
I have to imagine Reedus’ Neglected Murderesses, which will likely premiere on AMC, will be an episodic anthology series à la Black Mirror and presumably not animated, although if you’ve seen Gorey’s classic intro to PBS’s Masterpiece Mystery series you know that would be a treat.
If the show gets picked up, it will be the first-ever live-action adaptation of the illustrator’s work, and all profits would be “donated to a number of animal welfare organisations, given Gorey’s fondness for animals.” But even if the show’s a hit, I sincerely doubt a live-adaptation of the alphabet of murdered children that is The Gashleycrumb Tinies will follow.
[referenced id=”1516427″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/10/the-walking-dead-semi-finale-threw-out-the-old-to-make-way-for-the-new-craziness/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/05/upme5j6hmhdwrzzalsoy-300×168.jpg” title=”The Walking Dead Semi-Finale Threw Out the Old to Make Way for the New (Craziness)” excerpt=”When we last saw The Walking Dead, our survivors were holed up in an assortment of buildings surrounded by the insane Beta, his remaining Whisperer minions, and approximately four kazillion zombies. How can Daryl, Carol, Judith, and the others survive such an overwhelming onslaught? I’ll give you a two-word hint:…”]