Frances Glessner Lee in the Boston Globe

If you haven't yet, read this great article about the great Frances Glessner Lee! THere's a mention Murder in a Nutshell: The Frances Glessner Lee Story. 

And yes we will have a preview/fine cut screening at The Rocks in October 2024. 

Watch preview here! 

The Story of the Not-so-Missing Nutshell

We are deep in the throes of editing Murder in a Nutshell: The Frances Glessner Lee Documentary -- getting ready for the screening in October 2024. 

Above is a still from the section about the missing Nutshell. When we were working on Of Dolls & Murder, Jerry D (if you don't know who Jerry D is, watch the movie) told me about the destroyed Nutshell and the missing one. I figured that as a documentary filmmaker it was up to me to try to find it. 

It eventually led me to a Nutshell I had never seen before. Not in archival photos and not in person. It was in an issue of Popular Mechanics magazine from the 1950s. It was an amazing find. At least that is how it felt. But I still had no idea what happened to the missing Nutshell.  Until later on when I spotted it in a photo on a website for the Bethlehem Heritage Center in NH. (Near Frances' former estate at the Rocks)

Turns out the Nutshell wasn't missing at all. No one thought to ask anyone at the Rocks. So there it sat, overlooked for decades. 

I was the first person to tell Clare Brown (She works at both The Rocks and the Heritage Center) that the Nutshell hiding in plain sight at the Bethlehem Heritage Center was considered missing. That was news to her. All she knew was that she found it in "the old tool barn" at the Rocks and literally had no idea what it was or much about Frances Glessner Lee at the time. (Side note: Clare's grandfather worked for Frances.)

This Nutshell wound up getting cleaned up and carefully sent to London for a Welcome Trust exhibit before it safely making it home. 

Interesting lesson:  Things that are consider missing, maybe never were. We just never asked the right people. 

Side lesson: Don't assume others that came before you (even detectives) did their homework. 

 

Murder in a Nutshell: The Frances Glessner Lee Story Documentary update

 

We are working hard on the fine cut edit for Murder in a Nutshell: The Frances Glessner Lee Story. Currently we are re-editing the section on the unfinished Nutshells. I took this photo of one of the unfinished Nutshells at the Rocks Estate. Someone found it at antique shop and recognized that it was a Nutshell and donated it to the Rocks. Unfortunately, I do believe it burned up in the horrible fire a few years ago. Luckily we got photos and footage of it when we did. 

I just heard from my contact from the Rocks - it did not burn up! 

I wonder what Frances Glessner Lee had it store for this one? 

Reminds me of something from David Lynch 

Happy New Year from Frances Glessner Lee

Don't you just love it? A New Year greeting from Frances Glessner Lee to one of her longtime employees at The Rocks.

Frances Glessner Lee's Family Estate - The Rocks - Bethlehem NH

Sometime getting into the Holiday Spirit is way harder than it should be. But you know what helps us? Visiting The Rocks, Frances Glessner Lee's family estate that is now part of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. Frances lived at The Rocks while she made her Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. On our last visit we even discovered some unfinished Nutshells. And the people at The Rocks - like Nigel and Clare - are wonderful! If you can't make it out there to harvest your own Christmas tree, you can always buy one online.

Documentary Film Shoot at the Rocks

 Our documentary shoot at The Rocks exceeded all our expectations. Frances Glessner Lee's great-grandchildren hung out with us, sharing incredible insights about "Fanny." And you could not find better, more down to earth people than this family. We felt so lucky. And we also cannot say enough great things about The Rocks and the staff there. More photos coming soon of the unfinished Nutshell.

If want to know more about Frances Glessner Lee, go here!