I started writing A Fatal Affair: The Murder of Helen Grier with my
co-author, Amanda Capper, in October 2025. I’d been fascinated with this very cold case from the moment that I’d read about it in a 2022 “Remember This?” column in my local online newspaper, and the case had fascinated Amanda for far longer. When the current owner of the hunt camp where the murder had occurred in 1937 invited us for a visit, our interest was piqued even more. Being the shameless self-promoter that I am, I wanted to get potential readers equally fascinated. Or at least interested.
As an author and publisher, I was no
stranger to social media. I had a decent following on Facebook and Instagram,
and an average following on BlueSky. What if we started a page dedicated to the
book?
It turned out to be simple enough to open
pages attached to my personal social media profiles. On October 31, I posted a
collage of our first visit to the scene of the crime. I followed that up with
weekly posts, sharing them on my personal Facebook and Instagram pages. Pix of
the camp, of the lake, of the current owner, that sort of thing.
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On January 1, encouraged by the modest
success my posts had garnered, I decided to create a new post every day.
Amanda, who was just getting to know me, didn’t believe I’d be able to keep it
up (she now refers to me as a “stubborn little cyclone.”).
I worked on scheduling a batch of posts a
week in advance. I’ll admit it took some effort (and some creativity). I tried
to alternate teasers about the book with posts about the area, circa 1930s. The
Sault Ste. Marie Public Library, Sault Ste. Marie Museum, and the Canadian
Bushplane Heritage Centre all came through with information and photos from the
past. I created a mini-series about the inquest jurors, the Sault jail and
courthouse, the investigation, and the bushplanes that had transported police,
prosecution, and defence to the otherwise inaccessible cabin in the winter of
1938.
Here’s
the thing. The posts I thought would do well occasionally garnered fewer than
200 views. Others, sometimes used as “filler” because I was in a hurry to “just
get it done,” have reached several thousand. I wish I could tell you I found a
pattern. A secret sauce. I didn’t, though historic photographs of the area
tended to be popular.
On that…while our number of followers has
never been massive (as I write this, we’ve got around 500, give or take), the
number of views by non-followers ranges from 75 to 85%.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afatalaffair
About the Book: On October 28, 1937, at a remote cabin in the Algoma District of Northern Ontario, the body of 28-year-old Helen Grier was discovered by her lover, Vernon Spencer. The cause of death was a bullet to the brain.
A married father of two, Spencer, 43, was
held as a material witness for 71 days before being charged with Helen’s
murder. A gruelling six-day trial in Sault Ste. Marie followed. Vernon Spencer was
acquitted after a scant three hours of jury deliberation.
Was the jury wrong? Did Vernon Spencer, former
professional baseball player and Michigan dairy farmer, get away with murder?
Could it have been someone local who dropped in to visit and found the pretty
young brunette alone and vulnerable? Or is it possible, as was suggested by
Spencer’s defence team, that it was Helen Grier who fired the fatal bullet?
You be the judge.
Available in print and e-book at multiple
booksellers. www.books2read.com/afatalaffair.
Amanda Capper
Collage of
social media posts
First social
media post: October 31, 2025
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