© 2024 WSHU
NPR News & Classical Music
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
We received reports that some iPhone users with the latest version of iOS (v17.4) cannot play audio via the Grove Persistent Player.
While we work to fix the issue, we recommend downloading the WSHU app.

Off The Path: Murder on Smuttynose Island

The Hontvet house.
Photo courtesy J. Dennis Robinson (jdennisrobinson.com)
The Hontvet house.
Maren Hontvet
Credit Photo courtesy J. Dennis Robinson (jdennisrobinson.com)
Maren Hontvet

There’s a tiny 27-acre island off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire called Smuttynose Island. The population in 1873 was six. So it shocked the country when two of them were brutally murdered — an event that led to the publication of the book "Mystery on the Isles of Shoals," by J. Dennis Robinson. WSHU’s Davis Dunavin brings us the story as part of the podcast ‘Off the Path from New York to Boston.’ And a caution — this story contains disturbing details about two murders.

Davis Dunavin loves telling stories, whether on the radio or around the campfire. He started in Missouri and ended up in Connecticut, which, he'd like to point out, is the same geographic trajectory taken by Mark Twain.