The Book
Bella in the Wych Elm – In Search of a Wartime Mystery – by Andrew Sparke – 2014 and 2016
Summary
I came across reference to this book through the HD Paranormal site – the people who are doing a film on Bella in the Wych Elm (due to be released in August 2017). I hemmed and hawed a bit about buying the book but… it was less than $5 and an e-book, so why not.
First off… “book” is a bit of a stretch. The e-book has a grand total of 80 pages (that includes the front page, copyright pages, table of contents, further reading, etc). There are also another 46 pages of police file transcripts. This “book” is more like a pamphlet… particularly as the e-book pages are quite short and the font quite large. A paperback version has a grand total of 54 pages.
Secondly, the author appears to have accessed some of the Worcester police files and yet these are not referenced. In fact, there are really no references. Given the amount of speculation and supposition that surrounds the Bella case, it would be most helpful if researchers, authors and bloggers would actually cite their sources. Sparke’s devotes an entire “chapter” (6 pages which include 2 pages of photographs) to the Clara Bauerle theory. He refers to Allison Vale’s article at length and then debunks the theory by noting (a) the height of Clara (courtesy of descriptions by Karel Richter and Josef Jakobs); (b) her recording career in 1941 and 1942 and (c) the fact that she died in Berlin on December 16, 1942. This information is cleared based on my research work and yet the author makes no reference to sources.
Similarly, the author uses photographs that clearly come from the West Mercia police files in the case – including some clear photographs of the skeleton’s lower jaw. He also uses the Clara Bauerle post card images from the National Archives website. Again – no references for any of the photographs. Given that the author is selling a book… I would wonder if copyright permission was secured for those images.
Review
This book provides a lot of information on the Bella in the Wych Elm case. Unfortunately, since none of the information is sourced, the reader is left wondering what is fact and what is fiction. Given that the author quotes some questionable sources (Donald McCormick’s book and Allison Vale’s article) side-by-side with what appear to be police files for the case, fact, fiction and speculation end up inextricably intertwined. This is unfortunate as the book, had it cited its references, could have been a great reference for the Bella mystery. As it stands, it is a disappointment.