In 1931 Liverpool, we witness a crime that seems physically "impossible": Julia Wallace is brutally murdered inside her locked home, with no sign of forced entry and no clear way for the killer to escape. What begins with a mysterious phone call to a chess club and a nonexistent address spirals into one of history’s most famous real-life locked room mysteries.

In part two we will discuss the investigation and trial that follows the murder, all the while asking ourselves: "Did William Herbert Wallace kill his wife?"

Today's research couldn't have been possible without my friend and talented Records Custodian, Sarah Schilling. Special thanks to her!

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Sources:

Liverpool City Police, “The Murder of Julia Wallace,” official case summary.

Court of Criminal Appeal, R v Wallace [1931], judgment quashing conviction.

Trial testimony of William Herbert Wallace and key witnesses, Liverpool Assizes, April 1931.

Curtis, J. H., The Trial of William Herbert Wallace. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1934.

Murphy, James, The Murder of Julia Wallace. 2001.

Nickell, Joe, “The Impossible Murder of Julia Wallace,” Skeptical Inquirer 45, no. 5 (2021).

“William Herbert Wallace,” Wikipedia.

“The Julia Wallace Murder,” Historic Mysteries.

William Herbert Wallace case files, williamherbertwallace.com.