SOURCE: Crane, Susan. “Alison of Bath Accused of Murder: Case Dismissed.” English Language Notes 25, no. 3 (March 1988): 10-15.

In the following essay, Crane provides a tongue-in-cheek look at the mysterious death of Alisoun's fourth husband and defends the Wife against the charge of murder.

“Professional scholars,” said Sherlock Holmes, “like professional detectives, are not reasoning animals. If the murder in the Wife of Bath's Prologue has not been discovered before, it is because I had never read that part of the Canterbury Tales until a fortnight ago.” Holmes would not find it surprising that his case against Alison, as reported by Vernon Hall in the third volume of The Baker Street Journal, has failed to convince most of our unreasoning profession.¹ However, the academic brief on the revelour's convenient death has grown fatter over the years, and it is now time to clear Alison's name and return her to...