Based on a true story

I finished a novel 31Bond Street.  It is fiction based on the true story of the murder of dentist Dr. Harvey Burdell of New York in the mid 1800's.  In the novel, his housekeeper/mistress is arrested and subsequently acquitted of the murder.  Bittersweet as she loses touch with reality and goes crazy.  I was interested enough in the case to do some research on line.  The housekeeper had two affairs going on--one with Dr. Burdell and the other with one of the boarders living in the house.  She tried to get control of Dr Burdell's estate by stating that she was married to him and pregnant.  Later, the marriage was questioned and it was thought that someone had posed as Dr. Burdell.  She was caught picking up a child to pass as her own.  I can't help but think of the old adage, "truth is stranger than fiction."