On the Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer (26 page)

On receiving this list it was immediately clear to us that we had the right Tobias James in our sights, as it effectively verified much of the previously known hearsay evidence. Clearly he had spent some time in Europe; the confirmation that the card was genuine proved that. His reported knowledgeable eloquence and delight in trivia were, it seems, a much-studied art, judging by the predominance of reference materials and books on vocabulary and quotable comment. There were also a fair proportion of books concerned with the later nineteenth century, and, as will be discussed in the following chapter, the writing of Tobias James exhibits a strong concern with the elegance of late nineteenth-century register and formality. The inclusion of my own book on the history of Funerary Violin strongly implies that he was at the time researching the Directorial Board of the APT, and may have already been aware of the
palmeresque
project. In addition we also learnt from Colindale Library that
My Secret Life
was never returned, and as a result Mr. James currently owes £31.86 in overdue fines (on the day of writing).

And then there is, of course, the most compelling piece of evidence: the photograph. It was taken at Luigi's Victorian Photographic Emporium, SoHo, New York, on January 17th 2008—the address and logo are clearly printed on the back card, in the manner of nineteenth-century photographs. Luigi's, as their full name suggests, specialises in reproducing the look of Victorian photographs through the use of original period equipment. They also have available a full stock of period costumes and props.

The first thing(s) to jump out at you are the eyes: they are very intense and you can almost see the whites all the way around the
pupils; they seem to bulge outwards just a little. All this suggests that the subject might be suffering from a thyroid condition. If that is the case he may well be exhibiting one or more of a number of possible symptoms: fatigue; depression/anxiety/paranoia; muscle aches and pains; bowel problems; and swelling of the neck and eyes. This would also account for the time he has clearly had available for the thorough digestion of reading materials, a common form of escapism amongst habitually ill persons.

The next thing to note is the clothing. Luigi, who turned out to be a very affable and helpful fellow despite the persona he likes to project, recalled that Mr. James had not hired a costume as he had arrived ready attired. Luigi particularly noticed at the time that Mr. James had been wearing a splendidly twirled Victorianstyle moustache which Luigi had assumed to be real, and indeed admired, but Mr. James had then removed it for the photo-shoot, carefully placing it in a small silver moustache-shaped box. After the shoot, the moustache was reattached before Mr. James left with his developed and printed picture. All of the above strongly suggests a man rich in affectation and with something of a fetish for Victoriana, both traits that are further demonstrated in his writing, as will be discussed in the following chapter.

Finally we come to the memory card. It is regrettable that the BPD has found it necessary to withhold the contents of this memory card as there is little doubt that it must contain many items of specific and general interest to all scholars of the
palmeresque
. We do know that it holds one hundred and ninety-seven texts, a number of them incomplete, and includes amongst them the ten texts from the first edition of this book. It is further thought, though as yet unconfirmed, that some amongst those ten texts appear on the memory card in an amended or developed form, suggesting that Mr. James is a
tinkerer;
a man who finds it hard to consider his works finished and let them go—these amendments were clearly made for his own benefit alone, as there was no possibility of publication for the developed versions. We have also discovered that the username Tobias_James has been banned
from editing articles on Wikipedia together with twelve other associated email accounts that were linked to a traced IP address. The reason given is “fictionalisation and falsification, although we commend him on his wit”.

And therefore, to summarise; if a brief biography of Tobias James were to be postulated it would quite possibly read something along the following lines:

Tobias James was most likely born to a wealthy and long-established family that valued education, possibly in Alabama, later perhaps moving to New York when he was around eight. He may have a wealthy uncle who lives in Pennsylvania. He was probably a sickly child and teenager but doubtless worked hard at school, later possibly winning himself a place at Columbia University, or perhaps Cambridge University, England, though in all likelihood under a different name. After graduating he is thought to have travelled around Europe, possibly spending an unknown amount of time in Norway and Albania before arriving in England some time before February 16th 2006, where he based himself in Hendon, North West London. He probably returned to America some time after 21st August 2006. He may or may not be in possession of a private income. At some point, most likely after May 13th 2002 he began writing texts referring to or inspired by the death of Amanda Palmer. He has by now nearly completed at least one hundred and ninety-seven. During the period from October 2006 to July 2007 he systematically manipulated his way into a position of editorial control over the book
On the Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer.
He is currently one of eleven people on the BPD's prime suspect list for the murder of Amanda Palmer. His current whereabouts are unknown, however
May 13th 2002 he began writing texts referring to or inspired by the death of Amanda Palmer. During the period from October 2006 to July 2007 he systematically manipulated his way into a position of editorial control over the book
On the Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer.
He is currently one of eleven people on the BPD's prime suspect list for the murder of Amanda Palmer.

May 13th 2002 he began writing texts referring to or inspired by the death of Amanda Palmer. During the period from October 2006 to July 2007 he systematically manipulated his way into a position of editorial control over the book
On the Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer.
He is currently one of eleven people on the BPD's prime suspect list for the murder of Amanda PalmerMay 13th 2002 he began writing texts referring to or inspired by the death of Amanda Palmer. During the period from October 2006 to July 2007 he systematically manipulated his way into a position of editorial control over the book
On the Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer.
He is currently one of eleven people on the BPD's prime suspect list for the murder of Amanda PalmerMay 13th 2002 he began writing texts referring to or inspired by the death of Amanda Palmer. During the period from October 2006 to July 2007 he systematically manipulated his way into a position of editorial control over the book
On the Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer.
He is currently one of eleven people on the BPD's prime suspect list for the murder of Amanda Palmer

He also enjoys uploading spurious and made-up articles to Wikipedia, many of which relate to a circle of invented nineteenth-century poets known as the Devonshire Cathartists.

Of course, much of the above is, by necessity, mere speculation.

APPENDIX IV

Having been impressed by how much had been revealed in Dr. Weitz's admirable report on the writing of Tobias James for the BPD we at the APT decided to commission our own literary forensic specialist, on this occasion a Dr. E. Simmons, and her team. The report she produced was nothing if not thorough, amounting to nearly four hundred pages and hence will not be printed in full here. Instead we will present selected passages from the chapter summaries and introductions.

Simmons opens her report with an explanation of her division of perspectives:

. . .
It is therefore impossible to draw any valuable conclusions with regard to the psychological makeup of this individual without considering the question of
Text Number Nine.
If, as the BPD suggests, the text does indeed bear a
“remarkable and incriminating resemblance”
to the scene of Palmer's death, this detail has to be factored into our analysis. It seems that there are three possible explanations:

1. That it is mere coincidence. It seems that James has written at least 197 such texts and it is therefore not impossible that
his imagination had stumbled unknowingly upon the right set of ingredients. In this case the entire project would have to be considered an innocent expression of an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

2. That, at some point, either before or after he started writing these texts, James had met the murderer and been told the details of the crime. This could have occurred either in the real or the virtual world. If this is the case, it could be that James' writing caused the perpetrator to approach him, or that the meeting itself triggered his writing, a shock which would therefore provide justifiable cause for his future obsessive writing behaviour as a form of catharsis.

3. That James was either the murderer himself, or was involved first hand with the murder, hence the details of the crime would be well known to him, and his obsessive writing on the subject could be driven by the purging of guilt and disguising of the crime.

I will therefore at times, where relevant, divide my analyses into three categories which will henceforth be referred to as Perspective 1, Perspective 2 and Perspective 3.

She then goes on to consider the various qualities of the writing in general:

. . . Throughout James displays a technical mastery of the mechanics of the English language, utilising a great variety of sentence structures, tenses, time-scales, perspectives etc; however, underlying each text are a number of consistent qualities that make any pretence at multiple authorship merely notional:

1. James is clearly drawn towards formalised “correct” English, even when the context of the writing might be better served by something more colloquial. He also, given any appropriate
(or not so) opportunity, will habitually slip into a more old-fashioned higher registered tone, particularly when versifying. These traits appear in every text available for examination.

2. James has a tendency to moralise, a trait that is increasingly rare amongst today's writers. Every text reads like it is trying to make a point, impart a moral lesson, or reveal some kind of “truth” (as he sees it).

3. The whole collection is shot through with religious and/or spiritual symbolism. Miss Palmer is variously cast as a disembodied soul on a spiritual journey (texts numbered 2, 4, 7); an incarnation of the Devil (text 3); Jesus on the cross (text 8); a Madonna-like figure whose death is transfigured into a spirit child born of song (text 5); a flawed manifestation of the Godhead itself (text 9); a magical spirit creature (text 10): the only two exceptions are text 1, in which she is the innocent victim of magic, and text 6, the driest of all the texts, in which she dies attempting to restore spiritual import to a debased ritual.

4. A number of the stories centre around a specific moment of culmination with lines such as “she had made it, all the way to the very top” (text 1) and “you will remain forever at your peak, the pinnacle, your very greatest of moments” (text 4). In other texts these central moments are more subtly placed but are nonetheless strongly present.

5. There is a distinct undercurrent of
creature as a disembodied soul on a spiritual journey (texts numbered 2, 4, 7); an incarnation of the Devil (text 3); Jesus on the
often to great comical effect, albeit at times misjudged and in bad taste.

6. Although expressed differently in each case, it is clear that every text has been written within the confines of a specific set of rules, as if the author is playing a game of literary technique: “in this text I will only use dialogue only once at the
focal point” (text 1); “in this text I will alternate between showing and telling the story with each paragraph” (text 7); “in this text I limit myself to formalised turn of the 20th century language” (text 2) etc... This suggests he may be offering a nod to the notion of multiple authorships, though he makes little effort to fulfil it through any other means.

The report then launches into a detailed discussion on some of the more revealing psychological qualities of the individual texts. The following passages are taken from the summary paragraphs:

. . . It has therefore been demonstrated that the themes presented amongst the texts in this collection can be broadly placed in three categories:

1. Miss Palmer as a victim of magical/spiritual forces beyond her control (texts 1, 4, 7, 9)

2. Miss Palmer's death as a form of transfiguration (texts 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10).

3. Miss Palmer brings her death upon herself (texts 2, 6, 7, 9). 216