(Image courtesy of Washington State Archives)

Love a good local murder mystery? Then come to the State Archives in Olympia on Oct. 27 and hear about one that’s been unsolved for more than 70 years.

As part of its 2012 Archives Month celebration, the Southwest Regional Branch of the Washington State Archives is hosting a free event in which former (Aberdeen) Daily World publisher and editor John Hughes and Montesano Vidette reporter Tommi Halvorsen Gatlin will talk about the case involving Laura Law, who was murdered on the evening of Jan. 5, 1940, in her Aberdeen home.

Her husband, Dick Law, was a local leader of the International Woodworkers of America union. Laura also was active in the union. The crime was investigated from 1940 to 1953 by the Aberdeen Police Department but never solved.

The presentation will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the State Archives, located at 1129 Washington St. SE. For more information about the event, contact the State Archives’ Benjamin Helle at (360) 586-7320 or [email protected] . After the discussion, State Archives staff will provide tours of the Archives Building. Built in 1963 as a nuclear bomb shelter, the State Archives Building holds about a billion records, including the Washington Constitution; governors’ records; and tax, court and prison records used by historians, genealogists and the public.

Archives Month is being celebrated throughout in October, with workshops and other free events scheduled around Washington. Go here to find an event near you. This year’s theme is “LAW & ORDER IN THE ARCHIVES. Crooks, Cops and Courts.”