True stories and photos revealing more than a century of murder and mayhem in England's second-biggest city.Starting with the mysterious murder of Mary Ashford in 1817 and following a trail of blood through the Victorian and Edwardian eras—up to the controversial execution of the young James Farrell in 1949—these true crime stories provide a different kind of history of this city in the English Midlands.Drawn from newspapers and periodicals of the time, the...

FROM BRITAIN'S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITERWINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZEWINNER OF THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTIONTHE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLERA RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICKGALAXY BOOK OF THE YEAR, BRITISH BOOK AWARDS'A classic' JOHN LE CARR****É'Terrific' IAN RANKINIt is midnight on...

FROM BRITAIN'S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITER'The queen of Victorian true crime is back' MAIL ON SUNDAYSHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTIONOn 8 July 1895, thirteen-year-old Robert Coombes and his younger brother Nattie set out from their East London home to watch a cricket match. Over the next ten days they spend extravagantly, visiting the theatre and eating out. The boys tell neighbours thei...

This compendium brings together thirty-three murderous tales — one from each of the capital's boroughs — that not only shocked the City but made headline news across the country. Throughout its history the great urban sprawl of Greater London has been home to some of the most shocking murders in England, many of which have made legal history. Contained within the pages of this book are the stories behind these heinous crimes. They include George Chapman, who was hanged in ...

New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police, houses the notorious Black Museum, a unique collection of exhibits, photographs and other items connected with some of the most famous crimes of the last century. Fifty of those crimes were murders and they are explored in detail in this compelling book. Recently renamed The Crime Museum the author Gordon Honeycombe was given privileged access to its darkest secrets. His book spans a hundred years of murder, manslaughter ...

In 1888 Jack the Ripper made the headlines with a series of horrific murders that remain unsolved to this day. But most killers are not shadowy figures stalking the streets with a lust for blood. Many are ordinary citizens driven to the ultimate crime by circumstance, a fit of anger or a desire for revenge. Their crimes, overshadowed by the few, sensational cases, are ignored, forgotten or written off. This book examines all the known murders in London in 1888 to build a p...

The "research is undoubtedly impressive" on this "bloody good read" proposing a theory behind the police cover-up that allowed Jack the Ripper to go free ( The Guardian).For over a hundred years, the mystery of Jack the Ripper has been a source of unparalleled fascination and horror, spawning an army of obsessive theorists and endless volumes purporting to finally reveal the identity of the brutal murderer who terrorized Victorian England.In They...

Stylish and dark, the BBC series the ‘Peaky Blinders’ is set in the backstreets of Birmingham after the First World War and tells of the rise to power of Thomas Shelby and his criminal gang. Yet the real stories behind these fictional characters are just as dramatic, bloody and compelling as the TV series. Thomas Shelby’s arch enemy Billy Kimber was in real life a Brummie from Summer Lane. He was a feared fighter with an astute mind and magnetic personality which earned him the lea...

The book is about British serial killers from the 19th century all the way to the present day. I have written the book to show the readers what a serial killer is and why he is so different from any other killers. In Britain it is estimated that there are between 70 and 80 known serial killers and the book will cover about 75% of them. Fortunately for us most serial killers are arrested and sentenced to very long prison sentences and of course the earlier serial killers were executed. But ...

Life in the largely rural county of Dorset has not always been idyllic, for over the years it has experienced numerous murders, some of which are little known outside the county borders, others that have shocked the nation. These include arguments between lovers with fatal consequences, family murders, child murders and mortal altercations at Dorset's notorious Portland Prison. The entire country thrilled to the scandalous cases of Alma Rattenbury and Charlotte Bryant who,...

For two centuries, the shadow of the workhouse hung over Britain. The recourse of only the most desperate, dark and terrible tales of malnutrition, misery, mistreatment and murder ran like wildfire through the poorer classes, who lived in terror of being forced inside the institution's towering walls. This book contains 365 incredible tales of fires, drownings, explosions and disasters, infamous scandals such as the Andover affair – where inmates were forced to eat the bon...

A brilliant debut novel that provides an alternative ending to Jane Eyre in Van Diemen's Land.'My name is Harriet Adair, and forty years ago on that ship I was Jane Eyre's companion. That voyage also brought me friendship with another intrepid Jane: Lady Franklin. Her husband, Sir John, the Arctic Lion, was Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land during the six turbulent years when Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester had good reason to be closely interested in the isla...