Book reviews

Here are reviews of the latest books submitted to me. All of these can be recommended as interesting reads on the subjects.

Crimes of Worcestershire by Don Cochrane.
(Published by Amberley Publishing in 2012)

Don Cochrane takes us through 51 murder cases, plus other crimes that happened principally in Worcestershire between 1707 and 1925, with the help of contemporary newspaper accounts which give the reader the flavour of the time and the prevailing attitude towards crime and its subsequent punishment, which were so different from those of today. Worcestershire’s last public hanging in January 1863, that of William Ockold, is featured, as is the first private hanging, that of Charles Holmes in 1872, both men had murdered their wives.
This book is very readable and is also well illustrated with plenty of interesting photographs and drawings.

A Mix of Murders - Fifteen historic English cases from the 20th century by Grahame Farrell.

Published by Kembra Publications (http://kembrapublications.com/) 2012

Also available to download from Amazon for Kindle.

Grahame has researched and written about fifteen, perhaps less well known cases of the last century, all of which are still fascinating studies of human behaviour. Each story is well written and detailed and progresses logically through the crime, arrest, trial to the final outcome.

It was a book I enjoyed reading.

More Unsolved Murders by Jim Morris.

(Published by Amberley Publishing in 2012)

Jim Morris examines five unsolved cases of murder in Britain between 1931 and 1982. This book is well written and interesting, with good illustrations of the characters involved and photos of important locations. It also deals with a subject that is much less written about than the solved cases where the convictions appears to be safe. In the earliest case described a man was convicted and hanged but the evidence was, in the author’s opinion, so flimsy that it was a miscarriage of justice and left the case unsolved.

A Grim Almanac of Georgian London by Graham Jackson & Cate Ludlow.
(Published by The History Press in 2011)

This book take us on a trip through some of the gruesome happenings in the capital on a month by month basis between 1714 and 1830. Crime and punishment feature heavily in this work. Murders, treasons, many lesser crimes, executions, accidents and other interesting events are all covered in a well presented way, with some interesting and unusual illustrations, thus bringing the darker side of London’s history to life.
The authors acknowledge the use of the Capital Punishment UK website, among others in their research.

Black Country Murders by Don Cochrane.
(Published by Amberley Publishing in 2011)

Don Cochrane takes us through 43 murder cases that happened in Shropshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire between 1743 and 1888, with the help of contemporary newspaper accounts. These are always interesting because the crime is seen through the eyes of the day and are something that I too, use extensively in my writing. Capital murder trials (which generally lasted less than a day at this time) were well reported. Much of the evidence given at trials was reported verbatim by the local papers, a lot of which were published just weekly in the early part of the period covered. Like wise public hangings were also reported in detail, with the conduct and last words of the condemned covered in depth.
The book is well illustrated with a substantial number of interesting drawings and later photographs.

Derbyshire Murders by Michael Posner.
(Published by Amberley Publishing in 2012)

Fourteen cases are examined in significant depth in this interesting book, plus some unsolved murders that took place in the county. The book is illustrated with a number of broadsides which were usually published for the more interesting capital murder cases up to the later part of the nineteenth century and which were sold locally and at the place of execution. Mr. Posner also offers a social commentary on some of the events chronicled.

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I am happy to review new books on crime and punishment - please email me if you wish to send me a book for review.