True Crime

The Illustrated Police News is often dismissed as a crude publication which aimed to thrill the undiscerning reader with gruesome pictures. Cruel Deeds and Dreadful Calamities sets out to correct that belief by demonstrating the diversity of its subject matter, examining its social and political agenda and revealing the power and compassion in its images.

This chilling follow-up to Essex Murders brings together more true cases, dating between 1823 and 1960, that shocked not only the county but also made headline news across the nation.

Middlesex Murders brings together numerous murderous tales, some of which were little known outside the county, and others which made national headlines. Contained within the pages of this book are the stories behind some of the most heinous crimes ever committed in Middlesex.

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.

Among the gruesome cases featured here are the doctor who was poisoned with morphine in Faversham; the couple who were brutally battered to death in their beds in Chislehurst; and the strange death of a young German man whose body was discovered with one hand missing on Ramsgate beach. All manner of murder and mystery are included here, making Kent Murders a must-read for true crime enthusiasts everywhere.

This lively and engaging book tells the stories of some of the biggest fraudsters of the nineteenth century. From the largest fraud on the London Stock Exchange - in which naval hero Lord Cochrane was accused of initiating a rumour that Napoleon had been defeated so that the value of millions of pounds worth of shares which he held would be inflated - to the extraordinary story of Mary Baker, the daughter of a cobbler from Devonshire who fooled society as 'Princess Caraboo of Javasu', this is a fascinating book.

(Paperback edition of The Crooks who Conned Millions) - This lively and engaging book tells the stories of some of the biggest fraudsters of the nineteenth century.

Contained within the pages of Gloucestershire Murders are the stories behind some of the most notorious murders in the county's history. The cases covered include the most fascinating but least known crimes, as well as famous murders that gripped not just Gloucestershire but the whole nation.

The county of Essex has rolling arable farmland, Epping Forest, sleepy villages, busy market towns and secluded backwaters - a wide variety of settings for murder. This selection of crimes uncovers not only famous cases, but also previously unpublished dramatic and tragic tales.

A history of the discovery, uses and abuses of chloroform from 1831 to the present. Chloroform revolutionised surgery, but also caused hundreds of sudden deaths, the cause of which was a hotly-debated mystery in which physicians took sides and hurled insults at each other in the medical press.