The Invention of Murder With its subtitle – ‘How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime’, this book traces the British public’s interest in murder as a sort of national entertainment. Though the book’s title clearly suggests we’re talking about the Victorian period (1837-1901), Ms Flanders begins her romp through the…
Category: True Crime
‘Zodiac’ by Robert Graysmith
Zodiac 1968 – a hooded mass murderer terrifies the city of San Francisco and the Bay Area with a series of apparently random and vicious killings. From his first teenage victims, shot dead in a lover’s lane, he goes on to kill at least six people, though the real figure could be as high as…
‘Kids who Kill: Kelly Ellard & Warren Glowatski’ by Kathryn McMaster
Kids who Kill: Kelly Ellard & Warren Glowatski Tormented Reena Virk, only fourteen, struggles to fit in with her peers, but when a petty argument snowballs into a fight, the bullied teenager is beaten up and killed. Members of a group known as the Shoreline Six, 16-year-old Warren Glowatski and 15-year-old Kelly Ellard are arrested…
Indie Author Interview – Kathryn McMaster
Historical crime fiction has always fascinated true-crime writer Kathryn McMaster, but how does she manage her writing career while running a farm? Your first two books, ‘Who Killed Little Johnny Gill?’ and ‘Blackmail, Sex and Lies’ focus very much on murders committed in the nineteenth century. Does this period of history still interest you and…
‘The Five’ by Hallie Rubenhold
The Five Famous for nothing more than being victims of Jack the Ripper, the reputations of five women have for years been tarnished by claims that they were simply prostitutes, sex workers who led selfish, pointless lives. But in truth, their stories have never been told. Now, Hallie Rubenhold uncovers the real lives of Polly,…
‘The Murder of Harriet Monckton’ by Elizabeth Haynes
The Murder of Harriet Monckton November 1843. A young woman, 23-year-old Harriet Monckton, is found dead in the privy behind the chapel in Bromley, Kent. It appears she died from swallowing prussic acid, but when the autopsy reveals she was also six months pregnant, the community begin to wonder who might be responsible, and if…
‘Kids who Kill: Sandy Charles’ by Kathryn McMaster
Kids who Kill: Sandy Charles When a child is murdered and horribly mutilated in the small community of La Ronge, Saskatchewan, rumours of ritual killings and satanic cults quickly spread among the townsfolk, not helped by the slow reaction of the police to find the killer. In fact, the manner of the killing is so…
‘Move to Murder’ by Antony M Brown
Move to Murder Liverpool, 1931. A telephone message is left for insurance agent William Wallace at his chess club, informing him that a Mr Qualtrough would like to meet him concerning an endowment policy. But following the instructions the next evening, Wallace finds the address he’s been given doesn’t exist. Returning home, he discovers his…
‘Kids who Kill: Cristian Fernandez’ by Kathryn McMaster
Kids who Kill: Cristian Fernandez True-crime investigation charting the shocking child murder of two-year-old David Galarraga-Blanco. When police arrest the toddler’s half-brother 12-year-old Cristian Fernandez, it seems they have caught the killer. But they also arrest Cristian’s mother, Bianella Susana, who waited eight long hours before seeking medical help for the toddler. With verbatim accounts…
‘The Stranger Beside Me’ by Ann Rule
The Stranger Beside Me Former police officer Ann Rule met a charming and charismatic young psychology student at a Seattle crisis clinic, unaware that he would become one of America’s most notorious serial killers. This is the story of their friendship and how it developed and changed between 1971 and 1989, when Ted Bundy was…
