This west London town has its own character—and its own deadly criminal history—from the author of Unsolved Murders of Victorian and Edwardian London. Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths Around Uxbridge takes the reader on a sinister and sad journey through centuries of local crime and conspiracy, meeting victims and villains of all sorts along the way. There is no shortage of harrowing—and revealing—incidents of evil and despair to recount from the earliest recorded history of the Uxbridge district up to the present day. Jonathan Oates’s fascinating research has uncovered some grisly events and unsavory individuals whose conduct throws a harsh light on the history of this suburban area west of London. His book records crime and punishment in all its dreadful variety. Among many acts of violence and wickedness are the burning to death of five Protestant martyrs and the execution of a turbulent priest in Tudor times, a family massacred at Denham in 1870, and several brutal murders that have never been solved or explained. Cases that stand out as particularly shocking or bizarre include a son who was killed by his mother, a woman who died after an illegal operation, the Uxbridge tea-shop murder of 1951, and a man tried for manslaughter and later murder in West Drayton, who committed suicide two decades later. This chronicle of Uxbridge’s hidden history will be compelling reading for anyone who is interested in the local history of the area and in the dark side of human nature.

Which of Greater London’s most gruesome murders happened in your street? And were they committed by Graham Frederick Young, the Poisoner of the North Circular Road, by the murderous Donald Hume, or by that monster Dennis Nilsen? Armed with this book and a good London map, you will be able to do some murder house detection work of your own.

The criminal cases vividly described by Bernard Lewis in this gripping book take the reader on a journey into the dark secret side of Swanseas long history. The city has been the setting for a series of horrific, bloody, sometimes bizarre incidents over the centuries. From crimes of brutal premeditation to those born of rage or despair, the whole range of human weakness and wickedness is represented here. There are tales of secret passion and betrayal, robbery, murder and suicide, deadly fever and mutiny, executions, and instances of extraordinary domestic cruelty and malice that ended in death. The human dramas the author describes are often played out in the most commonplace of circumstances, but others are so odd as to be stranger than fiction. This grisly chronicle of the hidden history of Swansea will be compelling reading for anyone who is interested in the dark side of human nature.

Geoffrey Howse explores the darker and sinister side of South Yorkshire's past in this diverse collection of crimes and foul deeds, taken from Victorian to modern times. Read about a shooting and 'mob rule' in Doncaster, sensational murder in Darfield, Mexborough, and Attercliffe; trade outrages in Sheffield and Rotherham, highway robbery at Wentworth, embezzlement in Barnsley and arson at Thorne. Unusual cases include a Doncaster elopement and robbery, burglaries by girls in Rotherham, the shocking killing of a police constable at Swinton and 'coal' riots and lawlessness in Wath-upon-Dearne and Hoyland. A dramatic event in Thurnscoe, a Wombwell stabbing affray and a variety of long forgotten tragedies and crimes are also explored in some detail.

The twin fascinations of death and villainy will always hold us in their grim but thrilling grip. In Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Lewisham and Deptford the chill is brought close to home as each chapter investigates the darker side of humanity in cases of murder, deceit and pure malice committed over the centuries in this area of London. From crimes of passion to opportunistic killings and coldly premeditated acts of murder, the full spectrum of criminality is recounted, bringing to life the more sinister history of Lewisham and Deptford from the sixteenth century onwards. For this journey into the bloody, neglected past, Jonathan Oates has selected over 20 notorious episodes that give a fascinating insight into criminal acts and the criminal mind. The story of one of the most famous unsolved murders in history, of the great playwright Christopher Marlowe in Deptford in 1593. is followed by a catalogue of heinous crimes of every description—political conspiracies, gang killings, murders of policemen, suicide pacts, multiple poisonings, a husband who killed his wife and four children, the suicide of a crooked councillor, a motiveless murder and two unsolved murders that are as intriguing today as they were 80 years ago. The human dramas Jonathan Oates describes are often played out in the most commonplace of circumstances, but others are so odd as to be stranger than fiction. His grisly chronicle of the hidden history of Lewisham and Deptford will be compelling reading for anyone who is interested in the dark side of human nature.

True-life tales of bloody killings and brutal crimes wind through the dark past of this historic town on the Thames. John J. Eddleston’s latest selection of notorious criminal cases takes the reader through a sequence of sensational episodes that have marred the history of Reading. His book, based on original research, recalls many grisly events and sad or unsavory individuals whose fate has hitherto been forgotten. Among the shocking crimes he reconstructs are those of the baby-farmer Amelia Dyer, the unsolved murder of Alfred Oliver, the suffocation of Beatrice Cox, the red Mini murder of June Cook, and the attempted murder of a family of five. This chronicle of the dark side of Reading’s long history will be fascinating reading for anyone who is interested in the town’s rich—and sometimes gruesome—past.

Discover the darker side of this scenic destination with over twenty true-crime tales, accompanied by photos and illustrations. Its natural beauty attracts countless visitors—but notorious cases of murder, deceit, and pure malice have marked the long history of this apparently peaceful island. From crimes of passion to opportunistic killings and coldly premeditated acts of murder, the full spectrum of criminality is recounted here. For this journey into a bloody, neglected aspect of the past, Isle of Wight historian and crime writer M.J. Trow has selected over twenty notorious episodes that give a fascinating insight into criminal acts and the criminal mind. He throws light into the shadowy world of the smugglers, pirates, and robbers who plagued the island’s early history. He recalls the escape attempts of Charles I from Carisbrooke Castle, the mysterious loss of the Mary Rose and HMS Royal George, and the scandalous conduct of Lady Worsley. In vivid, sometimes shocking detail, he reconstructs notable criminal cases, including the brutal murders that have marked the island’s more recent past. In addition, he delves into the history of the island’s three prisons—Albany, Parkhurst, and Camp Hill—which have housed many of Britain’s most violent criminals.