Bad Companions: Six London Murderesses Who Shocked the World - Softcover

Clarke

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0752493647 ISBN 13: 9780752493640

Publisher: The History Press, 2013

Synopsis

This book features the cases of six London women, each very different in temperament, age and status, who resorted to murder. Their reasons were varied: in the case of the surly maid Kate Webster, sheer temper seems the likely cause; avarice seemed to spur Catherine Wilson to murder an estimated seven times; desperation to pay for the upkeep of her two-year-old son lay behind Sarah Drake’s crime; seductive young cook Eliza Fenning was accused of serving poison with her dumplings; evil mistress Elizabeth Brownrigg whipped her servant to death in a home-built dungeon; and finally, the vicious Catherine Hayes persuaded two lovers – one of whom was her own son – to decapitate her husband in an orgy of violence. This fascinating study explores these cases in depth, and reveals whether these women were tragic, misunderstood or just plain wicked.

About this title

About the Author:

Kate Clarke: crime-writer and diarist: her factual books include Murder at The Priory: The Mysterious Poisoning of Charles Bravo (with Bernard Taylor), short-listed for the Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger Award; The Pimlico Murder: revised edition; Who Killed Simon Dale & Other Murder Mysteries and Deadly Service. She was involved in research for two other true crime books, one of which won the CWA's Gold Dagger Award. Also The Book of Hay (local history). All volumes of her Journal (as Kate Paul) are held in the Mass Observation, Special Collections Archive at Sussex University Library.

About this edition

• Publisher: The History Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0752493647
• ISBN 13: 9780752493640
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256