Dorset Murders

by Nicola Sly

Life in the largely rural county of Dorset has not always been idyllic, for over the years it has experienced numerous murders, some of which are little known outside the county borders, others that have shocked the nation. These include arguments between lovers with fatal consequences, family murders, child murders and mortal altercations at Dorset's notorious Portland Prison. The entire country thrilled to the scandalous cases of Alma Rattenbury and Charlotte Bryant who, in the 1930s, found living with their husbands so difficult that both found a terminal solution to the problem. In 1856, Elizabeth Browne rid herself of a husband and, in doing so, became the inspiration for Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'. The mystery of the Coverdale Kennels at Tarrant Keynston, where not one, but two kennel managers died in suspicious circumstances, remains unsolved to this day. And it was in Bournemouth that Neville Heath committed the second of his two murders, which led to his arrest and eventual execution in 1946. Illustrated with fifty intriguing illustrations, Dorset Murders will appeal to anyone interested in the shady side of county's history.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History

162 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2008

About the author

Nicola Sly has a Masters Degree in forensic and legal psychology and currently teaches criminology to adult learners. She lives in South Wales.

Reviews

[Alice-Elizabeth (Prolific Reader Alice) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a spooky read and part of a British true crime through history series that has caught my interest!

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally not a fan of short true crime stories (I do love short horror stories) but I must say I quite liked this book.

People back then were just as cruel as they are now and just as now many people just stood by and watch men kill.
Stories where women kill their men and blame it on the horse to neighbours hating each other and end up killing. Plus a lot of the stories ended so that the killers were put to death.
Then there were cases where they pretended or even were crazy and there were the unsolved stories. The latter were the ones I liked least.

All in all a very interesting book.

Question about language: Spell checker tells me the bold word were is wrong and it should be where? But I feel that is incorrect?

[Cris Egger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great historical true crime stories

Having a fascination with historical true crime this book and others by this author is like actually stepping back in time and reliving these interesting and sometimes disturbing cases...