Crippen: The Mild Murderer

by Tom Cullen

The Mild Murderer, Dr. Crippen Case

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Crime, Biography

240 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 1977

Reviews

[Katherine Addison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I came across a quote from Robertson Davies the other day which sums up perfectly my feeling about Cullen, as about several other true crime writers: "She was worse than a blabber; she was a hinter. It gave her pleasure to rouse speculation about dangerous things." This is Cullen in a nutshell. He hints, and it drives me crazy. He goes about ninety percent of the way to outlining a case that Ethel LeNeve was the actual murderer--or at the very least Lady Macbeth to Crippen's dithering--but he never comes out and says it. He keep leaving it in implications and hints, without even the decency to put it out there as frank speculation.

The book has other flaws, particularly in the hard to follow, chronologically higgledy-piggledy structure which Cullen clearly chose as providing maximum drama rather than maximum clarity. But it was interesting, if for no other reason than that it demonstrated a man could be a brutally cold-blooded murderer (unless that was Ethel), could immolate himself in self-sacrifice (even if Crippen committed the murder alone, Ethel clearly was an accessory both before and after the fact, and Crippen was willing to tell all the lies it took to get her acquitted and himself executed), and could still be banally sentimental, intellectually and ethiclly muddled, and--except for the fact of his uncharacteristic crime--utterly uninteresting.

The book also confirmed my belief that Walter Dew is not a trustworthy source for anything, and Ripperologists need to stop quoting him.

[John Lyman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a struggle to finish this book. Cullen took an interesting, at times gripping, story and made it plod along. I agree with another reviewer who said it would be nice if the author had put forth his own speculations about how the crime took place, obviously he spent a significant amount of time researching the matter. 2.5 stars would be more appropriate.

[Anonymous · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. 𝙄 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙄 𝙫𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙎𝙥𝙮. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 100% 𝙛𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣. 𝙄 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙢𝙎𝙥𝙮. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙤. 𝙢𝙎𝙥𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙣𝙮𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙞’𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨. 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙧𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙖𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙄 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛. 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙎𝙥𝙮 𝙫𝙞𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙎𝙥𝙮4@𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝙢