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Captain Murderer

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Captain Murderer, a possible relation of the Blue Beard family, weds a series of wealthy young girls that he then proceeds to kill and bake into a pie.

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1850

3 people are currently reading
131 people want to read

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5 stars
20 (19%)
4 stars
24 (23%)
3 stars
34 (33%)
2 stars
16 (15%)
1 star
9 (8%)
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Peter.
4,085 reviews796 followers
December 10, 2019
What a nasty piece of fiction! Where's the meat? is the key question in this grotesque. Captain murderer is constantly looking for young women to marry. If you read this over-the-top fairy tale you'll soon find out why. But his last wife has a special surprise in her for him. Can you guess what? A very interesting untypical Dickens story. Recommended!
Profile Image for dianne b..
700 reviews176 followers
October 4, 2016
Victorian silly creepy. This apparently was a tale young Charles Dickens was told by his favorite nanny. Several sweet young things were consumed in pies by the dastardly Captain Murderer on their wedding night. I think women are a bit more intelligent these days as this cad married, it seems, every time he became hungry, and no one was suspicious. Odd, that.
Profile Image for Rhys Causon.
987 reviews2 followers
September 21, 2020
Silly piece of Fairy Tale like horror from Dickens... don’t really know how I feel about this story really but on the surface level I enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Vaishali.
1,178 reviews314 followers
June 30, 2016
Whoah... this is one bloody, violent story! And from Charles Dickens??? Far more macabre and shocking - and funny - than Blue Beard. Very surprising... great stuff.
Profile Image for M. Rahman.
44 reviews3 followers
August 19, 2018
I don't know whom is this story for. it is too brutal for children and too silly for grownups.
Profile Image for Derek L..
Author 16 books15 followers
October 31, 2020
I've got to say that this was probably one of the absolute best Halloween reads this year! I heard the story first, in a horror short story collection, then decided to hunt for my own physical copy of the story. The images are haunting, and the story is equally haunting. This deserves to be read every Spooktober!
Profile Image for jamako.
69 reviews31 followers
January 25, 2019
A surprisingly dull and silly story. Did expect more from this.
Profile Image for Tom.
707 reviews41 followers
October 17, 2016
Bluebeard meets Sweeney Todd. Brides are baked into pies by Captain Murderer. A creepy fairytale, brides are peppered and salted for maximum taste, whilst the captain files his teeth into razor sharp points. Finally he is outwitted by the sister of his penultimate dinner, who poisons the final piecrust with toad's eyes and spider's knees. He blows up with a large explosion. Indigestion is a terrible thing.
Profile Image for Maxi Bolongaita.
350 reviews5 followers
October 3, 2016
There were only ten copies of this book in the Philippines in the mid 1980s and my mother got me one. Captain Murderer was the first book I ever learned how to read at the tender age of three and it set my reading taste for the rest of my life. In fact, I still have the very same copy and it is now over thirty years old!

The illustrations are fantastic (especially the brides before the pie!) and the story as told by the nanny to the young sickly Charles Dickens was wonderfully Victorian. I do so enjoy dark Gothic tales, so thank you, Mr. Dickens, for the gift of reading.
Profile Image for Rick West.
94 reviews
August 3, 2016
This is a Dickens tale. Much like a Grimm's tale. Murder with people being eaten. but not scary at all.
Profile Image for Ange.
353 reviews3 followers
October 16, 2022
A bit gruesome and probably not for children. Reminiscent of Sweeney Todd.
Profile Image for Yashika Sharma.
22 reviews2 followers
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January 17, 2018
It's not for the light-hearted, first of all.

After you get over the sheer brutality that is given by Dickens in the story, you finally understand the want of justice and revenge. The description, the action and the story move so quickly that it makes you wonder for a moment.
Dickens made sure that even the readers feel they want to pierce and kill 'the protagonist' in a mere one and half page story. Also, calling Captain Murderer a protagonist is also quite debatable.
All in all, it is a five-minute read, but will stay with for a long, long time.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews

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