British Murder: A Compendium 1901-2000

by William Wright

George Orwell wrote a famous essay, "Decline Of The English Murder," which appeared in the Socialist weekly Tribune on February 15, 1946. He lamented the passing of the classic murderers such as Seddon, Crippen, and Smith and considered modern murder as banal, meaningless. He was wrong. No murder is meaningless. Every crime reveals something about the culprit and the victim, as this book proves. Any real study of Neville Heath, John Haigh, or John Christie—three of the most notorious psychopaths of the post-war years—reveals fascinating and, in Heath`s case especially, tragic stories. And the progress of forensics in the second half of the 20th century is a remarkable tale in itself. It becomes harder and harder to get away with murder—and yet people still think they can outwit the law; some do. The last entry is in some ways the worst; the deeds of Dr Harold Shipman, a bearded egotist who would have been a great companion for Drs Palmer, Pritchard, and Lamson in the 19th century, who proves that the children of Cain are still with us.

304 pages, Paperback

Published January 15, 2019

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Other authors publishing under this name are:

William Wright
William Wright
William Wright
William Wright, British orientalist
William Wright, Irish missionary
William Wright, Jesuit
William Wright, British aural surgeon
William Wright, British physician and botanist
William Wright, aka Bill o'th' Hoylus End
William Wright, aka Dan De Quille
William Wright (1930-2016)
Rev. William Wright (1813-1855)
William Wright (1824-1866)

Reviews

[Laura]

I was genuinely shocked when I flipped to the copyright page and discovered this was written in 2019; it reads like it's from the seventies, and I do not mean that as a compliment. 2019 and you don't know better than to call a First Nations person an "Indian?" Anyway, that's when I DNF'd.

also: "Those who pooh-pooh the likelihood of two stranglers living in the same house discount improbability, yet improbable things happen all the time. In this book of just 119 murderers we have a Donald Nielson, a Dennis Nilsen, and Ruth Ellis, formerly Ruth Neilson - history is littered with odd facts." that's one of the dumbest arguments I've ever read. I feel dumber for having read it.