Still Unsolved: Great True Murder Cases

by Richard Glyn Jones

An intriguing collection of great true murder cases from writers as diverse as Ngiao Marsh to Nancy Mitford will have readers frightened to turn the page. Reprint.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

Reviews

[E Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a collection of true murder case accounts written by a variety of writers. Most are English and
American cases from the 19th and early to mid 20th century.

Some such as the Black Dahlia and William Desmond Tayler I had heard of. Several were of mass murderers
that were never caught. In some accounts the facts pointed very definitely to a likely perpetrator, but
if they were not brought to trial or found not guilty the case is still unsolved. Most of the writers stuck
with the facts of the case and perhaps offered some theories of their own as to what might have taken
place. Some writers weaved some farfetched ideas of what happened. In "The Corpse Box from
Hell Gate, the writer made up a fantastic story with a fictitious family and a feud between their
black servants. He does say it's only a suggestion, but it has no connection with the facts of the case.

I wonder how many of these cases would still be unsolved if modern police and forensic procedures had been
available.

[Mark Higginbottom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read ....most of the cases I'd heard of and read books on before but some I had no knowledge of which made a refreshing change . .the majority of true crime fans would enjoy it I'm sure.There are many more obscure unsolved cases from history that could have been chosen over the far more well known ones here which was a little bit of a let down but I suppose there are many other books out there that fill that criteria.....

[Faye Sirs · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love true crime and unsolved mysteries but this one just didn’t do it for me. I think it might be the fact that they were very old cases, early 1900s, and the writing was written for that time so it didn’t flow well for me reading it. I really struggled through with it and finally gave up around 70% of the way through; life’s too short to keep reading a book you’re not enjoying.

[Kira · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

[Paula R C R. C. Readman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read

[Shauna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty mediocre selection of true crime stories retold by some famous writers . The standout one for me was a narration of the murder of silent film director William Taylor by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Some of the 'stories' are only 2 or 3 pages long and contain little more than a few basic facts. Most of the accounts feel very dated and have been better told by other writers The absolute worst inclusion is by Elizabeth Villiers who gives an hysterical, melodramatic and sentimental view of the murder of Rose Harsent in Peasenhall, Suffolk in 1902. She is 5 pages into the story before she deigns to provide readers with any date in which the event took place!
The best thing about this book is that it may introduce true crime readers to crimes they may not have known about and then they can find better and more comprehensive details of them in other books.

[Alyssa Oppelt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually kind of liked this. It's a bunch of stories from the past of murders that were unsolved. It is a dated book in the fact that a few were finally solved much later on, so for those that don't like reading books set near the time of the events and want more updated stories, it might not be for them. I actually had more fun reading this and then Googling Reddit articles about the mysteries and seeing either what actually happened, if there were new clues, and just general theories about the cases. I took a break in between this book to read other stuff, but when I was reading it I couldn't stop myself. It was really interesting.