Great and Horrible News: Murder and Mayhem in Early Modern Britain

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I found it interesting about how suspicious deaths were investigated and what type of 'forensics' were available to them at the time. And her style is very good – not nearly as dry as is sometimes the case with this kind of true crime/social history. I will enjoy reading about the historical and social contexts of these (real life) stories, and welcome that the author has used contemporaneous records as the source of her information. Each individual crime is used as a jumping off point to discuss a wider topic, be it suicide, infanticide, or the abuses of the Church, and smaller stories are woven into the narrative to further illustrate the point.

This story is used as a basis to discuss women's vulnerability to their masters, the horrific misogynistic laws around bastardy and infanticide, and early forensic ways of differentiating between stillbirth and infanticide. My library gave me the option to let them know I want it added to their collection, so I did that to both the print and the audio versions. Very interesting and easy to read accounts of murder, crime and punishment in 1500-1700, particularly interesting were the accounts of trials. An absolutely macabre fascinating account of deaths of real people in London during the middle part of the last 1000 years.

Blessin Adams presents an interesting range of historical true crime cases that shed a light on the judicial system of that time as well as how society as a whole worked. Engrossing account of various criminal cases, mostly throughout the 17th Century and mostly in England. I see the audiobook is narrated by Jonathan Keeble – I’ve listened to a few of his narrations and I really like him! Adams uses each of the nine cases to highlight one or more aspects of the justice system and of the society of day.

The author uses inquests records for coroner's courts, parish archives, letters, diaries etc to put together the circumstances surrounding the nine crimes discussed in the book. I’m sorry, I didn’t take a note of the specific years in my notes, but all of them are between 1500 and 1700. It's an intriguing, informative read which I found fascinating, but please be aware of the trigger warnings as there are some sensitive subjects dealt with.This history unfolds the true stories of murder, criminal investigation, early forensic techniques, high court trials and so much more.