Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: October 31, 2022
Non-fiction novelist Debbie Blake introduces us to seven women in nineteenth century America and Britain, all charged with heinous crimes. Were these women insane, as many claimed? Or were they just evil? In a time when women were “the weaker sex”, these seven women broke all the stereotypes and took charge of their own lives- in disturbing ways. Mary Ann Brough and Sarah Drake killed their own children to avoid the workhouses and a life of destitution; Mary Ann Cotton and Kate Bender killed their victims and robbed them of their possessions, Kate Webster killed her employer in a fit of rage and Jane Toppan was a nurse who claimed to enjoy watching her patients die. Oh, and of course, the infamous Lizzie Borden. All of these women, some more known than others, claimed to be innocent, insane, or both, and “Victorian Murderesses” takes you through each crime, charge and trial from beginning to end.
Blake gives each woman their own chapter, and includes historical records including newspaper articles and court reports (being what they were), ensuring each woman’s story is told in its entirety. Although each woman had very different motives for their actions and some (like Lizzie Borden) claimed innocence until the end, they all had one thing in common- they were women in the nineteenth century. Women of this era were penalized for committing adultery (men were not), and if they had a child out of wedlock, their only option was to get rid of the child (by whatever means necessary) or end up on the streets. Although this does not excuse these women their heinous crimes, Blake provides substantial background for what brought these women to their breaking points.
Although I had known about some of these women from previous true crime novels, Blake provides a few new ones that had me thoroughly interested. Not only does “Murderesses” provide a historical true crime analysis of seven different murder scenes in two different countries, it also highlights the struggles and inequality faced by women in that era.
Blake writes an informative, entertaining and thought-provoking true crime story that provided me with new cases I hadn’t heard of, while adding some previously unknown information to the well-known, infamous cases, all with the backdrop of female inequality in one of my favourite historical eras. “Murderesses” is a whole new take on true crime, and I loved Blake’s creativity.

What a fantastic read this was. These women were to say the least dastardly but to know that some escaped really getting fair judgement was amazing. Since I read this I have gone on to read more about some of these women and in so doing have found other particular nasty murderesses'.
A great interesting read but at parts it needs to be said the descriptions may upset anyone who is fainthearted.

I loved Victorian Murderesses! I am a big true crime fan, and I hadn't heard of most of these cases, which is always a bonus for me. It is written well, and kept my attention throughout. I loved how in depth Debbie Blake went into each case. It was really well done. I even felt sympathy for a few of the women in the book, which is usual for me when reading true crime. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more from Blake!

I expected more of a light read, not necessarily lacking in facts but brief overviews of each woman. That was not what I got. However, I wasn’t at all disappointed by the well-researched, in-depth stories. The more details the better! I am so happy that the publisher granted my “wish” on NetGalley. As a huge fan of historical fiction, I definitely enjoyed these stories that prove that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

Ms. Blake succeeded in making this true crime stories extremely interesting and informative. Each chapter is dedicated to a murderess who lived (and killed) during the Victorian era, either in the US or the UK. The chapters (and the murderesses) are in chronological order.

The author guides the reader through time and places via an in-depth analysis of each story and crime, thanks to the details she retrieved about every murderess, her life and the trial she faced.

What I especially loved about Ms. Blake's work is the accurate historical account she gives: from an hisorical point of view, she doesn't give anything for granted, allowing every reader to contextualize the murderess and her crime, even without having any specific history background. In doing so, her approach is also highly didactical: honestly, without Ms. Blake's historical breakdown, as an Italian who only studied the history of the English-speaking countries superficially, I would probably never have known anything about the New Poor Law Act introduced in the UK in 1834 or the consequences of the Homestead Act issued by Lincoln in 1862.

Oh, and if you've heard that women usually kill by poisoning and for crimes of passion, brace yourselves: there is much more to be learnt in this book!

I was bored. Very bored. This would be an interesting subject IF the author had a better writing style. It was hard to follow and seemed as though the author wanted to write in the style of the time the book is set, almost like a boring newspaper report. It was clunky and hard to follow.

I love anything about serial killers, especially women, but this one was quite a middle of the road for me. I feel like there was a lot lacking to grab my attention and keep me hooked. It is clear that there was research done on it, however there was something that didn't work out for me. However, I enjoyed learning about the history of each woman and also before they became famous, or infamous.

Victorian women weren't supposed to even be aware of evil let alone harbour evil thoughts and worse yet, act on them. Victorian Murderesses details several nineteenth century American and British women who for various reasons committed the most heinous crimes imaginable. Motives were often financial as women had no means of their own and therefore had to do what they could to keep their children and themselves alive. Unless, of course, they killed their children for insurance or retaliation. Some killed for "love", others for sexual gratification and still others for the sake of killing.

Children in boxes, body parts in bags, people hacked to death or injected with an atropine/morphine solution to teeter on the brink of death only to be revived only to suffer through it again and again at the whim of an evil nurse who had patients' lives in her hands. Arsenic was cheap and readily available. Various households were deemed "unlucky" with several deaths and doctors could not always pinpoint the cause. A few of the women were respectable and respected such as prolific killer Nurse Jane Toppan who was an asset in surgery yet with unquestioned access to drugs relished the thrill of the kill, especially enjoying her victims' last breath. A family of killers attacked victims for their horses and other belongings. These violent crimes are just a few contained in this book. All sickening, all bewildering.

The information contained within is based on interviews, newspaper clippings, court records and letters. Back stories are given for each woman, their circumstances which drove them to kill, their methods of killing and their reasons. Some were never caught, others hung(some by notorious Calcraft who often botched hangings) while still others sent to lunatic asylums and workhouses. I like that the afters are described as well from courtroom drama, the appearance of the condemned ad the sensation the cases caused; some stories even include sad stories about affected family members who had to suffer for their mothers' despicable deeds. A few extolled the virtues of prison life with good food and safety.

True Crime readers would find this book informative and fascinating but it is not for the faint of heart as details are graphic and disturbing. Reading a chapter and doing something else before returning back to it is ideal.

My sincere thank you to Pen & Sword for the privilege of reading this difficult yet important book, giving us glimpses into the lives of these women

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As a writer of true Victorian crime myself.

I am addicted to anything Victorian, but especially true crime. Well-researched even though some of the stories were well published. I did find the chapters a little short, but a good read nonetheless.

This collection of 7 female murderers during the Victorian age is well researched and quite interesting. I have previously read about 3 of the featured women and they matched the other accounts I’ve read. The stories are short, but very detailed and fascinating. We all know about Lizzie Borden, so her story wasn’t anything new to me, but the others had back stories that, somewhat, understand what they were thinking. I recommend this book to those of you that enjoy a good murder thriller.

Being a true crime podcast listener, I gobbled this one up. The murderesses from Britain were new to me and it was interesting to read about them and their crimes. Be aware that unfortunately, many of these crimes did involve small children. That said, the crimes that most intrigued me took place in the United States, Jane Toppan, Lizzie Borden, and the Bender Slaughter Pen. The latter being one I’d never heard of and brought chills to my spine. And while I had listened on numerous podcasts’ takes on the crimes of Lizzie Borden and Nurse Jane, I felt the author’s extensive research added some wonderful details to these respective chapters. Podcasters listen up! If you need to do research on Victorian era crimes, this is the book to pick up.

My very tiny complaint would be that I had expected some sort of introduction from the author. There were none and the book jumped right into the first case. It took a little to get into-had to get use to the very matter of fact approach. Once I got the book’s rhythm, it became a quick and very enjoyable read.

A deeply interesting and enthralling read. This is a subject you certainly don’t get taught about at school and rarely see documentaries on so this was a brilliant insight into some incredibly interesting cases and in some cases, terribly brutal ones! I thought each story was really well written, but I think some photographs, drawings etc. would have helped to really link the stories to the women involved in my brain.

This book was very well done and heavily researched it seems. The author did this book justice by offering loads on info, including some transcripts from court hearings. I find that to be very impressive, I doubt I could find something that old to cite in a book. I really enjoyed how this brings to light how people have been killers forever. Plus, we are fascinated with murder as a society.
At some points I had to put this book down after feeling bogged down with so much dry information.

I probably shouldn’t write that the brutal murders have provided a fun read but I’m surprised how much I’ve enjoyed this nonfiction book with newspaper and court excerpts along with letters. Debbie Blake is a great story teller. She was able to weave facts and true accounts into each chapter and make them relatable.

Horror of these tales is their truth. These women lived and murdered and their lives are as fascinating as their crimes are gruesome.

Amazingly written with court, letter and newspaper excerpts. The women and their victims are as real now as then.

I appreciated the lack of wandering intro and liked how it jumped right in to the tales. Each tale is well seperated and lacks any theme other than murder so can easily be read as individual stories.

Grab this for a bed side table read. Another story before bed.... Or read by the fire with the lights on.

A brilliant non fiction read detailing all the crimes and the murderesses. Really riveting and fascinating to read, very hard hitting at times. Really loved it

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from Pen & Sword and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

A look back on terrifying events. This novel encapsulates several aspects of there terrible events.

It was a very fascinating read - a lot of new information. The writing and pacing was great. Very well edited.

This was a very interesting and enjoyable read. Each chapter focuses on a different murderer, giving you their background, and then their journey to begin murder, and how they carried on murdering before eventually being caught. The book then goes into the trial of each woman and what was said and the evidence etc. It was very well written and held the readers attention throughout. I’d highly recommend this book

Victorian Murderesses by Debbie Blake is an interesting read. The combination of information about the time period as well as the individuals themselves paints an informative read for true crime buffs. The book provides details of the lives of victims and perpetrators as well as background information on their family history. The quotes provided by witnesses from the time period are also helpful in creating the setting for each crime.

True crime readers who also enjoy historical reads will want to read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this advanced copy.