Member Reviews
The Victorian Murderesses gives a chilling insight into these women’s lives.
We are given the circumstances that caused them to commit there murders and are taken through there trials.
If you are curious about Victorian history especially the darker side this is a fascinating and sometimes a horrific look into the past.
My thanks to the author, publisher and netgalley for this early copy.
This book is super interesting and you cannot put it down! My interest in Victorian murderesses is that examining the conditions surrounding it reveals the social conditions of the time more accurately than any other indicator. In early 20th cent. Alexandria (Egypt), two sisters murdered countless women for their gold and buried them in their houses (they moved a lot). The families of these women were ashamed to report the missing women for fear of shame - so the murders went undetected for many years. The research in Victorian murderesses is thorough and the writing is clear. The author holds the narrative very well. Now if you love reading mysteries, this is your book!
From Kate Binder to Lizzie Borden the Victorian era True Crime stories in this book are not copy and paste… I repeat they are not copy and paste they are well researched with multiple things I didn’t already know about the stories. This is a hodgepodge of international female criminals some I had heard of and others I did not but all are very interesting. This is a book I totally recommend to any True Crime fan. I received this book from NetGalleyShelf and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own.
This was a well written and often dark story of women who murdered in the vistorian era and bizarrely it was really enjoyable, which always seems odd when you are discussing true crime. There were some owmen in here that I had heard of such as Mary Ann Cotton as I had seen a drama based on her crimes and Lizzie Bordon, and some that I hadn't heard of such as Mary Ann Brough, Jane Toppan and Kate Bender but reading this book made me want to find out more about them.
Debbie Blake does a killer job of researching, writing, and contextualizing the 19th century female killers in this book.
Victorian Murderesses includes the entire story of each woman's life, including the reasons that they committed each murder. British and American murderesses are including Lizzie Borden. Money, sex, and anger are prime motivators.
The 19th century was a time when the idea of a woman committing an act of homicide was abhorrent to all since women were not thought to be capable of such madness.
This book adds to the body of work in Women's Studies, women's lives and the cultural milieu that could not see women as killers - and once they were thought to be so - the animals that they are then seen as.
I loved this book. I cannot wait to purchase the actual book. An interesting account of Victorian murderesses that will interest any true crime or history fan. This book was so entertaining and informative!