True Victorian

What if everything you admired about the Victorians—was built on denial? Beneath the lace gloves and gaslight of 19th-century England lay a darker world—one of public executions and private abuses, imperial brutality and official denial, moral posturing and systemic hypocrisy. The Dark Side of the Victorian Era pulls back the velvet curtain to reveal the crimes, cover-ups, and contradictions that polite society worked hard to ignore. From child migrants sent overseas under the banner of Christian charity to the macabre spectacles of execution day, from Parliament’s strategic silences ...

The brutal murder of septuagenarian John Templeman shocks the little cottage community of Pocock's Fields. Rumours of illicit affairs, army desertion and violent confrontations spread as the community waits to see who will be sent to trial. An extraordinary power struggle develops between the Coroner, leading the Inquest, and the Police Magistrate, leading the Inquiry. As the case reaches a crisis point, just how far will the authorities be willing to go to bring the perpetrator to justice?

Step back into the gaslit alleys of Victorian London, where a shadow known only as Jack the Ripper unleashed a reign of terror that haunts us to this day. In the autumn of 1888, the impoverished district of Whitechapel became the hunting ground for a phantom. A series of brutal, ritualistic murders of destitute women exposed the dark underbelly of the world's wealthiest empire and launched one of the most intense and frustrating manhunts in history. The killer was never caught, leaving behind a terrifying legend and a perfect, unsolved mystery. This meticulously researched book cuts through...

“A tour de force of storytelling.” —Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Gamache series “Jobb’s excellent storytelling makes the book a pleasure to read.” —The New York Times Book Review ”When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of...

This story of the Elgin marbles re-creates in full detail "the greatest art theft in history." Almost 200 years after they were "purchased" from Greece, the finest and most famous marbles of antiquity still remain a burning issue. This compelling, controversial story of the Elgin marbles re-creates in full and colorful detail "the greatest art theft in history", a steamy tale of obsession, intrigue, adultery, and ruin.

Who lived to regret her "deathbed" confession? Was Amelia Dyer mad or wicked? Why did the judiciary look compassionately on women who committed infanticide? Among over 80 women whose stories appear in this book, some were tragic; some were evil; some were mad; and several were undoubtedly innocent of the murders for which they were hanged.

THE LEGEND REEXAMINED – THE CRIME THAT SHOCKED A NATION RETURNS TO THE STAND On the sweltering morning of August 4, 1892, a scream shattered the stillness of Fall River, Massachusetts. Within minutes, a quiet home on Second Street became the most infamous address in America. Inside lay Andrew and Abby Borden—bludgeoned, brutalized, and left to bleed on the polished floors of their own home. Standing in the doorway was their daughter, Lizzie Borden—calm, pale, and soon to be accused of the most sensational crime of the nineteenth century. Axed: The Untold Shocking True Story of Lizzie ...

Former lovers become reluctant allies in this delightfully witty historical rom-com from the bestselling author of A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem—for fans of Evie Dunmore, Enola Holmes, and Netflix's Bridgerton! England, 1867: As half of the writing duo behind England’s most infamous...

August 1893. A young heir lies dead on a Scottish Highland estate. A loaded shotgun. A trusted tutor. Life insurance policies worth twenty thousand pounds, signed mere days before the fatal shot. The local authorities call it a tragic accident. Sherlock Holmes takes the next train north. At Ardlamont Estate in Argyllshire, Holmes and Watson uncover a crime of breathtaking calculation — and beneath it, something far larger: a systematic industry of fraud reaching from the Highland glens into the drawing rooms of London's most powerful men. Alfred Monson is meticulous, well-connected, and ...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a lady in danger must be in need of rescue, but whether she wants to be rescued is up for debate—for fans of Evie Dunmore and Netflix's Bridgerton from the bestselling author of A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem! England, 1867: Miss Poppy...

Locked doors. Broken vows. Women branded “mad” for defying their husbands. In Victorian Britain and America, lunacy law became a weapon of silence. A wife who spoke too boldly could be signed away by a husband’s word, shut behind asylum walls, and erased from public life. But some women fought back. This gripping true history reveals: • Scandalous courtroom battles that shocked Parliament and the press. • Georgina Weldon’s flamboyant crusade, turning her near-confinement into a public spectacle. • Elizabeth Packard’s defiance, transforming her own imprisonment into a ...

In August 1892, two people were brutally murdered inside a locked house in Fall River, Massachusetts. The case that followed would become one of the most enduring mysteries in American history. Lizzie Borden: A True-Crime Historical Account returns to the original record to examine what is known—and what remains uncertain—about the deaths of Andrew and Abby Borden. Drawing exclusively from police reports, inquest testimony, trial transcripts, and contemporary accounts, this book traces the lives, routines, and tensions within the Borden household, the events of 4 August 1892, and the ...

The year is 1888 and a brutal serial killer stalks the streets of London. For the first time, the press realise if it bleeds it leads... Using press reports from the time The Ripper Reports reveals the crimes of Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel Murders as events unfolded. If you already know the Ripper crimes, this book reveals the fallacies, misinformation and conspiracies initially reported as events unfolded and England’s first serial killer was revealed to the world. If you are new to Jack the Ripper you can experience the rollercoaster of news revelations as the horrified ...

British true crime history told through railway murders, canal killings, river bodies and road crimes — from Victorian Britain to the modern commuter age. Bodies in Transit is a dark, documentary collection of fifteen true crime cases about the journeys that became crime scenes: sealed railway compartments, canal boats, left-luggage offices, bridges, tunnels, country lanes, burning cars and the dangerous last mile home. From the first railway murder of Thomas Briggs and the Brighton Line Murder to the Thames Torso Murders, the Green Bicycle case, the Blazing Car Murder, the A6 Murder and ...

The Whitechapel Murders Were Not a Mystery. They Were a Systemic Collapse. Forget the conspiracy theories and the legends of a criminal mastermind. Step into the brutal, mechanical reality of a police machine pushed beyond its operational limits. In 1888, London was the largest industrial city on Earth, yet it was policed by an infrastructure designed decades earlier for basic crowd control. When a calculated predator began operating in the East End, the Metropolitan Police did not simply fail to catch him—the entire investigative apparatus suffered a catastrophic system overload. In The ...

When Leana Farlow's sister vanishes after eloping with a Colorado rancher, Leana leaves her polished Kansas City life to follow the trail. Her only lead is Simeon, the jilted fiancé whose piercing gaze and steady resolve spark questions in her heart she's not ready to face. Simeon Morgan never wanted love—just a wife in order to secure his inheritance. Yet when Leana arrives searching for her sister, guilt drives him to help, and her vulnerability stirs something unexpected, making Simeon wonder if his heart is truly off-limits. As their search leads them through perilous terrain and ...

The Victorian Mind Was Not a Soul. It Was Malfunctioning Machinery. Forget the ghost stories and the gaslit myths of haunted asylums. Step into the brutal, mechanical reality of 19th-century criminal lunacy. The industrial expansion of London produced cities dense enough to magnify every social instability. The courts could hang murderers, but execution was a terminal output, not a diagnostic tool. It did nothing to explain why certain individuals were immune to the deterrence of the gallows. In The Victorian Alienist: The Medical Reality of Criminal Insanity, Glenn S. Martinez reconstructs...

An intrepid female reporter matches wits with a serious, sexy detective in an award-winning author's fun and flirty historical rom-com, perfect for readers of Evie Dunmore, Julia Quinn, and Tessa Dare! England, 1865: Newspaper columnist Lady Katherine Bascomb finds herself the subject of...

A Victorian Saga of Brotherhood, Loss, and the Sea In the shadow of the Barnstaple workhouse, two brothers are forced to grow up far too quickly. When Margaret Hale leaves Thomas and Samuel behind with nothing but a promise, the boys must navigate a world where survival comes before childhood. Inside the harsh system of the Victorian workhouse, they learn a brutal truth — that kindness is scarce, and hope must be protected at all costs. But through hunger, hardship, and separation, one thing never falters. Their bond. As the brothers fight to carve out a future beyond the workhouse walls,...

On the morning of 31 August 1888, a carman named Charles Cross found a woman lying in Buck's Row. He thought she was a bundle of rags. Her name was Mary Ann Nichols. She was forty-three years old. She had five children, a failed marriage, a pair of cracked boots, and a new black bonnet she was enormously proud of. The night before she died, she laughed at the lodging-house deputy and told him she'd soon have her doss money. She never came back. Mary Ann Nichols sold her bonnet to pay for a bed. Annie Chapman made paper flowers with arthritic hands when her lungs allowed it. Elizabeth Stride...