WARWICKSHIRE'S MURDEROUS WOMEN

Softcover. The female criminals of 19th century Warwickshire were far from the delicate and gentle sex of popular belief. Gangs of prostitutes lured men into the back alleys of Birmingham to rob them with extreme violence. The city reeled with shock. Psychotic servants suddenly turned on their unwitting employers with stunning savagery. It was an era when domestic tranquility could be silently stifled with a well-placed dose of arsenic. Sheer greed drove one woman to fake her mother-in-law's suicide. She had already buried 2 husbands. Another lady finally snapped after years of abuse, seeking revenge for being sold into prostitution as a child. Women found devious ways of getting rid of 'inconvenient' children but in the context of povery and alcohol. In a world that seems so distant, we still have so much in common: thwarted love affairs, callous abuse of the weak and sick, exploitation and violence. A few Victorian women were just as wicked as men. Yet many women walked free from court, the judge and jury unable to believe that they could be evil. Illus., Sources and Index. 170pp. 8vo. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F.