FOUL DEEDS & SUSPICIOUS DEATHS IN BIRMINGHAM.

Softcover. The author's great, great grandfather was shot down in a pub in Temple Street back in 1895. Subsequently, research gradually opened up a fascinating window into life and death in Birmingham at the start of the 20th century. It was not only his ancestors that had to come to terms with a sudden loss. Life in Victorian and Edwardian society was often difficult and frequently tragic. Long working hours, poverty and cheap gin put an intolerable stress on the people of the city and sometimes this burst out in violence. The city Coroner had his work cut out deciding whether the victim was murdered, had an accident or simply buckled under pressure and ended it all in the canal. Sometimes he found the smoking gun or bloodstained axe, but in other cases the witnesses vanished, ranks closed, and to this day we are no wiser about the sad end of some servant girl. Illus., Sources + Index. 174pp. trade size softcover. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. with no creasing to covers.