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  • Published: 1 November 2012
  • ISBN: 9780241965399
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 300

Famous Trials: Unwanted Spouses




Abridged and refreshed, two classic murder trials from the legendary series of real-life courtroom dramas

A respectable solicitor in the town of Hay-on-Wye, harried by his troubled wife, slowly and carefully poisons her to death. Pleased with the results, he sees an opportunity for another quick-fix solution and turns his murderous attentions to his business rival...

Trapped in a marriage of convenience to an aging man almost thirty years her senior, thirty-eight year-old Alma falls in love with seventeen year-old George, when he answers her advertisement for a 'willing lad' to do the housework. It's the perfect set up - a well-disposed husband and a passionate lover - until George destroys it all by trying to get the husband out of the way...

These two classic cases of spousal murder - one chillingly domestic, the other bizarre and touching - took place in 1922 and 1935. In these brilliant reconstructions, they continue to confound our expectations of how murderers are meant to proceed.

  • Published: 1 November 2012
  • ISBN: 9780241965399
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 300

About the author

Alex McBride

Alex McBride is a criminal barrister. He is the author of the 'Common Law' column in Prospect magazine and has contributed to the New Statesman and various BBC programmes, including From Our Own Correspondent.

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