Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Coventry takes the reader on a sinister journey from medieval times to the twentieth century, meeting villains, cut-throats, traitors, witches, martyrs and suicidal lovers along the way.
David McGrory records crime and punishment in the city in all its shocking variety.
Among the many awful episodes he recalls are the brutal execution of a regicide as well as martyrdoms and a witchcraft murder in the medieval period.
He retells the story of a triple execution at Gibbet Hill, chronicles poisonings and drownings in the Georgian and Victorian eras, and describes a murderer’s lonely suicide in much more recent times.
MY REVIEW
I love true crime and when I saw that this book – Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths was focused on Coventry I downloaded a copy to read.
I work in Coventry and live not too far from the city itself and it was surprising how many of the places mentioned I drive by on a daily basis.
The book was clearly well researched and I liked the author’s use of articles from the time and how they had taken the time to source Court documents to provide extracts too.
The only downside for me was that the book focused on deaths that occurred in the 19th century in the main, when I know that there were others that could have been discussed and mentioned that were a little more recent – may be they could feature in a further book – that said it was still an enjoyable read!
It is 4 stars from me for this one – highly recommended and it was a great insight into some of the different crimes that occurred in the 19th Century in Coventry and it’s immediate surrounding area!
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