A very strange book, in that it’s not fiction (might have helped if I’d known that going in) but rather a true crime told in a dispassionate, documentary-style narrative based on newspaper articles and court records of the time.

Surprisingly, it remained quite gripping despite the lack of emotion. However, don’t expect a big denouement – like life, it just sort of… trickles on til it stops.

Very good bit of non-fiction that reads like a murder mystery. What is so important about the case in this story is that it change the way we see the world a bit. Lots of things where forming at the time, including:

• concept of an immediate family
• the art and use of detectives to solve a crime
• the right of someone to defend themselves
• the concept that evidence might have multiple interpretations
• sensationalism around a crime

But, it is a really good read, so if you like crime stories, try this.