Did She Kill Him?: A Victorian tale of deception, adultery and arsenic

Description

In the summer of 1889, young Southern belle Florence Maybrick stood trial for the alleged arsenic poisoning of her much older husband, Liverpool cotton merchant James Maybrick. 'The Maybrick Mystery' had all the makings of a sensation: a pretty, flirtatious young girl; resentful, gossiping servants; rumours of gambling and debt; and torrid mutual infidelity. The case cracked the varnish of Victorian respectability, shocking and exciting the public in equal measure as they clambered to read the latest revelations of Florence's past and glimpse her likeness in Madame Tussaud's. Florence's fate was fiercely debated in the courtroom, on the front pages of the newspapers and in parlours and backyards across the country. Did she poison her husband? Was her previous infidelity proof of murderous intentions? Was James' own habit of self-medicating to blame for his demise? Historian Kate Colquhoun recounts an utterly absorbing tale of addiction, deception and adultery that keeps you asking to the very last page, did she kill him?

Kate Colquhoun's non-fiction titles have been shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize 2004 and longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize 2004. Her books with Little, Brown were both shortlisted for the CWA Daggers non-fiction Prize: Mr Briggs' Hat in 2011 and Did She Kill Him? in 2014. As well as writing for several newspapers and magazines, she appears regularly on national radio and television. She lives in London with her two sons.

This is a gripping, beautifully detailed story redolent with danger and impending tragedy Kate Colquhoun's account of the Maybrick case is brilliantly detailed - her knowledge of the uses and misuses of poison would put that of many pharmacists to shame - Observer The case is thrilling, the trial harrowing and Colquhoun does them justice - Daily Mail Kate Colquhoun's fascinating history . . . critiques thoroughly and carefully the attitudes of the time - Scotsman