Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Doctor Crippen.
Hallie Rubenhold‘s latest examination of historical crime tells the story of one of the most notorious murder trials of the late Victorian period and the early twentieth century era. Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen murdered his wife and fled the country with his lover Ethel le Neve only to be caught and sent back for trial. This book is not about Crippen so much as the women in the story, busting myths, misogynies and sensationalism to find the real people at the heart of a tragic tale. Story of a Murder avoids making the killer the focus of the narrative, it does not revel in the fascination some have for the way he was caught. This is not about the public clamour for titbits during his trial and that of Ethel le Neve. It challenges how this has been handed down for a century. As with her previous book, The Five, which told the story of the five women murdered in 1888 by Britain’s most notorious serial killer, this is the story of Crippen’s tawdry callous crimes through the lives of the women involved. His lover Ethel le Neve, his wife Belle Elmore and, the the much less well known first wife, Charlotte Jane Bell. Rubenhold is interested in ensuring the story readers remember is that of the victims and survivors. This is about the aftermath of a brutal crime and its affect on society, it is not about perpetuating the name and fame of the killer. Aspects of Crime was granted a short excerpt from the book as the paperback edition is released. AoC chose this early passage because we think people, us included, are aware of where this story actually begins and there is a woman in America who deserves the attention of history too, Charlotte Bell.

Belle Elmore.

Crippen and Le Neve on trial.

Story of a Murder: The Wives, The Mistress and Doctor Crippen by Hallie Rubenhold is published by penguin 2/7/26