Great and Horrible News: Murder and Mayhem in Early Modern Britain

Discover tales of murder most foul with author Blessin Adams.

In early modern England, murder truly was most foul. Trials were gossipy affairs packed to the rafters with noisome spectators. Executions were public spectacles which promised not only gore, but desperate confessions and the grandest, most righteous human drama. Bookshops saw grisly stories of crime and death sell like hot cakes.

Pieced together from original research using coroner’s inquests, court records, parish archives, letters, diaries and street pamphlets, author Blessin Adams reveals the thrilling history of murder, criminal investigation, early forensic techniques, and high court trials in early modern England.

Blessin Adams traded police work investigating today’s crime in the Norfolk Constabulary for academia, tracing the lives and deaths of people in early modern England. Blessin received her doctorate following research in early modern English law and literature at the University of East Anglia. As a fan of true crime she is fascinated by historical stories of murder and justice.

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[Photo credit - Lee Dixon]