Practically Perfect
Killers Who Got Away with Murder ... for a While
-
- £4.99
Publisher Description
Twisted tales of killers who almost got away with perfect murders.
A man murders the first four infants he fathers with his lover, then tries again with a fifth. Two men have three things in common: each commits what seems like a perfect murder, each marries his victim’s wife far too soon, each has an overdue appointment with the gallows. A man cuts up the body of his victim into little pieces and gets away with the crime until he slaughters another neighbour six years later.
Practically Perfect details the crimes of killers who very nearly got away with perfect murders, including the tale of Marie Beaulne, who laced her husband’s food with poison, only to be found out when a priest recalled someone else dying that way in his village. Each tale provides specific details on the planning of each murder, the events leading up to the discovery of the criminal, and the results of the trial, usually resulting in an execution.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Laurentian University law professor Brawn (Last Moments: When the Penalty for Murder was Death) presents 28 cases featuring killers who very nearly got away with their crime, drawn from cases from the late 19th century to the mid-20th. Conveniently organized into 10 categories, Brawn shows how easy it can be to get away with murder; no particular guile or intelligence is needed, given an indifferent public. In particular, he utterly rejects the model of rural life as safe; the rustics in this work often turn a blind eye to cases that do not affect them personally. Motives vary from love to mere greed, but violence links all of the cases. Brawn also discusses the aftermath of the eventual convictions, Canada relying to a surprisingly large degree on amateur executioners whose incompetence produced results as horrific as the crimes they were punishing. Also provided are detailed timelines, notes, and that rarity for true crime texts, a decent index. While Brawn's style is oddly archaic for a book written in the 21st century, he manages to include a surprising amount of information considering the book's length, getting efficient use out of the few pages he has. Readers interested in the history of murder in Canada will want to consider this book. Canadian Distribution: UTP U.S. Distribution: Ingram
