The Poisonous Solicitor Synopsis
A brilliant narrative investigation into the 1920s case that inspired Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and Margery Allingham. On a bleak Tuesday morning in February 1921, 48-year-old Katharine Armstrong died in her bedroom on the first floor of an imposing Edwardian villa overlooking the rolling hills of the isolated borderlands between Wales and England. Within fifteen months of such a sad domestic tragedy, her husband, Herbert Rowse Armstrong, would be arrested, tried and hanged for poisoning her with arsenic, the only solicitor ever to be executed in England.
Armstrong's story was retold again and again, decade after decade, in a thousand newspaper articles across the world, and may have also inspired the new breed of popular detective writers seeking to create a cunning criminal at the centre of their thrillers. With all the ingredients of a classic murder mystery, the case is a near-perfect whodunnit. But who, in fact, did it? Was Armstrong really a murderer?
One hundred years after the execution, Agatha-Award shortlisted Stephen Bates examines and retells the story of the case, evoking the period and atmosphere of the early 1920s, and questioning the fatal judgement.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781785789601 |
| Publication date: |
2nd February 2023 |
| Author: |
Stephen Bates |
| Publisher: |
Icon Books |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
336 pages |
| Primary Genre |
History
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| Other Genres: |
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Stephen Bates Press Reviews
'Meticulously researched ... a gloriously engaging romp revolving around a knotty case that boasts all the ingredients a crime fiction fan could hope for.' -- Janice Hallett - The Sunday Times
'Compelling ... There will surely be more books on this fascinating case, but it'll be hard to beat this one' - The Literary Review
'This intriguing true crime investigation looks back at the now-forgotten case and aims to answer the key question about it, whether Armstrong was in fact really guilty of the murder.' - The Sunday Times, 100 Best Books for the Summer
'Clear, engaging prose that lays out the circumstances with plenty of storytelling flair.' - Times Literary Supplement
'Immersive and compelling, The Poisonous Solicitor works at every level: as human drama, as an evocative slice of social and legal history, above all as a lucid and dispassionate presenting of the evidence about a century-old puzzle.' -- David Kynaston
'Stephen Bates puts us in the middle of an extraordinary trial for murder, when one life and many reputations were at stake. It was gripping then and fascinating now, with a shocking sting in the tale. You will read it in one sitting.' -- Marc Mulholland, author of The Murderer of Warren Street
'Marital disharmony, spare arsenic in the house, a premature death, the suspicions of nosey neighbours - all leading to the judge putting on the 'Black Cap'. Have you ever imagined you might find yourself sitting in judgement over a murder trial? Stephen Bates' gripping narrative takes you right inside one of the classic court cases of the 20th century. His page-turner lays out all the evidence for you to examine, so you feel you are actually up there on the bench - presiding over the dramatic trial of the only solicitor ever to be hanged in England. Guilty or innocent? You decide . . .' -- Robert Lacey, bestselling historian and biographer
'Fascinating ... and beautifully written. -- Zack White, History Hack A perceptive measured look ... if you read just one account of the saga, this will do nicely. Be warned, you will have a job to put it down.' - Worcester News
About Stephen Bates
Stephen Bates was a journalist for 36 years until 2012, working for the BBC, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail before joining the Guardian. A regular broadcaster, he has also written for the Spectator, New Statesman, Time magazine, the Tablet, the Church Times, History Today, BBC History Magazine and foreign publications. Royalty Inc. is Stephen Bates's eighth book. He is married, with three grown-up children and now lives on the Kent coast.
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