The cover of the book is quite intriguing. It was what drew me to the book in the first place. I also love a good crime book, I have has a fascination with crime and especially historical ones. I like the variety of the stories and that they are short enough for a quick read.

It's always nice to find a book that looks at little known historical crimes– I was familiar with maybe half of these. That being said, the writing style was slightly amateurish, with some repetitions and circular phrasing.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Sometimes it is good to read books with multiple stories under a theme. It is something you could read in one sitting or could delve into for quickie reads. True crime stories are always fascinating and this compilation told many stories that were new to me. They included a few that were “firsts” of their kind. Since we are talking about murder and other crimes it is at best a tenuous honour.

The victims and the criminals came from all walks and levels of society. There is the architect who became the most notorious bank robber. There is the minister who turns to murder to take care of a small problem. And there is the child stolen from his front yard by kidnappers and never seen again. There are career criminal families both by birth and by choice. It is an interesting assortment of some very bad people.

Lots and lots of attributions, it is filled with narratives from the time. The writing might have been tighter but all in all it is a worthwhile read. Four purrs and two paws up.

If you like to read about true crime, this is a book well worth reading. The author examines cases of murder, robbery, burglary as well as confidence schemes. The crimes occurred in the nineteenth as well as twentieth centuries in the United States and were perpetrated by men and women alike. I found a few spelling and grammar errors in the book. I highly recommend this book to other true crime readers.

This was an interesting read, and worth the time. For true crime enthusiasts, there is an opportunity to read about some less known crimes from history, with enough detail to pique interest in pursuing further investigation if one chooses. This will be a great addition to our library collection for patrons to find information about less known criminal histories.

I feel like crime books have been letting me down. I was excited to find this title . . until I read it. It was like reading a police blotter, a police blotter by an unimaginative Sargent. There was no life to the stories. It was the same story on each person that anyone can find on the internet. Anytime there was any life to it the author moralized over things like the death penalty. I want crime, not sermons. In the end I had to force myself to finish.

I was provided an advance copy of this book by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Crime Time was a book containing tales of historic crimes. Most of them were before the 20th century. Each story was about 8-15 pages long. I have been a fan of true crime for over 2 decades and had not heard of most of these. I really liked that they were not the same criminals, revisited. I also liked the variety if criminals - murderers, thieves, arsonists. My favorite thing about this book, though, was the insights into the justice system of times gone past. Hannah Ocuish is the one that I've thought about the most - I don't want to spoil the book but my heart broke for her.

Overall, I recommend this for any True Crime fan. The length of each chapter makes it great for a summer vacation read, and the lesser known historical criminals are a change of pace from a lot of offerings that are out there.

Sometimes all we really want to read is a really good story. Crime Time: Twenty True Tales of Murder, Madness and Mayhem (Lyons Press, 2021) by J. North Conway offers just that in spades. Gathering together some of the most prolific and little-known stories of violence, robbery, and murder, Conway’s text is a fun anthology that does not cover the well-trodden ground of other, more infamous cases.
Just over 200 pages, this book is a quick and concise look at some criminal cases that captivated and terrified their contemporary societies. The cases are mostly historical British and American crimes, taking place as early as the eighteenth century. There are cases for every interest: murder, bank robbery, conspiracy, and more abound in this book. My favourite cases were either murders that I had never heard of, or that I vaguely recalled but wanted to know more about. The harrowing death of Helen Jewett in 1836, The Strawberry Basket Murder of 1786, The Factory Girl’s Murder in 1832, or the story of the killer John Webster from 1849 were all favourites of mine. As a lover of historical true crime, I particularly enjoyed this anthology. While I was less taken with the tales of robbery or kidnapping, the short, snappy nature of the book ensures that the text maintains a fast pace.
Although it might seem like a simple account of some lesser-known criminal cases, Conway’s ambitions for writing such a book are more complex. In the introduction he writes:

“crime is generally defined as an offence against public law. In 1911, English legal scholar William Blake Odgers defined crime as follows: ‘A wrongful act of such a kind that the State deems it necessary, in the interests of the public, to repress it; for its repetition would be harmful to the community as a whole.’ if we are to adhere to Odgers’s definition of crime, insomuch as we need to repress it in the desired hope of eradicating its repetition, then we must as well illuminate these lesser known crimes to be better able to deal with their horrifying recurrence. If we remain ignorant of particular crimes and their historical significance, how can we ever hope to adequately address and deal with them as a society?”

Conway directs his work here toward a nobler purpose beyond simply recounting grisly stories of criminals in days past. In some ways, he is successful in his ambition. He recounts cases from a period in history where the law was constantly changing, where it existed at all, and these infamous cases are watershed ones, inciting new laws or legislation that is designed to protect victims, “including opening up the debate in America over the death penalty, and legislating juvenile prosecution and kidnapping as a federal offense.” In “The Strawberry Basket Murder,” in which a twelve-year-old Pequot girl was executed for killing a six-year-old girl, making her the youngest female offender to be executed in the United States. Conway points out that, although she may have killed the girl, this does not mean her punishment was just:

“in the United states, the youngest children put to death by the government have all been children of colour. James Arcene, A Cherokee boy, was only ten or eleven years old when he was tried for committing a robbery and murder that resulted in his 1885 hanging in Arkansas. In the twentieth century, the youngest children executed were both African American: thirteen-year-old Fortune Ferguson of Florida (1927) and fourteen-year-old George Stinney of South Carolina (1944).”

Startling and deeply upsetting, Conway’s text does contain these moments of real and critical thoughtfulness in relation to criminals and their victims.
Ultimately, however, Conway’s text is essentially a collection of good stories. This book would appeal to anyone looking to learn more about British and American crime in bite-sized chunks. By no means exhaustive, these short and fast-paced crime stories are compelling and quick. If you want to learn more about any given case, Conway includes both a glossary and an extensive bibliography that will guide you. His book, however, is not the place for a thorough account. He provides the details and little else, but that is precisely what made the book interesting to read, and the opportunity to seek out additional sources is an excellent compromise.
Crime Time was a lot of fun, and its twenty interesting, harrowing, and at times unbelievable stories were cleverly presented.

Please add Crime Time to your Goodreads shelf.
Don’t forget to follow True Crime Index on Twitter and please visit our Goodreads for updates on what we’re reading! You can find Rachel on her personal @RachelMFriars or on Goodreads @Rachel Friars.
About the Writer:
Rachel M. Friars (she/her) is a PhD student in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She holds a BA and an MA in English Literature with a focus on neo-Victorianism and adaptations of Jane Eyre. Her current work centers on neo-Victorianism and nineteenth-century lesbian literature and history, with secondary research interests in life writing, historical fiction, true crime, popular culture, and the Gothic. Her academic writing has been published with Palgrave Macmillan and in The Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies. She is a reviewer for The Lesbrary, the co-creator of True Crime Index, and an Associate Editor and Social Media Coordinator for PopMeC Research Collective. Rachel is co-editor-in-chief of the international literary journal, The Lamp, and regularly publishes her own short fiction and poetry. Find her on Twitter and Goodreads.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

As a bit of a true crime buff, I'm always interested to learn about interesting historical crimes. A few of the criminals in this collection were familiar to me but I learned a lot as well. Each case represents a change in forensics or criminal justice. A few of them are told with an air of near admiration that was a bit concerning.

If you like true crime, this one brooches historical cases you may not know much about. Reading this one was easy, as they're 20 unique stories. You can put it down and walk away or read it all in one swoop.

Crime Time contained twenty summaries of various crimes from around the turn of the century (mid 1700s to early 1900s), with a focus on New England and New York City.

The summaries themselves were a solid peek at the crime committed, the investigations and the results (if any). The author chose to not go in a more salacious direction, unlike some crime anthologies and compilations, which resulted in a slightly drier, more analytical read. This approach made the summaries feel more direct in terms of narration, rather than twisting through the various personalities of the criminals. (That approach can sometimes overshadow the crimes being discussed, as can be seen in other true crime works).

Overall this was an informative read. While some crimes are more well-known (such as the Sophie Lyons case), others are a bit more obscure.

Recommended for readers that enjoy true crime writers such as Jerry Bledsoe and Diane Fanning.

An interesting compilation of lesser known crimes, this collection was a quick read that taught me a few things while being just engaging enough to hold my attention. A good bathroom or coffee table book to have on hand, or in my case something to help edge out of the dreaded reading slump.

Thank you for the lessons about lesser known crimes! This criminolgy student appreciated it!

This was a pretty interesting read...didn't have the "usual suspects" that are normally covered in a true crime book such as this. :)

Crime Time: Twenty True Tales of Murder, Madness, and Mayhem
By J. North Conway
Lyons Press, 23 April 2021


From the publisher:

CRIME TIME is a collection of 20 riveting, page-turning historic true crime stories from 1724 to 1913 covering a host of monstrous American and English criminals, their crimes and their punishment. It includes stories of criminals-- men, women and children, whose gruesome tales have been obscured by the passage of time.

My thoughts:

I requested this book because of my interest in true crime, particularly the historical variety, and I was not disappointed. Crime Time is an interesting book that covers a variety of true crime tales over three centuries. The crimes are mostly murder and some are definitely gruesome. There is also kidnapping, bank robbery, and criminal masterminds, both male and female. Each chapter is about a different crime and since none of the chapters are over long, it is a fairly quick read. The book is well-written and entertaining. I would certainly recommend this book for those who enjoy historical true crime.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lyons Press for the free digital copy.

It was surprising for me that there were still some of these criminals that I have not yet heard of. The short stories were entertaining, yet informative. This was a good non-fiction pick to break up these heavy fantasy books I've been reading.

This was an interesting collection of cases that I had not previously heard of.
Fans of true crime and history books will enjoy this.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

I loved almost all the reports. A couple of these people I had hear about, one even being from my home town, bundt many were obscure tales that I want to learn more about. Anyone who loves true crime from the turn of the century should check this out!

Crime Time is a compilation of stories about crime in the early 20th century. The stories and accompanying illustrations made for a great read.

This was a fascinating read! True crime anthologies are fun to read through, and this one was well organized.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book from netgalley for an honest review #netgalley


I did enjoy this true crime I liked all the stories in it almost. Which over the years I've grown more picky. And this one I would honestly get four stars I think I found a new author to enjoy.

This is collection of true crime stories about American and English lawbreakers this time. There is a short story about each one, telling about what their crime was and what their punishment consisted of. This is my first book by this author, and I found it to be decently written for this type of subject. I'll be checking out some of his other titles in the future. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author J. North Conway, and the publisher.