Read full review: https://www.mwgerard.com/reviews-very-english-murders/

The story of the Crippens never seems to truly fade away. Or if it does, it resurfaces after a brief respite. In some respects, it was so utterly incredible it can barely be believed. In other ways, it has all the elements of classic mystery novel. The characters and motives are so universal they could just as easily appear in an Agatha Christie novel as a Chaucer story (if he had ever decided to dabble in crime writing). Where Erik Larson focused on the fervor of chase and the brilliance of the technology that allowed them to be captured in Thunderstruck, Rubenhold stays closer to the hearth.

Hawley Harvey Crippen was a quack doctor who made money selling “patent” medicines in the late Victorian and early Edwardian period. It was a prodigious time for these “wellness” fads and a rising middle class with at least a little disposable income were caught up in the Victorian obsession with physical health and standards.

How could a civilized, educated, professional man, who lived in a ten-room suburban house with a verdant garden, dismember his spouse’s body and then continue with his ordinary existence, catching the tramcar to his office and attending the theater? ~Loc. 4490

Crippen married his wife, Cora, whose dream was to become a stage performer. she changed her name to Belle Elmore and enjoyed a decent amount of success in music halls and theatres of turn-of-the-century London. Enter Ethel, the smart, indispensable typist at the office. She quickly became Crippen’s assistant and office manager for his fake patent schemes. The two began an affair.

For a number of years, the arrangement suited the pair, especially as Belle devoted herself even more to performing. But at some point, they wanted to be married and Belle stood in the way. When she “disappeared” after a sudden trip to California, her friends and colleagues immediately suspected Crippen and his mistress knew more than they were saying. Tales of Crippen and Ethel’s escape and trials entranced the reading public for months.

Edwardian newspapers loved a terrifying tale of true crime, and the story of what had been uncovered at 39 Hilldrop Crescent contained all the elements that readers relished. … Their narrative was both sensational and Gothic. It was not simply the dastardly, spine-tingling act of murder and dismemberment that drew public interest, but its characters and scenarios. ~Loc. 4498

Rubenhold reframes the daring crime around the women in Crippen’s life. His first wife Charlotte, who also died unexpectedly, is given her proper place in the story. He was never accused of her death, but looking back on it, it seems unlikely he was entirely innocent of that either. Belle (or Cora) is front and center under the limelight as she would have wanted. She is not merely a body to be found in the basement. She has a lively personality and strident spirit on the page. Crippen underestimated her closeness with fellow performers (at his own peril).

For her part, Ethel is far from just “the mistress.” Whether she knew of Crippen’s plans or helped him commit murder, she certainly helped him avoid authorities, participated in the escape, and refused to answer questions during the trial. She maintained her would always love him, even when the full scope of his deeds were known.

As Rubenhold did in The Five, the victims (and especially) the women, are given a proper place in the story and not just stock characters. She seeks to untangle the truth through newspapers, magazines, court records, and even interviews of Ethel’s grown children.

My thanks to Dutton for the e-galley. Read via NetGalley.

Just as in her earlier work of nonfiction, The Five (subtitled: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper), in The Story of a Murder, Hallie Rubehold delves beyond the salacious headlines and notorious infamy of the killer, and explores the events and actions leading up to the murder through the eyes of the women and other lesser known people who are part of the story. It's a tale that lives up to the adage that "truth is stranger than fiction" and gives voice to those who are too often ignored and forgotten by history.

“No murderer should ever be the guardian of their victim’s story, and yet this is the role that Hawley Harvey Crippen has always held.”

Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five, is back and this time deep diving into the North London Cellar Murder. This is a case that I had never heard of before picking up this book but was instantly sucked into once I started the story.

“Murders are horrific events— devastating, squalid and vicious. There is nothing that can mitigate the destructive impact of a life deliberately extinguished.”

Hawley Harvey Crippen was a homeopathic doctor, medicine dispenser, and swindler who was hanged in 1910 for the murder of his second wife, Cora Henrieetta Crippen, also known as Belle Elmore. Rubenhold takes us on a journey following Crippen’s life from his first wife, his second wife, his mistress, and his murder trial. She showcases the various levels of this story and all the different versions that have been told by publishers, and by Crippen and his mistress Ethel.

“Each account seems to contain at least a germ of truth, but the poetic license surrounding it makes it challenging to discern where the reality ends and the tall tale begins.”

This story sought to bring the truth about Belle Elmore to life, not just the fabricated lies that Crippen, Ethel, and others created after her murder to try and hide their crimes. It also challenged the possibility that Belle was not his first murder, his first wife Charlotte, died of a supposed stroke in 1892 at the age of 33. From the beginning, I was sucked into this tale of a medical doctor turned swindler and the murder that followed.

Belle Elmore was a very interesting woman. She was resilient and undaunted by what life threw at her. When Crippen convinced her to get an oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries) and ruined her chances of having a family, she turned that passion into her career as a singer and entertainer. She joined the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild and found a family who actually cared for her and it’s because of them that her murder was discovered. They didn’t give up or believe Crippen’s lies and they fought to find the truth which eventually led to the finding of her body. I really enjoyed learning about her story and how she made the best of her life. It does suck though that she has been sensationalized as a horrible woman who deserved her fate because of Crippen’s lies and those who believed his innocence's determination to cast her as such.

Ethel La Neve was Crippen’s typist and mistress for close to ten years. He basically groomed her into having an affair with him, which is so gross but sadly was common during that time. Ethel was an extremely interesting woman who wanted more from her life and potentially went to deadly lengths to get it. She was an accomplished liar and swindler, just like Crippen. She knew how to manipulate those around her in an attempt to get what she wanted. But, because she is such an unreliable narrator, it is very hard to determine from her many different versions of events what is true. Rubenhold does a great job at presenting these different versions and trying to parse out what might be the truth within.

While Ethel clearly had some part of this murder, she was acquitted of any wrongdoing because the inspectors really just wanted Crippen’s conviction, not hers. They viewed her as just a normal Edwardian woman who had been corrupted by Crippen and led astray. I was very surprised by this because I really thought after all the work they put into Crippen’s case that they would try to convict Ethel just as hard, but it was the opposite. Ethel lived a life after the trial and eventually would marry and have children, children who never knew about her past, which is very surprising. I really like that Rubenhold included Ethel’s life after the trial, especially considering she was interviewed multiple times afterwards and presented all new lies to the world.

Crippen’s trial was very well publicized and documented.. He really tried to sensationalize his love for Ethel in the hopes it would sway the courts to not hang him. This book provides quotes from his letters and the trial that really helped showcase the different sides of this man, especially that the man who didn’t really seem remorseful. Like everyone, there are multiple sides to each person and I think Rubenhold really does a great job at showcasing that for Crippen, Ethel, and Belle. She doesn’t just present one side of the story, she attempts to present all of it, which I think she sums up perfectly in this quote.

“It feels uncomfortable to acknowledge nuance in something so atrocious as a murder, but human beings are morally ambiguous creatures and therefore nothing is ever as straightforward as we would like it to be…Ethel was a devoted sister and mother; Crippen was once just a young man who wanted to be a doctor; and Belle was not perfect. However, she does not deserve to be depicted or remembered in the manner that she has been. Her murderer should not have the final word.”

Overall, just like her first book, I was absorbed into this story of murder and I couldn’t put it down. While I may have never heard of this murder before, I still loved getting sucked into all the different layers that lead to the death of a Belle. I highly recommend this book if you like reading about murders and true crime.

TW: abortion; murder; sterilization; grooming; miscarriage; disturbing medical discussions and procedures for women; domestic abuse;

If you look up Dr. Hawley Crippen on Wikipedia you'll learn that his first wife, Charlotte, died of a stroke, that he worked for a prominent homeopath, and moved to London with his second wife. There, she had a brief affair with a fellow entertainer and, "in response," so did he with typist Ethel Le Neve. Until the very end, Dr. Crippen proclaimed his innocence of his wife's disappearance.

This is the "tragic downfall" narrative that has been repeated and accepted since 1910, with Dr. Crippen's perspective and testimony firmly at the center. However, by re-examining the often dismissed statements of Belle's friends and family, Rubenhold reveals a much darker, more sinister Dr. Crippen.

Crippen was kind and sympathetic, but also cunning and manipulative. He was a grifter, a professional liar, who used his medical knowledge to sell sugar pills under the guise of homeopathy. He put both his wives under the knife, the first for two botched abortions and the second with a forced sterilization. He often acted the submissive husband to satisfy inquiring neighbors.

But besides Rubenhold's engaging, gripping narrative style - of which I have become a fan - I appreciate that they never twist, exploit or exaggerate the facts. Dr. Crippen's words and actions are still incorporated, but are verified and scrutinized rather than taken at face value. This is the story of a murder, not the murderer. I also appreciate that Rubenhold acknowledges the personal flaws of the victims, especially that of Ethel Le Neve, while still validating their experiences. To view them otherwise as pure and passive Edwardian maidens would be hypocritical. Another stellar read from one of my favorite authors!

First line: No murderer should ever be the guardian of their victim’s story, and yet this is the role of Hawley Harvey Crippen has always held.

Summary: Belle Elmore, wife of Hawley Harvey Crippen and vaudeville actress, was found buried in the basement of her home in July 1910. In Story of a Murder Rubenhold examines the women involved with the case and details out the events leading up to the arrest of Crippen for the murder of his wife. For years writers have placed the blame on Belle for her own death but Rubenhold gives back her story while breaking down the subjects of class, misogyny and the role of women in Edwardian society.

My Thoughts: As with The Five Rubenhold gives back the humanity to her subject. Her latest work dives deep into the Edwardian world and the murder case that captivated the masses on both sides of the Atlantic. I had never heard of the Crippen murder which gave me no preconceptions going into the narrative. The story starts out with Crippen’s life, education, work experience and first marriage. As she builds on these points we see the path leading us to the winter of 1910.

I find Rubenhold’s writing to be superb. I easily get drawn into the story as if I was reading fiction. Belle was not perfect and Rubenhold doesn’t try to portray her that way. She had flaws but nothing she did gave Crippen the right to do to her what he did. After Belle’s disappearance I loved how the research showed her friends doing all they could to find answers. The persisted against the male dominated world to try and find justice for their friend. It shows how much this woman meant to those around her.

The other woman the author examines is Crippen’s mistress, Ethel Le Neve. What did she truly know about the events surrounding the death of Belle Elmore? As the evidence is laid out and the narrative given for years is challenged, it leaves the reader questioning Ethel’s role in Belle’s death. We are taken through Ethel’s life and choices on her way to meeting Crippen. This new insight into the case gives a whole new dimension to the woman who was only considered a bystander at the time.

I highly recommend this to anyone who loves a true crime story and women’s history. After reading it let me know what you think! Are you convinced by Rubenhold’s assessment or do you stand with the courts of Edwardian England?

Story of a Murder by Hallie Rubenhold offers a gripping and nuanced exploration of the lives of three women at the heart of one of history's most notorious criminal cases. Set against a backdrop of rapid societal change, the story delves into the lives of Charlotte, Crippen's first wife, whose mysterious death set off a chain of events; Ethel, his mistress, who feigned ignorance while fleeing with Crippen disguised as his son; and Belle, the woman whose life was tragically taken by Crippen.

For decades, the story of the Crippen murder was framed to cast doubt on his guilt and to blame his wife for her own demise. Shockingly, Crippen’s young mistress, Ethel, was often portrayed as an innocent bystander in the crime. However, new evidence uncovered by Rubenhold challenges these longstanding assumptions and reshapes the narrative, offering a radical rethinking of the case. This book reveals the untold stories of Charlotte, Belle, and Ethel, showing that they were far more than the passive victims history has long depicted. Through this reexamination, Story of a Murder also critiques Edwardian views on women, class, and society, reshaping our understanding of this infamous event.

This is an exceptionally well researched and well written book. It really turns this story around and presents the story of the women rather than the story of the murderer. It delves into the women's lives to provide context to their stories rather than relying on the narrative of a murderer. Really well done non-fiction that I gave 4.25 stars.

Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin Group Dutton for my advance reader copy. This book comes out on March 25, 2025.

Hallie Rubenhold is excellent at crafting historical true crime stories, and exposing the humanity of victims and the people involved in these cases. As the book title says, this is the story of a murder, not a murderer, and it's really well done.

Compelling, emotional, and profoundly illuminating, ‘Story of a Murder’ challenges the existing story of Dr Crippen by focusing instead on Charlotte, Belle and Ethel; the women whose stories have previously appeared as footnotes to the man who manipulated them.

Rubenhold has excavated these women from the confines of a deeply misogynistic history and offers a novel insight into their lives with all the mess and complexities of real people. This is a masterful work of narrative nonfiction and one I have found myself thinking about long after I had finished it.

Thank you to Penguin for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an excellent book. I really enjoyed reading it. The author did a good job with it. I will look forward to seeing more from her.

In "Story of a Murder," her latest book on sensational British crimes, Hallie Rubenhold explores the 1910 case of the murderous Dr. Hawley Crippen, who absconded with his “lady typist” after burying the remains of his inconvenient wife in the cellar. As with Rubenhold’s earlier work, "The Five," a ground-breaking exploration of the lives of Jack the Ripper’s victims, "Story of a Murder" focuses on the women in Crippen’s life, telling their stories with depth, insight and empathy. A welcome departure from the run-of-the-mill “true” crime books and a breath of fresh air for a stale, tawdry genre. Well-written and suspenseful. An excellent prospect for film or TV.

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There is something in the British national character that loves a good murder story told and retold with increasing dollops of fiction, stated with unwavering confidence until the killing becomes an epic tragedy carved ever deeper into the cultural consciousness.

But as Rubenhold says: “The process of rarefying a crime into a legend removes all nuance” and it is her gift to upend such stories that everyone thinks they know by telling them in a way that is utterly new. "The Five" (2020) tosses the customary narrative about the Whitechapel murders into the bin, using the victims to explore the social history of the era. The biographies take the women up to almost the moment when they have their encounter with the killer and no further. There is no blood, no gore and no speculation as to who the Ripper might be.

This deliberate omission of the killer has provoked walrus-like bellowing from certain male quarters of “Ripperology” and whenever I recommend "The Five" as a model of what a literary “true” crime book ought to be (which is often), I receive rebukes and huffy tut-tuts from some Ripperologists over the affront that a woman author should dare to write about their murders and even worse, leave Jack out of the story entirely.

"The Five" is such a truly remarkable book that I could not imagine what Rubenhold would do for an encore. But she has done it with "Story of a Murder."

Unlike Jack the Ripper, who remains unseen in "The Five," Crippen plays a role in "Story of a Murder," but it is a secondary one. Rubenhold delves into his American roots (Crippen was born in Michigan; his father and son lived in Los Angeles), his abandonment of a somewhat respectable medical career and descent into a patent medicine huckster and all-around fraud in London. And yet Crippen is a pale, bland, dull little man with spectacles, a droopy mustache and a bowler hat. He embodies the utter banality of total evil, as a professor friend who teaches courses on evil might say.

In contrast, Rubenhold paints vivid and carefully delineated portraits of the two female leads: The victim and Crippen’s culpable co-conspirator. There is the inconvenient spouse, the flamboyant Belle Elmore, a frustrated opera singer turned vaudevillian and music hall entertainer with a penchant for expensive costumes and jewelry, and a generous heart for benevolence. And the young “lady typist,” Ethel Le Neve, increasingly frustrated at her neglected corner of the love triangle, who is exonerated while her lover goes to the gallows, but bears the mental scars of their murderous affair for the rest of her life.

Rubenhold also proves herself capable of writing a suspenseful page-turner. Will the fugitive lovers make their escape or will ever-diligent Scotland Yard capture them as they flee the country? And yes, reporters were obnoxious sensationalists even then.

There is, of course, also an element of the British national character that takes a staunch, contrarian attitude toward their favorite murders. Was Jack the Ripper a member of the royal family? Do recent DNA tests point to a real killer? This has become part of the Crippen epic as well: Were the remains found in the cellar that of his wife or someone else? Did Belle Elmore simply walk out of the house with nothing but what she was wearing and die of pneumonia on a ship to America? Or was it in Los Angeles? Or San Francisco? Was an innocent man hanged?

Rubenhold addresses these issues with an appendix to the book in which an expert critiques a DNA test that might indicate the scant remains in the cellar were not those of Belle Elmore. More important, Rubehold examines how the story of Crippen has been told over the years: The transformation of his wife, Belle Elmore, into an insufferable harpy and adulterous spendthrift who brought her murder upon herself; the portrayal of Crippen as a horribly wronged man, a gentle, romantic soul who only ached to be with the woman he loved, Ethel Le Neve, the long-suffering “lady typewriter.”

My personal curiosity, as a writer with some experience at the crossroads of history and legendary crime, was to see how Rubenhold handled the huge cast of characters, how she treated the context of the case by portraying the era without being overwhelmed with intriguing but irrelevant details, and how she sampled trial testimony rather than using extended quotes that veer quickly toward tedium. And most of all how she portrayed Belle Elmore and Ethel Le Neve so thoughtfully and with such depth. Rubenhold’s postscript (“The Last Word”) is by itself worth reading as an examination of how repeated retellings by unscrupulous authors transform a complex crime with three-dimensional individuals into flat, palatable folklore where “good” and “bad” are sharply demarcated.

Thoroughly footnoted with a robust bibliography, "Story of a Murder" is another model of what literary “true” crime ought to be: a refreshing read appealing even to those who don’t care for “true” crime and a guide for any writer contemplating a project in vintage murder.

Another must read from Hallie Rubenhold!

After reading The Five, I’ve eagerly anticipated another book from Rubenhold and Story of a Murder is well worth the wait.

Rubenhold’s writing makes for easy reading even if the subject matter is horrific. I particularly enjoy how the focus of her work is primarily on the victims and not the perpetrators as well as the amount of research done, which is clearly evident in the list of references alongside the “cast” list at the beginning of the book.

For me, the only thing that let the book down was a lack of pictures which would have created additional depth to the story. Otherwise, an incredible book well worth reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC.

I did not know a huge amount about Dr Crippen and his crimes, so this was a real eye opener of a book. Once again, Hallie Rubenhold has really brought to life the victims of horrific crimes. Crippen comes across as a small horrid man, a crook and a scammer and Belle is illuminated as a woman who was loved, respected and fought for. I found myself cheering heartily for the women of the Music Hall Ladies' Guild as they insisted that Belle be found and avenged. The early part of the book is a bit slow because the sources are so scarce but it really picks up when Belle and Crippen move to London and meet Ethel.
Another real banger from a fantastic feminist historian.

I always go into non-fiction ready to be bored and am always happy when I'm not. This is another example of not being bored! I absolutely loved Hallie Rubenhold's "the Five", I really appreciated the life she was able to give back to the Jack the Ripper cases (something that is so rarely done). Seeing this book, and knowing it was also going to be more victim-centered than perpetrator-centered I was ready to dive in. I love historical true crime, mostly cause it adds that extra layer of mystery and "will it ever really be solved", but having it told in a way that positively displays the victim is also so enlightening. Another thing I truly appreciated was in the epilogue, Rubenhold spent most of the time showing how Bell was majorly labeled as a fiend, a harlot, a menace to society with her New Woman ways when in reality she was a progressive woman, a beloved sister and daughter who was robbed of her youth and life.

In terms of this book, there are only a few minor things I have fault with (please bare in mind that I was kindly provided with an uncorrected per-proof so nothing is official yet). Firstly I. WANT. PICTURES. I had to go on the deep dark web (read Wikipedia) so find photos of the cast of characters but I would have preffered seeing them as I was reading. I also found that Ethel was introduced a little too soon into the narrative and I was a little lost at who she and her sister Nina where and how they fit into the story. There were also a few spelling/grammar issues but I'm not too worried about that (unless they get published)

In terms of the story and my thoughts, Crippen totally did it. And if Ethel wasn't completely complicit she absolutely had some involvement. No woman is moving in with her lover after his wife ~mysteriously vanishes~ at an all too convenient time and doesn't think twice about it. Also, even if she didn't after a while the very strange smell coming from the Unfinished Cellar (TM) sure as heck would give something away. Not convinced still? Let's flee the country, but you need to dress as a boy!! For heaven's sake my girl, she knew something if not everything.

Thank you Netgalley for this super interesting read!!!

I was very interested in this - for what it proclaimed to be: the story of a murder. Instead, I found it to be primarily a story about women's lives in the 1900s - and while that is a worthy story to tell and interesting in its own right, it is not what I thought I was requesting... The blurb made this sound like it was primarily about the murder investigation, and it made it sound much more fast-paced and exciting than I found it to actually be. If I had known that it would be a more methodical exploration of the period, I would not have requested it. This was definitely a wrong book-wrong reader situation...

I don't think we, as a book loving society, give enough credit to historical true crime authors. Investigating crime is hard enough when it just happened. Trying to untangle names, aliases, and relationships and then presenting it to the reader in an understandable way is a tall task. When I saw that Hallie Rubenhold (who wrote The Five, one of the best historical true crime books of all time and yes, I said what I said) had a new book coming out, I was instantly excited. I was right to be!

Story of a Murder is about Dr. Hawley Harvery Crippen, his wife Belle Elmore, and the "other" woman Ethel Le Neve. A good amount of the names I just mentioned are not their born names, but it just goes to show the links Rubenhold has to go to make this entire story readable. Crippen was constantly moving around, changing titles, names, and, well, wives. His record in marriages would make even Henry VIII blush.

If you are looking for Rubenhold to turn the genre on its head once again like she did in The Five, then you will be disappointed. However, you shouldn't be. Rubenhold instead takes a notorious case and tells it completely. Each person is given the respect of a full backstory even if they don't deserve it. The first half of the book feels almost like a dual or even triple biography and then of course Belle disappears. What happened? Well, exactly what you expect. This isn't about whodunit. It is about understanding who these people are and how it happened. This narrative is thorough and readable. I highly recommend it.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Dutton Books.)

I like the way this author writes. Having read THE FIVE, I wanted to read this one based solely on how much I liked The Five and I was not disappointed. I will recommend this also when I recommend the Five. GREAT read.