Victorian Murderesses

Victorian Murderesses by Mary S. Hartman. Published by Dover

June 27, 2014 by cayocosta72 Leave a comment

Originally published in 1977, this is a scholarly look at 13 French and English women accused of murder in the 19th century. At a time when women were considered helpless, delicate flowers, these crimes were particularly shocking and the press and public were hungry for the stories. Here are the accounts of the murders, the victims, their killers and the ensuing trials. A fascinating look back at crime before 24 hour news and the internet.

2.5 stars. This book should have been really interesting, but I had a lot of trouble getting into it. I didn't find the author's writing style to be very compelling, which I think was a large part of the problem for me. Also, I thought that including 2 women in each chapter and going back and forth between them got confusing at times - I would have preferred a single chapter for each subject.

Scholarly, But Fascinating

When I chose to read this book, I thought I was getting something lightweight - a scandalous, fluffy, and sensationalist book about murderesses. I had my popcorn ready.

But as I started to read, I realized that this is a serious and scholarly study of a woman's place in Victorian society, how it lead to various murders, and how society's view of women impacted the outcome of various murder investigations. And I still munched my popcorn.

This is an intelligently written and fascinating historical perspective that completely opened my eyes to life as a Victorian woman. The book really isn't about the murders per se, so if you are expecting gruesome details and salacious photos, move on. Instead, you get an in depth and very personal look into the lives of thirteen woman, as well as a perspective, based on their experiences, of life in general at that time.

Yes, there is sex (in some cases a lot of it), poison, and intrigue, but it's bracketed by a serious look at how woman were treated then - and now.

I would have wished for more photos of the woman in question (if they exist) and, yes I admit it, a little more gruesome detail, but this was a fascinating read!

great book

Loved this book and so glad to see it's been returned to print! You can't beat the highly readable scholarly treatment of these 13 Victorian murderesses. Harman does a spectacular job of bringing these women and the carnage they created into the 20 and 21st centuries as well as giving the reader an excellent feminist critique of their reception in scholarly and popular culture. Pour yourself a cup of tea and enjoy the variety of their crimes and their drive to define themselves outside the constrictions of Victorian life.

Sebbene non sia un'appassionata di true crime, la possibilità di esplorare la vita delle donne della borghesia vittoriana e la società in cui si muovevano era troppo allettante per rinunciarci; e in un certo senso questa esplorazione è tanto più interessante quanto condotto attraverso figure che infrangono l'immagine comune al tempo (e nella nostra epoca) dell'angelo del focolare, mostrando il volto sconosciuto (ma immaginabile - davvero pensavamo che passioni, desideri, dolori e aspirazioni fossero estranee a intere generazioni di donne, solo perché per convenzione si vedevano chiuse nel segreto dei loro salotti?) e innominabile della femminilità ottocentesca.

I watch the ID channel and a lot of murder shows, real and fake. I like to read about the backstory of the murders. This book just was to much. It kept going back and forth. I did like the historical pieces, but I guess since I had read bout many of these women before I was expecting something else.

I had read the novels of George Sand and I was divided between the shame of having given myself to a servant and the joy of having raised to my level a man who, according to the social laws, was in a position inferior to my own.” (Angélina Lemoine during interrogation.)

Given the title Victorian Murderesses: The True History of Thirteen Respectable French and English Women Accused of Unspeakable Crimes, I expected, well, something along the lines of sensational true crime stories, but instead, the book is a scholarly social study examining the circumstances which led to the crimes along with the attitudes of society, the judges, the juries and the newspapers. Some of the women here were convicted of their crimes, others were suspected of crimes on what seems today the flimsiest of evidence, and others who should have been convicted walked away mostly thanks to prevailing 19th century attitudes about women. This is a reprint from 1977, and portions of the book originally appeared as articles in Feminist Studies, Victorian Studies, and the Journal of Psychohistory, so that should give you a sense of the book’s scholarly tone.

The book covers 12 sensational murder cases and is broken down into six chapters with two cases linked in one chapter:

1. Arsenic and Matrimony: The Cases of Marie Lafarge and Euphémie Lacoste

2: The Waiting Games of Brides-to-Be: The Cases of Madeleine Smith and Angélina Lemoine

3. The Singular Outcasts: The Cases of Célestine Doudet and Constance Kent

4. The New Women: The Cases of Florence Bravo and Henriette Francey

5. Sex and Shopkeeping: The Cases of Gabrielle Fenayrou and Adelaide Bartlett

6. Poison, Revolvers, and the Double Standard: The Cases of Florence Maybrick and Claire Reymond.

* The thirteen women in the title include the “mother-daughter team” in the Lemoine case.

Each chapter outlines the cases against the accused women, the evidence, the outcome of the trials and societal attitudes of the time. The author emphasizes that most of the women “bungled badly in the act, and those who got away with it relied upon methods that required special circumstances and relations between the sexes.” While some of the murders were truly horrible (the case of Célestine Doudet includes child abuse), other cases generate sympathy. One of the points that the author makes is that the circumstances these women found themselves in, loveless, arranged marriages, for example, happened frequently:

The circumstances which prompted their actions, the stratagems they employed, and the public response to their reported behavior display a pattern which suggest, far from committing a set of isolated acts, the women may have responded to situations which were built into the lives of their more ordinary peers.

This is the author’s argument, and one, that is argued well: the circumstances these women found themselves in were not unique for the times–the uniqueness is found in how the women reacted to their situations. Similarly, the author argues that these women whose cases became causes célèbres “in many ways were quite unexceptional” until the crimes were committed. With their “lives thrown open to public scrutiny” some of the most shocking revelations, and those details must have titillated those crowds at the trials, were the sexual details pulled from the dark corners of marriages and examined as part of the tracing of motive.

I was quite familiar with the cases of Madeleine Smith (after all there’s a wonderful film version Madeleine) and Constance Kent, while the other cases were either recognizable just by name or completely unknown. If you’re looking for the nitty gritty details of the crimes, then this isn’t the book for you. as the book examines the “accused murderesses as women rather than as criminals.” Included are some fascinating facts and figures:

For example, in England from 1855 to 1874 the annual totals of women tried for murder, which ranged from twelve to forty-two, twice exceeded those for men and normally were half as high, whereas women were only a fifth to a quarter of those tried in assize courts for all felonies.

The cases of Marie Lafarge and Euphémie Lacoste, four years apart, involved arranged marriages both which ended with dead husbands allegedly poisoned by their wives. In spite of the fact that there was solid evidence against Marie Lafarge whose case, for this reader, garnered far less sympathy than that of Euphémie Lacoste, the Lafarge case generated a great deal more public sympathy at the time. Part of this wave of public sympathy for Marie, and not for Euphémie, can be explained by the fact that Marie was a member of the aristocracy and was a Parisian. Also there was the issue that the orphaned Marie was married off by her relatives using the services of a marriage bureau–a small fact that Marie was unaware of when she tied the knot. Marie’s relatives, obviously in a hurry to get rid of the young woman, failed to investigate her future husband’s finances. Poor Euphémie Lacoste, on the other hand, was just 22 when she was married off by her parents to her nasty, syphilitic 68-year-old uncle, and stuck in the provinces, she was subjected to more judgement and petty, small-minded gossip than her more romantically-perceived Parisian counterpart. These days, Marie Lafarge, who seemed to be her own romantic creation, would be on facebook whipping up a fanbase, or “her believers” as she called them and selling copies of her memoirs.

Both Marie’s guardians and Euphémie’s parents were criticized in the national press for the husbands they selected for their charges. The fact that neither young woman had a real role in the decision was deplored more in Marie’s case, for although Lacoste appeared to be a worse choice than Lafarge, greater regard was expected for the wishes of a young woman of Marie’s status and “romantic” credentials. In any case, a young woman’s right to participate in the choice, and even to seek a love-match, was an emerging urban deal which provincial girls were not seen to share. For Euphémie, criticism centered less on the failure to consult the bride-to-be than on the choice of a husband who was three times her age.

Marie, with echoes of Madame Bovary’s early attempts to make her marriage livable, preemptively put her foot down in the marriage, and made her own status in the family home quite clear while Euphémie seemed to be little better than a servant/concubine in her uncle’s/husband’s home. Another fascinating tidbit here is the author’s comment that “it has been observed that the French wife consistently exercised more unchallenged authority within her sphere of the home that her English counterpart.”

Both cases delved into sexual relations between husband and wife which included details of neglected “personal hygiene” by the husbands, and Lacoste preferred to consult the veterinarian for his many ailments rather than the local doctor. The case of Marie Lafarge became one of the weapons in the arsenal for the argument for divorce and the inherent moral problem of a husband’s “legal right to rape,” especially interesting since Marie Lafarge clearly held the reins of the sexual relationship she may or may not have had with her husband. It’s fascinating to read the reaction of the day to Euphémie’s case, a case in which she was clearly victimized by the press and the local population of the small provincial town she lived in.

Part II to follow

Review copy

Scholarly and well-researched

Victorian Murderesses by Mary Hartman delves into the lives, crimes and trials of 13 women in England and France during the Victorian Era. The books separates the crimes into 6 sections, with two murderesses per section, save for one that involves a mother-daughter crime. From women who murdered their children, to women who murdered oppressive lovers and husbands, the book is filled with written accounts and the occasional piece of village gossip.

Victorian Murderesses explores not only the crimes of 13 women, but also the roles and reasoning behind their behaviors. This at times led the book to read more like the textbook out of a University Women Studies course rather than a true crime discussion. The book uses highly detailed documentation from the murderesses trials, private lives and journals to make a case for the accused, with the book often falling into a sympathetic role. Though laden with justification, the book still makes it very clear that these women killed other, sometimes even children in their care.

For those who enjoy murder dramas and Investigation Discovery documentaries, this book will be a letdown. It is far more interested in the reason behind the murder rather than the act of the murder itself. Victorian Murderesses is more concerned with the historical details, trial documents and verbal testimony of those involved in the murder case. For those readers who delight in the details, love well researched history books and trial documents, this book will be 400 pages of murderous delight.

This book was incredibly interesting! Every case was presented in a way that both made it a learning experience and made it feel like watching a murder show on television. This book is a great way to learn about both the the Victorian era and some true crime.

In "Victorian Murderesses" you are presented with 13 crime cases set in the Victorian era. The book is divided into several chapters dealing different aspects of crimes. In most cases there is an English and French woman and the author pays attention on showing the differences in both countries.

I read quite a lot of crime literature and thus are interested in real crimes and how the public dealt with them. Until now, I haven't read much non fiction books about the era which made it even more interesting for me to learn more about a women's life back then. I really liked the fact that the author paid attention to both English and French women. The different topics in the book were well presented although I found some more interesting than others. But this is not necessarily a bad thing as this is just my personal opinion.

The book was quite informative and I enjoyed reading it but there were some passages that were maybe a little too scholarly. The chapters are rather long and sometimes it was quite difficult to focus on the important facts.

Nevertheless, I liked the author's way of presenting the accused's life, their motives and the impact of their social standing. It's not really a light read but if you can handle that much information you'll have a great time reading the book.

I was expected a light, fluffy beach read, but this reads like a text. Lots of information and historical references.

Slightly more hardgoing than I expected but still a fascinating book and one that is fitting in with my current obsession with Victorian and Victorian set fiction .

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

Normally I never really read a lot of true crime books as I find them mostly speculative or just looking for the scandals in the stories. I'd read some reviews about this book before requesting it and they told me that this book was a lot more than just a mere retelling of the presumed crimes of this women...

I'm quite interested in the Victorian era and this book really helps to understand the society in which these crimes took place and the shifting roles for women in this society. I was actually surprised to learn that women were sent to prison for shorter times and had far greater chances of being acquitted.

If you're looking for scandal, this book probably isn't for you. But if you want a well-researched account on the lives of thirteen women in Victorian England and France as well as the story of their crimes, I can recommend this book. I liked it more than I anticipated.

This is a well-researched book detailing the murders committed by several English and French women during the Victorian era. The author takes a look at some aspects of the crimes in relation to the era in which they were committed. While the dastardly deeds may be milder than those we often hear about in 21st century news, the crimes were "unspeakable", as the subtitle suggests during the time in which they were committed. It bogs down a bit in places, but it is still a fascinating look at the subject. I would have preferred footnotes to end notes, particularly since the author often elaborates a bit more in those. This review refers to Dover's 2014 edition which I received from the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes.

There is something quite fascinating about women who murder, and judging by the amount of contemporary reporting of the details about the cases featured in this book, nothing much has changed over time. In this book the author has selected an Englishwoman and a Frenchwoman for each chapter based upon the circumstances, rather than the method of their crimes. All the women featured are from the middle-classes and a certain amount of conjecture is used to paint a picture of this class of women from the details of their cases the reasoning of the author being that these women’s lives weren’t documented or studied in the way of the lower classes and so using these cause celebres can give us a glimpse behind the drawing room curtains of their lives. I’m not completely convinced by this argument but for some of the broader details it works, for instance the chapters that touch upon contraceptive gives us an idea of how widespread or acceptable this was in Victorian England for the middle-classes.

The beauty of this book is threefold; the details of the crimes committed the resulting investigation and if appropriate trial, the popular opinion at the time of the guilt or innocence of those accused using contemporary media and lastly the particular social issues that may have led these women to act outside the law and kill another person. Each case presented was interesting and appeared to be well-researched, although one of the downsides of reading this kind of book on the kindle is that following the notes as you go along is very time-consuming so I tended to wait until I’d finished a chapter to catch-up on these. The fact that there were two women per chapter means that the reader does need to concentrate once the initial setting of the scene has happened, as the author switches between the two subjects to compare and contrast the difference between the two societies in a number of different spheres, including popular opinion and expectations.

The author states in the preface:

These accused daughters, wives and mothers have little to teach any would-be twentieth-century practitioner about the art of murder; nearly all of them bungled badly in the ac, and those who got away with it relied upon methods that required special circumstances and relations between the sexes which no longer obtain.

And that is precisely what makes this study so interesting, women can no longer act coy in the witness box, but they could, and were expected to, in Victorian England and so many of the more salacious details are hinted at rather than baldly stated both at the trial and the resultant reporting.

The cases cover the years 1840-1890’s and the subjects covered are:
Marie Lafarge and Euphemie Lacoste which covers the use of arsenic in matriomony Madeline Smith and Angelina Lemoine who were both between school and marriage when they were accused of killing their lovers Celestine Doudet and Constance Kent who were both spinsters when they murdered Florence Bravo and Henriette Francey the so called new women who were defying the old order of society Gabrielle Fenayrou and Adelaide Bartlett both wives of shopkeepers who were reported to have committed adultery Florence Maybrick and Claire Reymond who were allegedly victims of the double standards held at the time.

I found this book both interesting and informative although the language at time is quite dry, this is a study rather than a book for entertainment but one that I will be seeking a physical copy of on my bookshelf to supplement my Victorian crime selection.

This book was originally published back in 1976 but has been re-released in 2014 for a new generation of readers by Dover Publications who were kind enough to give me a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

My recommended further reading:
The Suspicion of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale – Constance Kent is the chief suspect in the The Murder at Road Hill House and features in chapter three of this book.
Death at the Priory by James Ruddick – The murder of Charles Bravo is the subject of this non-fiction book which explores all the possible culprits to this horrific murder by poison. (chapter four in this book)
A Very British Murder by Lucy Worsley – an excellent look at the fascination that we have with a ‘good murder’ and the reporting that fed this desire.

Victorian Murderesses is a well researched book and very fascinating. The book is a little dry, but I enjoyed the book.

This book is both historical and sociological. It is a very well-written and researched book on famous Victorian era murders committed by women. This is the historical part.

To the author's credit, the stories of these women are interesting and compelling. Despite the considerable research and supporting documentation in the book, there is nothing dry and boring about it.

The reader gains a much better understanding of the role of women, particular upper-class and middle-class, during the Victorian era. This is where the sociological aspect of the book comes into play. One can understand and empathize with the plight of women during Victorian times through reading these stories.

I learned a lot by reading this book - very well done, Ms. Hartman

The subject matter is quite interesting, but it's addressed in a much more scholarly, academic way than I was expecting. Each chapter contrasts two similar murderesses, switching back and forth between their stories, which makes it hard to keep the individual stories straight. The introduction and conclusion completely summarize the cases studied, much the way a collegiate thesis or dissertation would, and refer to the text as "this study". All in all, it's an intriguing book, but definitely not a quick or easy read.

If you are looking for a great read about women who have committed murder in the Victorian era, this is THE book. I really enjoyed the way the chapters were broken up into two murders that were similar. There is in depth study of each case, the history, and the cases. If you are looking for a great read about women who have committed murder in the Victorian era, this is THE book. I really enjoyed the way the chapters were broken up into two murders that were similar. There is in depth study of each case, the history, and the cases. If you are looking for a story, this will not be the book. If you are looking for a historical study, this IS the book to read. I am giving four instead of five stars ONLY because there may have been a little too much information. I couldn't get some of the facts to relate to why the crimes occurred for a couple of the women.

I do recommend this book for anyone interested in a study of murders committed by women. I was given the opportunity to ready this Victorian Murderesses by Mary S. Hartman by NetGalley.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to friends and family. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.