Front cover photograph: ‘Sand Ridge’ by Harry Hall,courtesy of Art Evolution Ltd (www.artevolution.co.uk)
It is 1910 and Dr Hawley Crippen has been convicted of the murder of his wife Cora. In his cell at Pentonville Prison, Crippen faces the prospect of the gallows. Laying bare his innermost feelings, he looks back at his austere childhood in Coldwater, Michigan, his tempestuous marriage and life on the run with his lover Ethel Le Neve. Yet as he revisits his life, Crippen entreats us to consider his ‘confession’: I am not a murderer.
In Dancing for the Hangman, Martin Edwards reopens the file on one of the most notorious and fascinating cases in criminal history. Edwards blends imaginative insight with detailed and extensive research to bring to life the characters and events of a hundred years ago. As he explores all the known facts of the murder case, Edwards skilfully reveals the many questions surrounding Crippen’s conviction and arrives at a fresh interpretation of the case.
Darkly humorous and highly readable, Dancing for the Hangman is also a strikingly vivid portrait of Crippen himself, drawing the reader deep into the mind of this hapless, baffling and complex figure.
‘In this intriguing novel, Martin Edwards proves that a fresh perspective is both possible and rewarding. [...] In this probing, persuasive, well-written and often startling work, he has surpassed his usual high standards.’
Keith Miles, Crime Time
‘Martin Edwards has found an utterly compelling angle on the Crippen case, combining chills and poignancy in a highly original way.’
Paul Johnston
‘An elegant, suspenseful, beautifully written reconstruction of Dr Crippen, revealing the man as never before, and also a thumping good novel.’
Frances Fyfield
‘The fiction brings a new insight into the character and time of the notorious doctor and it contains some of Martin's finest writing. Definitely not to be missed!’
Ann Cleeves, in her blog
‘An intriguing story told with intelligence, compassion and very great skill.’
Anne Perry
‘Edwards sees Crippen as a romantic, hungry for happiness, even if it only lasted briefly. Other fictionists have tackled the Crippen case, but none so successfully as Edwards does in Dancing for the Hangman.’
J. Kingston Pierce, January Magazine
‘Martin Edwards dissects not only the facts but also the gaps and uncertainties in the historical record. This novel may bring us as close to the truth about Crippen as we are ever likely to get.’
Andrew Taylor
‘True crime is fascinating when it is presented as fiction by an author as skilful as Martin Edwards. This highly original reconstruction of the Crippen murder case gives a new interpretation of the facts: persuasive and original.’
Jessica Mann in the Literary Review (December 2008/January 2009)
Dancing for the Hangman costs £8.99 and was published in October 2008.
ISBN: 978-1-906601-00-3
Martin Edwards is the author of two acclaimed series of crime novels, one set in Liverpool and the other in the Lake District. He is chairman of the nominations sub-committee for the Crime Writers’ Association’s most prestigious award for lifetime achievement, the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger, and in 2007 he was appointed the Archivist of the CWA.
A member of the Murder Squad collective, he received the CWA Short Story Award in 2008 for The Bookbinder’s Apprentice. He has edited several anthologies, including Northern Blood 2 from Flambard.
Martin is a partner in a firm of solicitors, working in Merseyside and living in Cheshire.
Web site:www.martinedwardsbooks.com
Blog: Do You Write Under Your Own Name?
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