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The Lady in the Cellar: Murder, Scandal and Insanity in Victorian Bloomsbury by Sinclair McKay
abaugher's review
5.0
If you enjoy true crime and police procedurals from Victorian England, this book is for you. It goes into great detail to give as clear an image as possible, over a hundred years after the fact, of a heinous crime, its impact on the society of the day, and how the police handled it, as well as how the fallout of such a crime impacted all the various players involved.
kleonard's review
5.0
This is a terrific account of a fascinating murder case. In 1879, the desiccated body of a woman was found in the coal cellar of a middle-class London boarding house. The landlady was oddly oblivious to the goings-on in her home; the landlord may or may not have been sleeping with the maid; and the maid was definitely sleeping with his brother and likely murdered a boarder for her money and valuables. But the maid was acquitted and wrote a scandalous and bizarre pamphlet about the murders, adding in that the landlord and his brothers had also killed a child and fed it to a dog, among other depravities. A libel suit ensued. The landlord went mad. His wife remained oblivious. The maid moved in with the brother. The entire complicated story is beautifully laid out and told by McKay, who provides just the right amount of detail about society and surroundings to make the reader feel present in the mayhem. True crime readers, people interested in the Victorian age, and those fascinated by changing society, class, and gender roles will enjoy this.
jennie_cole's review against another edition
3.0
The Lady in the Cellar is a nice view into the world of Victorian rooming house life. The story moves very quickly. I realized that I still had half a book to read and I already knew the verdict in the murder case. I was very concerned that the second half was going to be filled with boring generic information but it was not. There is so much to this "simple" case that you just can't believe the drama.
If you are interested in microcosms like this you might enjoy the book.
If you are interested in microcosms like this you might enjoy the book.
angelfireeast24's review
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Classism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Ableism
annieb123's review
4.0
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
The Lady in the Cellar is a new true-crime book from journalist & author Sinclair McKay. Released 30th Oct 2018 on Quarto's White Lion imprint, it's 320 pages and available in hardback and ebook formats.
This is a meticulously researched and written book. The narrative, as it is, it not fictionalized in any meaningful degree and is mostly written from historical records and court transcripts. It can be slow going and actually reads like a court transcript with a great deal of 'he said, she said, and do you recall'.
The biggest takeaway for me was in the descriptions of Victorian life and the living arrangements of otherwise relatively wealthy people in England at the time. The society was so rigid and set that people falling outside the 'norms' (i.e., wealthy unmarried women without close family supervision, girls/women who didn't conform to the life choices which were societally acceptable, some immigrants, etc) were often in complete free fall and vulnerable to exploitation and murder. The other really interesting aspect of this book for me came in learning more about the attitudes toward mental illness. The fact that several people who lived in the boarding house at the same time suffered from poor mental health to one degree or another which might have led to the murder and subsequent breakdowns of the people involved was handled deftly by the author.
The speculative conclusions offered seemed logical and even likely to me.
I found the book interesting but somewhat dry reading. It will likely appeal to lovers of true crime/court procedurals or die-hard fans of Victoriana.
Well done, four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
The Lady in the Cellar is a new true-crime book from journalist & author Sinclair McKay. Released 30th Oct 2018 on Quarto's White Lion imprint, it's 320 pages and available in hardback and ebook formats.
This is a meticulously researched and written book. The narrative, as it is, it not fictionalized in any meaningful degree and is mostly written from historical records and court transcripts. It can be slow going and actually reads like a court transcript with a great deal of 'he said, she said, and do you recall'.
The biggest takeaway for me was in the descriptions of Victorian life and the living arrangements of otherwise relatively wealthy people in England at the time. The society was so rigid and set that people falling outside the 'norms' (i.e., wealthy unmarried women without close family supervision, girls/women who didn't conform to the life choices which were societally acceptable, some immigrants, etc) were often in complete free fall and vulnerable to exploitation and murder. The other really interesting aspect of this book for me came in learning more about the attitudes toward mental illness. The fact that several people who lived in the boarding house at the same time suffered from poor mental health to one degree or another which might have led to the murder and subsequent breakdowns of the people involved was handled deftly by the author.
The speculative conclusions offered seemed logical and even likely to me.
I found the book interesting but somewhat dry reading. It will likely appeal to lovers of true crime/court procedurals or die-hard fans of Victoriana.
Well done, four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
bibliotequeish's review
4.0
This book was so interesting. It is the retelling of a true crime from the 1800s.
A woman is found in the cellar of a lodging house, who she is, or how she got there is unknown.
Without the help of modern day forensics Police try to piece together the mystery of what happened at Number 4 Euston Square.
McKay did an excellent job of making this book interesting and enjoyable to read.
I find that sometimes when authors attack a non-fiction subject the writing is redundant and rambling, or just plain boring, going into detail about the things that don't need to be detailed
This book flowed well and kept my interest. I wanted to read more about this family and see how their story ended.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys true crime, or Victorian Era settings.
A woman is found in the cellar of a lodging house, who she is, or how she got there is unknown.
Without the help of modern day forensics Police try to piece together the mystery of what happened at Number 4 Euston Square.
McKay did an excellent job of making this book interesting and enjoyable to read.
I find that sometimes when authors attack a non-fiction subject the writing is redundant and rambling, or just plain boring, going into detail about the things that don't need to be detailed
This book flowed well and kept my interest. I wanted to read more about this family and see how their story ended.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys true crime, or Victorian Era settings.
jmatkinson1's review
4.0
In Victorian London the rich owned houses and the rest rented. For the aspirant lower middle class renting a large house and subletting it as a boarding house was one way to move up the ladder. Boarding houses ranged from the genteel to the salacious but Number 4 Euston Square was a smart address on the northern fringes of Bloomsbury and outwardly seemed respectable. The landlord was a Germanic foreigner who ran a successful furniture business in the studio at the back of the house whilst his wife oversaw the tenants and her many children. Everything seemed normal until the day that the partially decomposed body of a former tenant, Matilda Hacker, was discovered in the coal cellar. The scandal that ensued rocked Victorian society, shed a new light on the development of Scotland Yard and remains unsolved to this day.
Every year there are a few books produced about true-life historical crime, particularly from this era, and this is actually a really good one. The facts of the case are not in doubt but McKay doesn't focus on them, rather the attention is drawn to the aftermath. Firstly the background and trial of the accused housemaid and , following her acquittal, the effects of her ghost-written account of life in middle-class houses. The whole point is that although Hannah Dobbs was acquitted and she in turn accused her employer, in fact the truth has never emerged and the success of this story is more about the morals of the age and the way that the love of a good scandal never got in the way of a good tale.
Every year there are a few books produced about true-life historical crime, particularly from this era, and this is actually a really good one. The facts of the case are not in doubt but McKay doesn't focus on them, rather the attention is drawn to the aftermath. Firstly the background and trial of the accused housemaid and , following her acquittal, the effects of her ghost-written account of life in middle-class houses. The whole point is that although Hannah Dobbs was acquitted and she in turn accused her employer, in fact the truth has never emerged and the success of this story is more about the morals of the age and the way that the love of a good scandal never got in the way of a good tale.
pam_sartain's review
4.0
A true crime book that takes you to the late 19th century home in London where a body is discovered in the cellar, but whodunnit?
You get introduced to all of the people who lived there, and get glimpses into their lives, scandals and all. You meet the victim, the suspects, and get taken to the courtrooms to hear the testimony through first hand accounts that are used throughout this book. This gives a sense of immediacy, and a taste for how things really were, including prisons, and lunatic asylums.
I read a lot of murder mystery books, as my shelves on GoodReads will show you, and this was an entertaining read as it kept you guessing as to who the murderer actually was, and what the motive was.
The Lady In The Cellar by Sinclair McKay is out now in hardback.
I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and White Lion Publishing (the publishers) for this book.
You get introduced to all of the people who lived there, and get glimpses into their lives, scandals and all. You meet the victim, the suspects, and get taken to the courtrooms to hear the testimony through first hand accounts that are used throughout this book. This gives a sense of immediacy, and a taste for how things really were, including prisons, and lunatic asylums.
I read a lot of murder mystery books, as my shelves on GoodReads will show you, and this was an entertaining read as it kept you guessing as to who the murderer actually was, and what the motive was.
The Lady In The Cellar by Sinclair McKay is out now in hardback.
I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and White Lion Publishing (the publishers) for this book.