Murder and Mystery in Kent

Mysterious murders and inexplicable events are the substance of this glimpse at the seamier side of Kentish life. The Sunday school teacher accused of killing his ageing wife for a younger woman and the railway navvy who murdered for revenge are two of the bizarre true stories in this book. In the case of Cathy Bacon, there can be no doubt that she was gruesomely attacked by her 18-year-old house maid. Yet 12 good men and true were duped into setting her free. How could such a miscarriage of justice take place? In the village of Ightham, local gossip hounded an innocent man until he took his own life. They suspected him of murdering his wife. At Greenwich, a mysterious foreigner, while walking in the park, is slayed by a hideous bomb that he carried under his arm. This is more than a simple collection of chilling case histories. Appearing in chronological order, each event has been carefully chosen to demonstrate how improved methods of detection and greater use of forensic evidence meant that even the most ingenious law-breakers were unlikely to escape arrest. The bumbling parish constable of the early 19th century had little chance of solving a serious crime.
His counterpart, 100 years later, was making use of a variety of scientific methods to ensure that justice was done.