Books : Crippen: A Novel of Murder
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780312343590
ISBN: 0312343590
Label: St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: January 23, 2007
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: January 23, 2007
Sales Rank: 143166
Studio: St. Martin's Griffin
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
July 1910: A gruesome discovery has been made at 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden.
Chief Inspector Walter Dew of Scotland Yard did not expect the house to be empty. Nor did he expect to find a body in the cellar. Buried under the flagstones are the remains of Cora Crippen, former music-hall singer and wife of Dr. Hawley Crippen. No one would have thought the quiet, unassuming Dr. Crippen capable of murder, yet the doctor and his mistress have disappeared from London, and now a full-scale hunt for them has begun.
Across the Channel in Antwerp, the S.S. Montrose has just set off on its two-week voyage to North America. Slipping in among the first-class passengers is a Mr. John Robinson, accompanied by his teenage son, Edmund. The pair may be hoping for a quiet, private voyage, but in the close confines of a luxury ocean liner, anonymity is rare. And with others aboard looking for romance, or violence, or escape from their past in Europe, it will take more than just luck for the Robinsons to survive the voyage unnoticed.
An accomplished, intricately plotted novel, Crippen brilliantly reimagines the amazing escape attempt of one of history's most notorious killers and marks the outstanding American debut of one of Ireland's best young novelists.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
The saga of "Doctor" Crippen would have probably yielded a fine true crime story but simply does not click as a novel, at least this one doesn't. I'm certain that the renowned facts of this infamous murder case somewhat limited (perhaps unconsciously) the author's ability to use his imagination and think more outside of the box.
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
The story here, based upon an actual account and dramatized, is about an American man who wanted to become a doctor but did not have the financial resources to do so. He enrolled in some medical correspondence training as a sop and began calling himself a doctor. Then Crippen ended up in London, practicing medicine (sort of), and found himself married to a hellish woman whom was eventually murdered and dismembered. Ultimately, the "doctor" attempts escape to Canada, along with a devoted lover, to avoid the subsequent investigation by a Scotland Yard Inspector. A chase across the Atlantic ensues.
The author took the key facts and other details of the Crippen murder case and built upon it... quite too much, in fact. The book is notably too long, by 100 pages at least, for the material covered and in the manner in which it was covered. The fact is, the story of Crippen, as extracted from this novel, could have been typed out, double-spaced, on two sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 paper, especially considering that no criminal trial details were incorporated into the tale.
There is a definite ... Read More
Rating: -
I was unable to finish this book due to the fact that the plot was plodding and predictable. (after getting about halfway through I decided to read the last 5 or so pages.) There were no likable characters or relationships. Overall, I was bored.
Rating:  -
Part murder mystery and part historical novel John Boyne's sensational Crippen: a Novel of Murder tells of the real Crippen murder case, which occurred in London in 1910. Boyne, in his story, beautifully brings to life this world in all its self-propriety grandeur, and in the process, emphasizes humanity's mordant desire to know the all the facts about the most macabre and chilling crimes such as this.
Boyne presents Crippen as a complex and enigmatic man - whom although painted as a monster for murdering his wife, chopping her up and burying pieces of her under the stones in his cellar - was in reality a meek and harmless person who probably wouldn't hurt a fly. The novel traces the historical journey of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen from his childhood in Canada, where his worldview was shaped by his puritanical, severely religious mother.
Desiring to become a doctor, yet unable to be given all the advantages of education so that he might escape his family, Crippen travels to America, eventually finding work as a medical assistant, his second rate qualifications obtained through correspondence courses.
It is in New York where Hawley meets Cora Turner, a music hall dancer, who convinces him to take her to London so that she can fulfill her dream of becoming a famous diva. But Cora turns out to be a shrieking and violent harpy, a heartless, evil, nasty and manipulative witch, and a flagrantly vulgar, lustful and faithless wife who constantly ... Read More
Rating:  -
An absolutely brilliant effort. Tightly plotted, with characters that call to mind a long-past era, this is one of the best historically-based novels of the new millenium.
Rating:  -
On the basis of my interest in English murder mysteries, and because the Crippen case is a notorious one that is referenced often but that I've been unfamiliar with, I purchased this book. I'd hoped to learn about the case.
What I have learned so far, is that far from being a page turner, the book is a tiresome read. The fictionalization is more worthy of a poorly written romance novel than what one would assume would be a thriller. The characters are such unbelievable cliches (the Captain Bligh loving ship's captain especially) that it's difficult to relate to any of them.
I cannot recommend this book to anyone with more than half a brain.
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