Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths Around Portsmouth takes the reader on a sinister journey through centuries of local crime and conspiracy, meeting villains of all sorts along the way - cut-throats and poisoners, arsonists and assassins, mutineers, duellists and marauders, prostitutes and thieves, and the brawling seamen and common murderers who moved through the cruel underworld of this historic town. Sarah Quail has selected over 20 notorious episodes that give a fascinating insight into criminal acts and the criminal mind. She recalls intriguing and shocking cases dating from medieval times to the present day. In the process she uncovers an extraordinary variety of misdeeds, some motivated by brutal impulse or despair, others by malice, which taint the history of every age. Most of the cases she recounts involve ill-fated individuals who are only known to us because they were caught up in crime, but she also reconsiders more famous episodes like the murder of the Duke of Buckingham and the disappearance of the Cold War frogman Buster Crabb. The human dramas that are played out in these pages often take place in the most commonplace of circumstances, but others are so odd as to be stranger than fiction. SALES ? Gripping account of the sinister side of Portsmouth's history ? Murder, robbery, treason, conspiracy, executions, crimes of passion ? Vivid insight into criminal acts and the criminal mind AUTHOR Sarah Quail is a freelance consultant and writer in the museums, libraries and archives sectors. She worked for many years in local government and was Portsmouth city Council's Head of Arts, Libraries, Museums and Records. She has written, edited and co-edited a number of books on the history of Portsmouth and Hampshire including Images of Portsmouth (with John Stedman), Portsmouth in the Twentieth Century, The Complete Photographic History of Portsmouth (with John Stedman and others), Southsea Past and Portsmouth ? A History and Celebration
