Frances Evesham's Blog, page 2
June 17, 2020
May 23, 2020
March 10, 2018
Book Six: Murder at the Castle
Libby’s hot on the trail of the castle killer when disaster strikes close to home.
As the sudden death of a volunteer rocks the ancient calm of the castle, a woman begins to suspect her husband of forty years, and Libby faces opposition from the police.
Plenty of quirky characters, dogs and cake feature in this murder mystery, as Libby and Max solve crime in the charming English seaside town of Exham on Sea.
Download now to find out whodunnit.
CLICK for Murder at the Castle
NEW Book: Murder at the Castle
Libby’s hot on the trail of the castle killer when disaster strikes close to home.
As the sudden death of a volunteer rocks the ancient calm of the castle, a woman begins to suspect her husband of forty years, and Libby faces opposition from the police.
Plenty of quirky characters, dogs and cake feature in this murder mystery, as Libby and Max solve crime in the charming English seaside town of Exham on Sea.
Download now to find out whodunnit.
CLICK for Murder at the Castle
March 6, 2018
February 27, 2018
Murder at Manor Place
A sudden noise above their heads startled Philip and Susannah Beard awake, early in the morning of 31 July 1860.
As Philip hurried upstairs to the third floor of 16 Manor Place, he heard a scream.
At first, he saw only a spot of blood on the stairs, then as he climbed higher, he found the body of an 11-year-old boy lying dead on the landing. His throat had been cut. “Murder!” Philip cried.
There was more horror beyond.
Next to the young boy lay a woman, lying on her face. A second woman lay on her left. In the next room, on a bed, lay another young boy or around 7 years of age.
Family
John Youngman, a tailor, lived in 16 Manor Place, Walworth in 1860 with his wife and two young sons, Thomas and Charles, in the rooms above. An older son, William, had been there for a week, after giving notice to his employer, Dr Duncan. William had worked for Dr Duncan as a footman.
Mary Wells Streeter, William’s sweetheart, came to stay on 30th July 1860. She and William went out for the evening, returning on good terms at 10 pm. That night, William slept in a bed with Thomas, with their father in the same room. Mary and Charles spent the night in the next room, with Mr Youngman’s wife.
July 31st
at 5 o’clock in the morning of July 31st, Mr Youngman left home to go to work with another son, John, at the tailor’s workshop.
At 6.20 he was called home to the horrific scene.
His wife, his two sons and Mary were all dead. Mary and the two boys had all been stabbed and had their throats cut, while his wife had died just from stab wounds. There were two adult footprints in the copious blood in the room.
William, present at the time, with blood on his hands and feet and a torn nightshirt, told the police, “My mother has done all this, she has murdered my two brothers and my sweetheart and I – in self-defence – I believe I have murdered her.”
Evidence
William owned the knife used in the attacks, claiming he used it for food. The point was broken off by the violence of the attacks.
Wiiliam’s family had a history of insanity, with his maternal grandmother dying in a lunatic asylum and his father’s father having spent some time in an asylum.
The most damning evidence in the case came in the form of letters.
Letters
William had asked Mary Streeter to marry him. The police found a series of letters kept in a box to which William had the key. The letters were long and full of expressions of love and arrangements for the marriage.
July 13th
We will be married at St Martin’s Charing Cross on Saturday Aug 11th next….
You need only wear your black clothes, my dear girl, at our wedding….
I have published the banns of our marriage …
After marriage you will have all you wish for: the clothes you have will do for the present …
I want to assure your life when you come up on Monday week …
July 16th
In this letter, William explains that he has given notice to leave his post in order to get married. He says he will,
Give Mrs Duncan a good talking to …when I hope the doctor will tell me to go at once …
He says this will enable him to leave early, but still have his wages paid until 11th August.
He tells Mary to send him details he needs for the life assurance policy, including her birth certificate and the ages of her parents. He also needs her to state that no one in the family has died of any one of a list of diseases, including consumption. Although her sister had succumbed to this disease less than twelve months earlier, William was at pains to explain that Mary must say all were healthy.
The policy will be for £100.
The next letter William sends to Mary is undated. He writes:
I am very much hurt to find you state in your note that you do not wish to have your life assured…
He refers to her parents.
You can do has you like without them preventing …
If Mary continues to refuse to allow him to take out life assurance, William tells her,
I cannot think you would love me …
On 19th July, William wrote again. Mary has clearly agreed to go ahead with the life assurance policy.
Do not say anything to your mother about what you are going to do …
By 21 July, Mary must have changed her mind again, for William writes,
I am very much hurt to find you say you will not have your life assured …
I cannot believe you love me unless you do …
You have promised me, now if you love me do this.
28 July
The business clearly settled, William writes to Mary, now calling her My beloved Polly.
He gives instructions for Mary to meet him on Monday 30th July at London Bridge Station. She is to bring or burn all her letters.
Life assurance policy
The policy, for £100, effected by William Godfrey Youngman on the life of Mary Wells Streeter, commencing on 25th July, was produced in court. It contained Mary’s untrue response, No to the question Has any member of your family died of consumption?
Verdict
Given the chilling evidence of a motive, it is no surprise the jury brought in a verdict of guilty. It took less than half an hour for them to reach their decision.
Sentence
William Godfrey Youngman was sentenced to death. He was hanged on 4 September 1860 at Horsemonger Lane Gaol, in front of an audience of 30,000. He refused to admit to the offence even at the gallows.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes a highly embellished account of this affair in the strand Magazine of 1901, calling it The Holocaust of Manor Place.
The transcript from William’s trial is on The Old Bailey Online
February 8, 2018
A Victorian Mystery
In the four a.m. darkness of a day in July 1858, Eliza Simpson, a married woman of Keate Street in London, shrieked “Murder.” A labourer in the house she occupied, along with her husband, ran to discover Michael Murphy kicking her with his wooden leg.
“If you come near, you black b….., I will serve you the same,” said Murphy.
As Eliza tried to escape down the stairs, her attacker threw her down from one landing to the next. She died a week later from brain injuries.
Photo by John Thomson via Wikimedia Commons
At the time, Eliza was recovering from a black eye, inflicted in unknown circumstances about five weeks earlier. She had drunk three half-pints of porter on the day of the attack and it was claimed that she was “in the habit of drinking.”
A few days after the attack another woman punched her in the face as she smoked a pipe in the local Spitalfields public house, The White Swan. Next day, she died without the benefit of medical help.
The man with a wooden leg, Michael Murphy, was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for manslaughter.
What was she doing with Murphy at 4 a.m? Was she a prostitute? Where was her husband, and why was she attacked?
The Old Bailey Online answers none of these intriguing questions.
I’d love to know if anyone can tell me more.
December 20, 2017
The Lighthouse
The waters of the River Parrett meet the Bristol Channel at Burnham on Sea. Notoriously dangerous, with a huge range of 40ft, the tide in the area is the second highest in the world. The builders of the nine-legged Low Lighthouse also had to contend with shifting sands and mud-flats that would soon destroy the foundations of a conventional stone building. Wooden stilts were an ingenious solution that make the lighthouse unique in the UK.
Victorian ingenuity
The Victorians built the Low Lighthouse in 1832, a time of enormous interest in technology and travel, to replace the Round Tower. This was a tall building originally situated next to the Church, funded by the local curate on condition the Burnham fishermen and residents paid for its upkeep.
The Low Lighthouse fell out of use in the 20th century but was recommissioned in 1983 and now flashes every 7.5 seconds.
Leading lights
The Victorians built another lighthouse, the Tower or High Lighthouse, at the same time, and the two buildings worked together to lead navigators through the River Parrett. The Tower is now a private house.
Numbers
The Grade 11 listed Low Lighthouse is a wooden square, constructed on strong oak legs, with a single, dramatic, vertical red stripe. Set at a height of 36ft, the light reaches 23ft above the high spring tides and shines out over 9 miles.
Murder at the Lighthouse
The Low Lighthouse stars in the first Exham on Sea Mystery. Libby Forest finds a body on the beach under the lighthouse and discovers her unexpected gift for investigation, helped by Bear, the gigantic Carpathian Sheepdog and Fuzzy, her aloof marmalade cat.
Read more about the Exham on Sea Mysteries…
February 14, 2017
New Release
The respectable ladies of the Knitters’ Guild plan a surprise for the cathedral city. The surprise isn’t meant to include murder…
Besides, the last thing Libby Forest needs is another murder inquiry. She’s already struggling with the demands of her cake and chocolate business and trying to understand Mandy the Goth’s strange behaviour. Max urges her to make a difficult decision and Bear, the enormous sheepdog, causes havoc in the gentle surroundings of the beautiful, tiny cathedral city.
Libby vows to resist the temptation to investigate a sudden death in the cathedral, until her friend Angela falls under suspicion…
Love murder mysteries, cosy crime, dogs, crafts and chocolate? You’ll enjoy this instalment in a fun series of mysteries, set in a small English seaside town in Somerset, full of quirky charm and eccentric inhabitants, with a female protagonist torn between her independence and a new, enticing career as a private investigator.
The fourth story in the Exham on Sea series takes Libby to Wells Cathedral, where an unusual chained library protects ancient and valuable books. When a visiting scholar dies Libby plans to leave investigation to the police, but despite her intentions, loyalty to a friend overcomes her resistance, and she’s sets out to find the killer.
With a cast of indefatigable knitters, a lively Exham on Sea grapevine and a missing cat, the green fields, rolling hills, and sandy beaches of the West Country are a perfect setting for crime, intrigue and mystery.
For lovers of Agatha Christie novels, Midsomer Murders, lovable pets and cake, the series offers quick crime stories to read in one sitting, as Libby and her friends solve a mix of intriguing mysteries.
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Filed under: cozy mystery, crime, new release, Uncategorized Tagged: books, cozy murder mystery, Exham on Sea, fiction, Frances Evesham, seaside crime
May 4, 2016
Murder on the Tor:Exham on Sea Mysteries Book Three
Murder on the Tor is due for publication on 24 May 2016
A body on Glastonbury Tor, a sudden mist, a silent child and an old, amber necklace.
Libby, haunted by her husband’s murky past and struggling with her feelings for secretive Max, battles to uncover the truth behind the murder of a photographer on Glastonbury Tor.
The green fields, rolling hills and sandy beaches of the West Country provide the perfect setting for crime, intrigue and mystery.
For lovers of Agatha Christie novels, Midsomer Murders, lovable pets and cake, the Exham on Sea Mystery series offers a continuing supply of quick crime stories to read in one sitting, as Libby solves a mixture of intriguing mysteries and uncovers the secrets of the small town’s past.
Discover more about the series and my other books on my Author page here.
Filed under: attention, cozy mystery, crime, fiction, murder, mystery, Uncategorized Tagged: crime, Frances Evesham, murder, mystery 
