Nothing But Murder

by William Roughead

Within lie twelve vintage tales of true crime by master essayist William Roughead. Henry James himself once urged “Keep on with them all please, and continue to beckon me along the gallery that I can’t tread alone and where, by your leave, I link my arm fraternally in the gallery of sinister perspective just stretches in this manner straight away.”Here you will find such Roughead classics as My First Featuring Jessie King, the crime that fortuitously set Mr. Roughead’s steps toward matters criminous, Locusta in Scotland, a familiar survey of poisoning as practiced in the realm. The Fatal Countess, a Jacobean royal flush of didoes in high places; Physic and A Study in Confidence, and many more capital crimes old and new, but all revealed with that dry wit and mellow artistry that is the mark of fine wine or writing.Above all you must not miss Mr.Roughead’s ensemble by the entire company entitled, An Academic Discussion wherein his best known murders sit in judgment on the qualities of their crimes and discuss the artistry of their chosen métier.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

378 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 18, 2014

About the author

William Roughead was a well-known Scottish lawyer and amateur criminologist, as well as an editor and essayist on "matters criminous". He was the founding father of the modern "true crime" literary genre.

Reviews

[Katherine Addison · Rating 5 out of 5]

facsimile reprint of the 1946 Sheridan House edition from Literary Licensing, hardbound, high-quality

Contents
"An Academic Discussion: A Macabre Conceit"
"The Boys on the Ice: or, the Arran Stowaways"
"Killing No Murder: or, Diminished Responsibility"
"Pieces of Eight: or, the Last of the Pirates"
"The Boy Footpads: or, More Murder in Murrayfield"
"Nicol Muschet: His Crime and Cairn"
"The Adventures of David Haggart"
"The Fatal Countess: A Footnote to 'The Fortunes of Nigel'"
"Physic and Forgery: A Study in Confidence"
"Locusta in Scotland: A Familiar Survey of Poisoning, as Practiced in that Realm"
"My First Murder: Featuring Jessie King"
"The Crime on the Toward Castle: or, Poison in the Pocket"

A collection compiled by Roughead for an American publisher, with a strong focus on Scotland and Edinburgh (except for "The Fatal Countess": Frances Howard must count among Roughead's "darker favorites," even though he only lists her nineteenth century sisters in his essay (in a different collection) "To Meet Miss Madeleine Smith": Madeleine Smith, Jessie M'Lachlan, Florence Bravo, Adelaide Bartlett, and Florence Maybrick). I found "The Boys on the Ice" both horrifying and creepy, with its sad, terrible image of the boy M'Ginnes, left to die on the ice in St. George's Bay when he was too exhausted to continue: "He was 'greeting.' We heard his cries a long way behind us although we could not see him" (24-25). And "Locusta in Scotland" is a magnificent overview of some five hundred years of murder by poison.