Till Death Us Do Part

by Paul B. Kidd

Stories of Australians who have murdered spouses

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Paul Benjamin Kidd (1945) was an Australian author, journalist, and radio show host. From 2001 until 2020, Kidd was the co-host of the 2UE George and Paul weekend show with George Moore; since 2020, he has co-hosted Weekends with John and Paul with John Stanley on 2GB. - Wikipedia

Reviews

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Till Death Do Us Part was very well researched and the style in which Kidd writes is very easy to read. I think it was a good look at some of the lesser known motives for the murder of a partner, I'm glad that this book didn't focus on women who had killed their abusive husband. The cases in this book highlight very well just how messed up some people can be. Unfortunately it also highlighted how women can easily escape being seen as abusive people (Kathreine Knight), how men are abused by women, and how men are far more likely to keep quite. It was also sad to see innocent people have their lives destroyed by police who made an absolute mess of cases or who simply didn't look at any other suspects. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Australian true crime.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a thrilling read of some terrifying criminals. It's amazing to know that these criminals fitted in to our societies at some stages of their lives and had some murderous tendencies that were unbeknownst to people around them. These people fitted in to life with careers and marriages that made them seem normal yet they all had hidden sides that no one was aware of. This book gave a good insight into the crimes of some of Australia's notorious murders. Definitely an interesting read.

[Zara's Corner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses on Australian marriages which ended in murder. For the most part many of the stories are about women who killed their husbands largely so they can get something they didn’t want to share with their husbands. This could be money, property, or in other cases the women were super jealous and controlling of their husbands. There were also cases about men who killed their wives. The exception to this was the story of Ziggy Pohl who was in fact innocent. It took 10 years I think for the truth to come out before Ziggy was released and the actual the actual killer was imprisoned instead.

One other case called The Black Widow about Katherine Knight and how she killed her husband. This story reminded me of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus where Titus killed Tamara’s two sons, cooked them up into a pie and gave the pie to Tamara to eat, she of course didn’t realise she was eating them. This theme also was picked up by George R. R. Martin when an almost identical situation appears in his books. Katherine is supposedly the first Australian woman to have been sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole. In light of her crimes it’s probably a blessing that she is behind bars, especially where men are concerned!

It is very easy for books like this to become very bogged down in the facts and gives a blow by blow account of the case. However, the reader of this book will find that they are only given enough information so you can get the complete story without being left feeling as though they just read an academic paper. The language that’s used is well put together and written and therefore easy to read. I always looked forward to reading it in large part because of how it was written. This style of writing made it a pleasure to dive back into at every opportunity I could.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a few of Kidd's books now. All very well researched and informative. Some of the sentences could use rewording - I sometimes had to reread a paragraph as it could potentially have two meanings but only one made sense. Otherwise, another great collection of true crime.

[Cait · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read however too quick in some parts and too slow in others. Wouldn’t recommend the Katherine Knight section as it was too clogged with similar murders.

[Annie Booker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of intriguing cases, a few even I hadn't heard of. A good round up of the Crewe murders in New Zealand also.

[Kimmy louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read and haven't heard some of these murders so was able to look them up and read more about them.

[Aussie · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love true crimes books and this one is very researched and very well written

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't think true crime could be so boring.

Some of the earlier chapters are incoherent and hard to follow, and one of the later stories is padded heavily with semi-related material. The writing doesn't flow particularly well either.