‘Dancing For The Hangman’ by Martin EdwardsPublished by Flambard Press, November 2008. ISBN 978-1-906601-00-3

Is there anything else to say about Crippen and his story? It seems there is. Martin Edwards has reopened the Crippen case and gives us a new insight. Edwards, himself a lawyer in Liverpool, revisits questions surrounding Crippen's conviction and hanging in an absorbing novel. Written in first person using Crippen’s voice as he looks back on his life whilst awaiting execution in Pentonville. We learn about his strict childhood in Coldwater, Michigan, his professional life and the relationship between him and his second wife, Cora Turner and of course Ethel Le Neve.

I have always thought of Crippen as a rather boring, weedy little man but he emerges from this novel a far more interesting and complex person. As for Cora I understand completely why he should wish to get rid her. She was a peroxide blond, greedy for booze, jewels and food, as well as being over bearing, narcissistic, lazy and promiscuous.

Says Martin Edwards, "To this day, some believe he was not guilty, and Crippen maintained his innocence until he was hanged. But there are key areas of the case I wanted to examine including the role of Crippen's crooked solicitor."

Dancing for the Hangman may well be Edwards’ best book so far.

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Sue Lord