When the Fenians Tried to Make Trains Disappear (Almost)
A ludicrously earnest campaign of tiny explosions, grand politics and one extraordinary public hiss of panic that left magistrates baffled and the populace rather cross.Read More 
When the Dead Rabbits Lost It in Five Points
I keep thinking about July 1857 when two gangs turned a holiday into pure chaotic theatre and the whole city had to intervene.Read More 
Kate Townsend's Saloon and the Very Bad Night
She ran a saloon where brass flowed, cards lied, and the wrong sort of attention turned a lively room into a crime scene.Read More 
A Stepchild, A Stream, and Excessive Ceremony
A domestic murder that involved a drowned little girl, a house in a muddle, and a trial that treated common sense like an inconvenient teaspoon.Read More 
Moonlight, Mud, and a Very Stubborn Net
I got obsessed with a messy Victorian night fight where villagers, gamekeepers, and one very wet net all screamed for attention - and then the court did its thing.Read More 
Oxford Fired At The Queen And Looked Proper Gormless
A young man with a brace of pistols, the royal carriage, and a courtroom that decided he was daft enough to be kept out of sight.Read More 
The Bootmaker They Called Leather Apron
A humble bootmaker was painted by the press as a fiend and then politely un-arrested by a police force that loved paperwork more than patience.Read More 
How Dr Cream Made Everyone Eye Their Brew
A clever medic who liked his bottles a bit too much and left people wondering if their cuppa was safe.Read More 
Michael Barrett and the Clerkenwell Blast
A bad idea, a huge hole in a prison wall and a mob that fancied itself judge, jury and sock-washer.Read More 
Florence Maybrick and the Sachet
A Liverpool marriage, a dying gentleman, and an arsenic question that made everyone suddenly splendidly opinionated.Read More 