The Back Doors to Death – at Highgate Cemetery
I was so pleased to be asked to give a talk on Alfred Swaine Taylor and nineteenth-century forensic science at the legendary Highgate Cemetery. It’s where...
Category: Books
The Back Doors to Death: Alfred Swaine Taylor talk at Highgate Cemetery – Thursday 20th September
Alfred Swaine Taylor, one of the most famous forensic scientists of his day, was laid to rest at Highgate Cemetery in north London in 1880. At my talk, find out...
The Guardian’s Best summer books 2018, as picked by writers
I had absolutely no idea at first that Fatal Evidence appeared in the Guardian’s Best summer books, as picked by writers. I noticed I had a new follower o...
Meet crime authors at Shrewsbury Waterstone’s
Meet crime authors from across the country at Shrewsbury Waterstone’s on Sunday 15th April from 2pm to 3.30pm. The branch is expanding its Crime Section, ...
Alfred Swaine Taylor and The Poisoned Chocolates Case
It might seem odd to think that Alfred Swaine Taylor, who died in 1880, could have anything to do with Anthony Berkeley’s 1929 novel The Poisoned Chocolat...
Isolation in Iceland: thoughts on I Remember You
Having read Yrsa Sigurðardóttir’s novel I Remember You (Ég man þig) and seen the film adaptation, I found myself thinking about the theme of isolation. A ...
A trip to London
Having travelled to Rugeley and to Edinburgh in pursuit of Alfred Swaine Taylor for my book Fatal Evidence, it was time to go to London and Kent. He was born in...
A trip to Rugeley
One of Alfred Swaine Taylor‘s most famous cases was that of William Palmer, The Rugeley Poisoner. As I live in the West Midlands, Rugeley isn’t all ...
A reading from Fatal Evidence
Alfred Swaine Taylor and the arsenic in the wallpaper
When “used” is “new”
My second book was published on Monday. The copies arrived with my publisher on the Friday before. So imagine my surprise when, only a couple of days later, two...