Story of a Murder by Hallie Rubenhold

I picked up Story of a Murder by Hallie Rubenhold when I was browsing in Waterstones. Buying it was an absolute no-brainer as I loved her book The Five, which focused on the lives of the victims of Jack the Ripper. It was one of my favourite books of 2020.

The full title is Story of a Murder The Wives The Mistress and Doctor Crippen. Doctor Crippen is a name I’m familiar with, but despite being a true crime fan, I knew nothing of the case. Just as with The Five, Rubenhold takes the focus away from the murderer and instead focuses on the women involved – the two wives, the mistress and the friends of the victim who were instrumental in bringing her murderer to justice.

The first section focuses on Charlotte – Crippen’s first wife. It seems likely Crippen murdered her too, as she died unexpectedly at the age of 33. It is also likely he carried out a series of ‘medical’ experiments on his wife.

Belle Elmore was his second wife – a larger than life music hall star who loved expensive clothes, furs and jewellery. She was unable to have children (also likely to be Crippen’s fault), so threw herself into her music hall life, surrounded by supportive friends.

It was when he was living and working in London with Belle, that Crippen met the young typist, Ethel Le Neve. She was quickly promoted within his business, before becoming his mistress. She believed they would be married and even got ‘engaged’ while Crippen was married to Belle.

Belle then disappeared, with Crippen telling friends she had gone back to America, and later telling them she had tragically died there. But her friends didn’t accept the story. Nor did they accept Crippen’s mistress wearing Belle’s clothes and jewellery.

As we learn about the wives and their lives, we also learn that Crippen wasn’t just a murderer, he was a serial fraudster. He sold medicines which didn’t work and regularly had to move on from one company or one town to the next before he was caught.

It seems obvious that Ethel, even if she didn’t know about the murder, would definitely have known about the frauds Crippen was committing. Yet the jury at her trial didn’t believe a quiet, well brought up young woman like her could have been involved in any crime and so she was acquitted. Story of a Murder follows Ethel’s story right to the end of her life, when she was in her 80s. She worked hard for all those years to keep her identity secret.

I didn’t know anything of the case beforehand, so Story of a Murder has informed me! It seems that previous accounts had sought to blame the victim, Belle Elmore, for her own murder – because she was larger than life and an American of Polish descent who possibly didn’t keep her house clean and tidy. Previous accounts also focused on the ‘love story’ between Crippen and Ethel and believed he was in some way a good person. Ethel also told various conflicting versions of her own story. Story of a Murder sets that record straight.

Story of a Murder is also an interesting slice of history in general. The murder in 1910 coincided with changing times, when women were going out to work in offices for the first time. There were still lots of standards of behaviour expected of women, including the expectation to get married and have children, but women were gaining greater independence. In many ways, some of what was depicted felt quite modern, more modern than some of what we read about in the immediate post-war periods – as though war wiped out progress and set many aspects of society backwards.

The incidents of Story of a Murder took place only 20 years after the incidents depicted in The Five. The transition from Victorian times to Edwardian times seems to make the life depicted far more recognisable to readers in the 21st century who have lived through the latter part of the 20th century.

This is an incredibly well researched book, but it’s not difficult to read. Whether you’re interested in true crime, history or feminism, I would recommend Story of a Murder.