From the pretty villages, rural byways and bustling market towns of Essex come ten of the most dramatic and tragic murder cases in British history. Brutality, passion, jealousy, greed and moments of inexplicable rage have led to violent and horrifying deaths and, sometimes, the killer’s expiation of the crime on the scaffold.This chilling follow-up to Essex Murders brings together more true cases, dating between 1823 and 1960, that shocked not only the county but also made headline news across the nation. They include the extraordinary events resulting from the obsession of a young farmer’s daughter with a married man twice her age, the bloody killing of a police sergeant, a murder carried out in the depths of Epping Forest, the Dutch au pair found dead in a ditch, and a case that made criminal history in which the accused said he had strangled the victim while he was asleep. Linda Stratmann’s well-illustrated and enthralling text will appeal to everyone interested in true crime and the shadier side of Essex’s past.