A brilliant narrative investigation into the 1920s case that inspired Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and Margery Allingham.
In 1922, Major Herbert Armstrong, a Hay-on-Wye solicitor, was found guilty of, and executed for, poisoning his wife, Katharine, with arsenic.
Armstrong's case has all the ingredients of a classic murder mystery, from a plot by Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers (indeed some aspects of his story appear in Sayers' Unnatural Death). It is a near-perfect whodunnit.
One hundred years later, Agatha Award-shortlisted Stephen Bates examines and retells the story of the case, evoking the period and atmosphere of the early 1920s, a time of newspaper sensationalism, hypocrisy and sanctimonious morality.
About the Author
Stephen Bates read Modern History at New College, Oxford before working as a journalist for the BBC, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and, for 22 years, The Guardian, successively there as a political correspondent, European Affairs Editor in Brussels and religious and royal correspondent. A regular broadcaster, he has also written for the Spectator, New Statesman, Time magazine, Literary Review, Tablet and BBC History Magazine, Le Monde and Berliner Zeitung. He is married with three adult children and lives in Kent. This is his tenth book.
Industry Reviews
Meticulously researched ... a gloriously engaging romp revolving around a knotty case that boasts all the ingredients a crime fiction fan could hope for. -- Janice Hallett * The Sunday Times *
Compelling ... There will surely be more books on this fascinating case, but it'll be hard to beat this one * The Literary Review *
This intriguing true crime investigation looks back at the now-forgotten case and aims to answer the key question about it, whether Armstrong was in fact really guilty of the murder. * The Sunday Times, 100 Best Books for the Summer *
Clear, engaging prose that lays out the circumstances with plenty of storytelling flair. * Times Literary Supplement *
Immersive and compelling, The Poisonous Solicitor works at every level: as human drama, as an evocative slice of social and legal history, above all as a lucid and dispassionate presenting of the evidence about a century-old puzzle. -- David Kynaston
Stephen Bates puts us in the middle of an extraordinary trial for murder, when one life and many reputations were at stake. It was gripping then and fascinating now, with a shocking sting in the tale. You will read it in one sitting. -- Marc Mulholland, author of The Murderer of Warren Street
Marital disharmony, spare arsenic in the house, a premature death, the suspicions of nosey neighbours - all leading to the judge putting on the 'Black Cap'. Have you ever imagined you might find yourself sitting in judgement over a murder trial? Stephen Bates' gripping narrative takes you right inside one of the classic court cases of the 20th century. His page-turner lays out all the evidence for you to examine, so you feel you are actually up there on the bench - presiding over the dramatic trial of the only solicitor ever to be hanged in England. Guilty or innocent? You decide . . . -- Robert Lacey, bestselling historian and biographer
Part Agatha Christie, part social history, Stephen Bates has stripped one of the classic 20th-century murders of a hundred years of conjecture and supposition, revealing a dark and troubling parable of inter-war rural Britain, a suffocating world of professional rivalries, rigid social codes and deadly small-town gossip - where poisoned chocolates are delivered by first class post. Finding nuance and ambiguity in what has often been viewed as a black-and-white case,The Poisonous Solicitor is a real-life golden age crime novel with a tragic heart and an unexpectedly poignant denouement. -- Sean O'Connor, author of Handsome Brute and The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury
A careful and compelling reconstruction of one of the most infamous murder trials of the twentieth century. Stephen Bates excels at contrasting the claustrophobia of small-town life with the grisly details which make the story still so notorious, a century on. -- Kate Morgan, author of Murder: The Biography
A meticulously researched, gripping true crime book. * The Western Mail *
Fascinating ... and beautifully written. -- Zack White, History Hack
A perceptive measured look ... if you read just one account of the saga, this will do nicely. Be warned, you will have a job to put it down. * Worcester News *
