Criminal cases give us a fascinating, often harrowing insight into crime and the criminal mind, into policing methods and the justice system. They also tell us much about social conditions and attitudes in the past. And such cases make absorbing reading. David Cox's graphic account of 16 notorious cases in Shrewsbury and around Shropshire is a particularly strong and revealing study of this kind. Using newspaper reports, census returns and court records, he reconstructs each case in vivid detail. At the same time he looks into the background of the crimes and into the lives of the criminals, and he describes the methods of detection and the punishments that were imposed. The cases he's chosen range in date from the medieval period to the twentieth century. Included are the cases of the forger who had his ear nailed to a post, the father who kills his infant son, a twentieth century highway robber and a VC winner involved in bigamy. SELLING POINTS: Fascinating investigation of the dark side of Shropshire's history A chronicle of murders, conspiracies, executions and crimes of passion 50 illustrations