Dorset Murders

US: The History Press, 2008. Paperback. Good. Life in the largely rural county of Dorset has not always been idyllic, for over the years it has experienced numerous murders, some of which are litt le known outside the county borders, others that have shocked the nation. T hese include arguments between lovers with fatal consequences, family murde rs, child murders and mortal altercations at Dorset's notorious Portland Pr ison. The entire country thrilled to the scandalous cases of Alma Rattenbur y and Charlotte Bryant who, in the 1930s, found living with their husbands so difficult that both found a terminal solution to the problem. In 1856, E lizabeth Browne rid herself of a husband and, in doing so, became the inspi ration for Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'. The mystery of the C overdale Kennels at Tarrant Keynston, where not one, but two kennel manager s died in suspicious circumstances, remains unsolved to this day. And it wa s in Bournemouth that Neville Heath committed the second of his two murders , which led to his arrest and eventual execution in 1946. Illustrated with fifty intriguing illustrations, Dorset Murders will appeal to anyone intere sted in the shady side of county's history.