Attired in Deepest Mourning

A must for any true crime reader. This second book by local Lincolnshire author provides a detailed analysis of three 19 century murder cases. Justice is swift, but the three lady murderers, all have a different journeys to their ultimate demise. Malcolm has pulled together material from the time and reports from Local and National press to give the reader an image of what happened. In the final case of the trilogy of murders, the question is posed whether this was Justice, or a miscarriage of justice. A highly recommend book.

In the provocative and slightly enigmatic Preface to his latest book, Malcolm Moyes puts his cards on the table: Attired in Deepest Mourning is no more and no less than a bringing back to life of three women who were sentenced to death in the nineteenth-century. At the very least, the author wants to give Eliza Joyce, Mary Ann Milner and Priscilla Biggadike ‘the decent burial which was denied them at the end of their short lives.' If the professed intention is to recreate flesh and blood human beings, who engage our sympathies without losing sight of the horror of their alleged crimes, the book succeeds. As with his previous book, By Force of Circumstances: the Lefley Case Reopened, the meticulous research and sharp analysis of previous accounts which previously defined the women engages the reader throughout. The book is captivating from the beginning with its time-line of events, and then only develops more fascination in the reader as the background is explored. Truly, when I read Attired in Deepest Mourning, I felt transported back in time by the descriptions of the historical characters, their situations, the proceedings through which they went and the reports of the events. The descriptions not only of the women themselves but of others involved, whether significant characters such as the judges or minor characters that come in and out of these life-stories, including examples of other judged persons, help to envisage and understand the people, the society and the ideas of justice of the time. It may be that this new book by Malcolm Moyes will stimulate further interest and research into the cases of Eliza Joyce, Mary Ann Milner and Priscilla Biggadike; but as with his book on Mary Lefley, it would take a very brave writer to attempt a more detailed and comprehensive study of small individuals caught up in an unforgiving judicial system.