Monday, 4 November 2024

Trial of Christiana Edmunds by Kate Clarke


Kate Clarke is a doyenne of British women true crime writers. It's often forgotten how many women have been first-rate writers on the subject of true crime - Fryn Tennyson Jesse, for instance, was a leading light in the field for decades - and Kate has been writing high-calibre books for at least as long as her distinguished predecessor. With Bernard Taylor, she co-wrote Murder at the Priory, which was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction.

Her latest publication is an entry in the happily revived series of Notable British Trials - it is number 92 in the series, and it's an account of the trial of Christiana Edmunds. This case is truly fascinating and among those crime novelists who have referenced it are Anthony Berkeley and John Dickson Carr. It is a murder mystery that involves poisoned chocolates - definitely one of my favourite detective fiction tropes!

Christiana Edmunds was a deeply disturbed woman who became obsessed with a doctor in Brighton called Charles Beard. She knew Dr Beard and his wife Mary socially, and it may be that Beard, deliberately or unwittingly, encouraged her friendship with him. If so, he paid a very heavy price, as her obsession took a very dark turn indeed, leading her to carry out a series of poisonings in the town from 1870 onwards. 

Her first victim was Mary Beard, and although Mary survived, Christiana embarked on a campaign of lacing chocolate creams with strychnine. One child died as a result and others were made seriously ill. Eventually she was found guilty of murder, although her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and she spent the rest of her life in Broadmoor, dying there in 1907. Beard was among her victims: his own mental health was destroyed by his involvement in the case.

Kate Clarke provides a crisply written and detailed introduction, and in addition to the fascinating trial transcript (I noted that Christiana's defence counsel referred to her 'idiotic vanity' among other things...) there are useful appendices and a good index. For anyone interested in this remarkable case, this book is required reading.  


  

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