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  • The Battered Body Beneath the Flagstones & Other Victorian Scandals

  • By: Michelle Morgan
  • Narrated by: Anne Dover
  • Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (274 ratings)
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The Battered Body Beneath the Flagstones & Other Victorian Scandals cover art

The Battered Body Beneath the Flagstones & Other Victorian Scandals

By: Michelle Morgan
Narrated by: Anne Dover
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Summary

A grisly book dedicated to the crimes, perversions and outrages of Victorian England, covering high-profile offences - such as the murder of actor William Terriss, whose stabbing at the stage door of the Adelphi Theatre in 1897 filled the front pages for many weeks - as well as lesser-known transgressions that scandalised the Victorian era. 

The tales include murders and violent crimes but also feature scandals that merely amused the Victorians. These include the story of a teenage man who married an actress, only to be shipped off to Australia by his disgusted parents; and the Italian ice-cream man who meant only to buy his sweetheart a hat but ended up proposing marriage instead. When he broke it off, his fiancée's father sued him, and the story was dubbed the 'Amusing Aberdeen Breach of Promise Case'. Also present is the gruesome story of the murder of Patrick O Connor, who was shot in the head and buried under the kitchen flagstones by his lover, Maria Manning, and her husband, Frederick. The couple's subsequent trial caused a sensation, and even author Charles Dickens attended the grisly public hanging. 

Drawing on a range of sources from university records and Old Bailey transcripts to national and regional newspaper archives, Michelle Morgan's research sheds new light on well-known stories as well as unearthing previously unknown incidents. 

©2018 Michelle Morgan (P)2018 Little, Brown Book Group

What listeners say about The Battered Body Beneath the Flagstones & Other Victorian Scandals

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Oh god the accents

The stories are great but this narrator should leave the accents alone. In one of the stories based in Scotland the characters vary from Irish to Cornish to Scouser to Scots in the space of a couple of sentences. It’s painful and ruined the book for me.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent storyline

Absolutely loved this audio book
Great little stories with great detail to events
The storytelling is fantastic
I can't recommend this book highly enough
BRILLIANT

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Very average

It is quite interesting to read (hear?) about the stories of a (fervently hoped) bygone age.
However given that the premise of the book - judging by the title - is that these stories would be some of the better known 'scandals' and it misses it's mark. A lot of the stories described are not what could be described as 'scandalous' - merely very sad, and in a lot of cases, reflective of a much more uncaring and brutal era. In the worst cases the 'story' isn't really worth inclusion - just seemingly filler fluff.
The real take-away (hateful phrase!) is that unless you were from a 'good' family, well connected or wealthy, God help you if had *any* brushes with authority. The laws, and their practice, were used to decidedly keep you in your place - definitely one law for the rich and another for the poor (a particular example would be the case of Contance Kent& Jack Whicher).
The reader is not bad, but please stop trying to do accents unless you are a really good actor - it's jarring and off-putting and not done well.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A fascinating collection of gory stories

Aside from Jack the Ripper, grisly murders don’t usually spring to mind when we think of the Victorian era, but hundreds of downright horrible crimes regularly hit the headlines at the time. While most of these have sunk without trace, Michelle Morgan has delved into dozens of long-forgotten murders, mysteries, kidnappings, disappearances and good-old-fashioned sex-scandals to paint an enthralling picture of crime in the days of old Queen Vicky.

As well as a whole bunch of murders and throat-slashing jilted lovers, there are a surprising number of accounts centred on that well-known source of killers - the stage actor. One of the most intriguing is the story of popular thespian William Terriss and his (somewhat unhinged) fellow actor Richard Prince, who stabbed the former to death at the stage door of the Adelphi Theatre.

The inclination of a lot of killers to cut their victim’s throats left me feeling a bit woozy at times, and the sheer number of people who inflicted horrifying pain upon their victims (who, shortly before, they had intended marrying) is mind-boggling. It certainly puts twenty-first century domestic abuse statistics into perspective.

I did occasionally feel the text might have benefited from another good edit, but otherwise Ms Morgan tells a good tale. All in all, a fascinating collection of gory stories (and I do mean gory!)

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting stories. Well worth a listen if you are interested in the Victorian era.

I enjoyed this book. As it progressed the stories got more and more interesting and intriguing. I thought the narration was fine, and would recommend this book to those interested in the Victorian era.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen

Clear, steady narration throughout a collection of eye-opening short crime stories. Strange, grusome, funny, enlightening.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

interesting new tales.

very good. lots of stories I had not heard before. very good entertainment. liked the narration too.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

10% quality and 90% filler

The vast majority of the tales could be interesting but are poorly described and made dull. Not worth the time.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

mediocre retelling of simple tales

anyone could have written this. useful when ill in bed for 2 days though. too little historical perspective and scholarly interpretation of the historical accounts

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not bad

Not quite what I thought it was going to be but on the whole not a bad book with good insights into Victorian crimes.

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1 person found this helpful