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Woman at the Devil's Door

The Untold Story of the Hampstead Murderess

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About this listen

On October 24, 1890, a woman's mutilated and lifeless body was discovered on a pile of rubbish in Hampstead, North London. Her arms were lacerated, her face crushed and bloodied, and her head almost completely severed from her body. A mile away a blood-soaked stroller was found leaning against a residential gate. The dead baby's body, hidden beneath a nettle bush, was not located until the following morning.

So began the incredible story of the Hampstead Tragedy.

Eventually, Scotland Yard knocked on the door of 2 Priory Street, home to Mary Eleanor Pearcey, the pretty 24-year-old mistress of the victim's husband, whose crimes inspired speculation that Jack the Ripper was a woman, and whose dying request was as bizarre and mysterious as her life.

The first full-length examination of the extraordinary case, Woman at the Devil's Door is a thrilling look at a notorious murderess and the webs she wove.

©2018 Sarah Beth Hopton (P)2018 Blackstone Publishing Murder True Crime Crime Exciting True Crime Women
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My main disappointment was with the narrator, who mispronounced so many English names. It also grated that American pronunciation was used for common words even though this is a quintessentially English story.

Not gripping

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I really enjoyed this. I didn't know the story either. I do have to say that it would have been wiser to choose another narrator though , just because American pronunciations jibe when using Victorian dialect

A show trail of the Victorian era

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well, if you like Kate Summerscale’s ‘the wicked boy’ you’ll like this. It’s written in similar vein and set at a similar time. there though the similarities end. Was Mary guilty or not? Did she have an accomplice or not? I guess we’ll never know. it’s a compelling read though in my opinion even if some of the pronunciations are a bit dubious. It’s well enough read despite that though, like another reviewer, I do wonder why they didn’t use a British narrator or at least direct the narrator they did choose as to pronunciations of British place names and surnames.

a wicked woman or not

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An interesting, sad and frustrating account of a story I hadn't heard before. The narration was easy to listen to and although I noticed a couple of mispronunciations of English place names (Bury STREET Edmunds instead of Bury SAINT Edmunds and NorWITCH for Norwich), she didn't do too badly for an American!

Interesting

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Victorian crime is not best presented by a narrator with an American accent. The mis-pronunciations were cringeworthy.

Wrong narrator

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