Damn his blood : being a true and detailed history of the most barbarous and inhumane murder at Oddingley and the quick and awful retribution

The brutal murder of the Reverend George Parker in the rural village of Oddingley on Midsummer's Day in 1806 - shot and beaten to death, his body set on fire and left smouldering in his own glebe field - gripped everyone from the Home Secretary in London to newspapermen across the country. It was a strange and stubborn case. The investigation lasted twenty-four years and involved inquests, judges and coroners, each more determined than the last to solve Oddingley's most gruesome crime - or crimes, as it turned out. With a cast of characters straight out of Hardy, Damn His Blood is a nail-biting true story of brutality, greed and ruthlessness which brings an elusive society vividly back to life. In the peaceful Worcestershire village of Oddingley farmers are returning from Midsummer Day festivities, shadows are lengthening on the June grass, and the Reverend George Parker leaves his rectory to fetch his cows from pasture. He is found later, shot and beaten to death, and left smouldering in his own field. An insight into the Georgian England of highwaymen and grisly feuds The brutal murder of the Reverend George Parker in the rural village of Oddingley on Midsummer's Day in 1806 gripped everyone from the Home Secretary in London to newspapermen across the country. This title presents the true story of brutality, greed and ruthlessness which brings an elusive society back to life.