The case of the murderous Dr. Cream : the hunt for a Victorian era serial killer

**“A macabre, utterly suspenseful true crime thriller about a forgotten madman every bit as cunning and evil as Jack the Ripper.”** – Karen Abbott, __New York Times__ bestselling author of __The Ghosts of Eden Park__ “When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals,” Sherlock Holmes observed during one of his most puzzling murder investigations. “He has nerve and he has knowledge.” Incredibly, as the words of the world’s most famous fictional detective appeared in The Strand Magazine in the early 1890s, a real-life Canadian doctor was stalking and murdering women in London’s downtrodden Lambeth neighborhood. Dr. Thomas Neill Cream had been a suspect in the deaths of two women in Canada and had killed as many as four people in Chicago before he arrived in London in 1891 and began using pills laced with strychnine to kill prostitutes. The Lambeth Poisoner, as he was dubbed in the press, was one of the most prolific serial killers in history, a cold-blooded murderer who evaded detection in three countries in a killing spree to rival that of Jack the Ripper, his infamous contemporary. Victorian Monster is the gripping true story of a murderous madman and reveals how bungled investigations, corrupt police and justice officials, failed prosecutions, and missed opportunities allowed him to evade detection or freed him to kill, again and again. It is the first complete account of Cream’s crimes and his many victims, and explores how the stifling morality and hypocrisy of the times allowed him to poison vulnerable and desperate women, many of whom had turned to him for medical help. It offers an inside account of Scotland Yard's desperate search for a killer as brazen and efficient as the Ripper. And it brings to life a story of murder and suspense, when evil lurked on the gas-lit streets of Chicago and London. "The chilling true crime story of the Victorian era’s deadliest doctor “When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals,” Sherlock Holmes observed during one of his most puzzling murder investigations. Incredibly, at the time the words of the world’s most famous fictional detective appeared in print in the Strand Magazine, a real-life Canadian doctor was stalking and murdering women in London’s downtrodden Lambeth neighbourhood. Dr. Thomas Neill Cream had been a suspect in the deaths of two women in Canada, and had killed as many as four people in Chicago before he arrived in London in 1891 and began using pills laced with strychnine to kill prostitutes. The Lambeth Poisoner, as he was dubbed in the press, became one of the most prolific serial killers in history. In this fascinating book, Dean Jobb reveals how bungled investigations, corrupt officials and failed prosecutions allowed Cream to evade detection or freed him to kill, again and again. The first complete account of Dr. Cream’s crimes and his many victims explores how the stifling morality and hypocrisy of the Victorian era allowed this monster to poison vulnerable and desperate women, many of whom had turned to him for medical help. It offers an inside account of Scotland Yard’s desperate search for a killer as brazen and efficient as Jack the Ripper."-- Provided by publisher Winner of the CrimeCon Clue Award for True Crime Book of the Year "When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals," Sherlock Holmes observed during one of his most puzzling murder investigations. Incredibly, at the time the words of the world's most famous fictional detective appeared in print in the Strand Magazine, a real-life Canadian doctor was stalking and murdering women in London's downtrodden Lambeth neighbourhood. Dr. Thomas Neill Cream had been a suspect in the deaths of two women in Canada, and had killed as many as four people in Chicago before he arrived in London in 1891 and began using pills laced with strychnine to kill prostitutes. The Lambeth Poisoner, as he was dubbed in the press, became one of the most prolific serial killers in history. In this fascinating book, Dean Jobb reveals how bungled investigations, corrupt officials and failed prosecutions allowed Cream to evade detection or freed him to kill, again and again. The first complete account of Dr. Cream's crimes and his many victims explores how the stifling morality and hypocrisy of the Victorian era allowed this monster to poison vulnerable and desperate women, many of whom had turned to him for medical help. It offers an inside account of Scotland Yard's desperate search for a killer as brazen and efficient as Jack the Ripper. 'The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream' takes readers to the late 19th century as Scotland Yard follows the trail of a cold-blooded serial killer, Canadian doctor Thomas Neill Cream, who was as brazen as the notorious Jack the Ripper and who would finally be brought to justice by detectives employing a new science called forensics. Dean Jobb lives in Halifax, NS. From the author of 'Empire of Deception', which won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best True Crime Book and was a finalist for three Atlantic Canada book awards "Framed around one salacious trial in 1891 London, a fascinating and vividly told true-crime narrative about the hunt for one of the first known serial killers, whose poisoning spree in the US, Canada, and England coincided with the birth of forensic science as well as the public's growing appetite for crime fiction such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novels"