The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer

Product Description The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream takes readers to the late nineteenth century as Scotland Yard follows the trail of a cold-blooded serial killer 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. “When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals,” Sherlock Holmes observed during one of his most baffling investigations. “He has nerve and he has knowledge.” In the span of fifteen years, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream poisoned at least ten women in the United States, Britain, and Canada, a death toll with almost no precedents. Structured around Cream’s London murder trial in 1891, when he was finally brought to justice, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream exposes the blind trust given to medical practitioners, as well as the flawed detection methods, bungled investigations, corrupt officials, and stifling morality of Victorian society that allowed Cream to prey on vulnerable and desperate women, many of whom had turned to him for medical help. Dean Jobb vividly re-creates this largely forgotten historical account against the backdrop of the birth of modern policing and newly adopted forensic methods, though most police departments still scoffed at using science to solve crimes. But then most police departments could hardly imagine that serial killers existed—the term was unknown at the time. As the Chicago Tribune wrote then, Cream’s crimes marked the emergence of a new breed of killer, one who operated without motive or remorse, who “murdered simply for the sake of murder.” Review One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2021: New York Times Book Review * BuzzFeed * CrimeReads * Book RiotThe Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream is a macabre, utterly suspenseful true crime thriller about a forgotten madman every bit as cunning and evil as Jack the Ripper. Dean Jobb combines scholarship with a breakneck narrative so relentless it kept me up all night. Warning: Read with the lights on.--Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park The story of the infamous poisoner Neill Cream is so many things--horrifying, fascinating, and insightful, a portrait of late 19th-century police work at a time when the idea of the professional detective was just starting to take shape. And in this vivid and compelling book, Dean Jobb does full justice to that story.--Deborah Blum, New York Times bestselling author of The Poisoner's Handbook Jobb recounts Cream's life and evokes the societal attitudes that allowed him to kill: the blind faith placed in doctors, the power imbalance between Cream and the people who sought his care. --New York Times True crime fans will want to pick up Dean Jobb's engrossing account of Thomas Neill Cream . . . Jobb builds Cream's world in vivid, transportive detail; I had a lot of fun being swept away. --BuzzFeed, 28 Summer Books To Get Excited About [Jobb] creates a nuanced portrait of Cream that's much more chilling than Mr. Hyde.--BookPage Chilling and fascinating . . . Jobb's true crime stories are not to be missed. --CrimeReads Jobb's extensive research pays off in a true crime masterpiece that will easily sit alongside The Devil in the White City. --Publishers Weekly, starred review Jobb richly embellishes his grim central tale with carefully researched setting, detail, and social mores of the late Victorian era, elegantly contrasted with his eponymous fiend, Thomas Neill Cream . . . A vivid, engaging revival of a forgotten Victorian villain. --Kirkus Reviews Jobb does a masterful job of following the investigation, which ranged from England to the United States to Canada, and of presenting Dr. Cream not merely as a murderer, but as a complex, unstable, and deeply fascinating individual. True crime doesn't get any better than this. --Booklist Jobb's research is excellent . . . [His] compelling account of Cream's reign of terror will app