Murder in Essex (The Essex Triangle - David Thurlow)

Member Name: technoir

Product:	The Essex Triangle - David Thurlow
Date:	31/05/09 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 14 interesting stories

Disadvantages: A bit tabloid, No illustrations

I bought this book as I am fan of True Crime, especially in the South of England area. I was expecting an interesting book, with some intriguing stories and possibly a few pictures of the crime scenes or suspects.

The book is A5 size and 201 pages. The cover picture is of Jeremy Bamber, who murdered his family in order to reap the inheritance. The cover price is £6.95, but as this is now an out of print book, some good second hand versions can go for considerably higher than the original cover price.

The author, David Furlow has recorded 14 stories of Murder which have all occurred in an area called the Essex Triangle. This is an area between Colchester, Great Dunmow and Tolleshunt Darcy. Despite this quiet rural setting, it appears that there has been an unusual amount of suspicious deaths and murders. (the book was written in 1990 and there have probably been far more incidents in the two decades since)

Each Chapter of the book deals with a different case, such as Boshears, the american air force Sergeant based in Braintree who, after a particularly rowdy New Years eve, had a vivid dream that he had murdered a local girl. When he awoke, this turned out to be more than just a nightmare. The story brings us the facts of the court case and the events of that night.

Other Chapters deal with mysterious disaperances in the ara, such as the case of Mary Kriek, a teenage dutch visitor to Essex, who was abducted as she walked along a country road, and Diane Jones who one moment was on the Driveway of her house, and the next she was missing and murdered.

The most notorious case mentioned, is that of Jeremy Bamber, who murdered his entire family, and then conconcted an intricate cover story in order to collect the inheritance that he felt he was entitled to and could not wait to get his hands on.

This is an interesting True Crime book, but at times I find the writing style a little bit like a newspaper article. This could be due to Thurlows press background and does not really make for a bad book. Thurlow cannot really put too much artistic licence into his writing as these are true stories and real people that he is writing about.

This is not a heavy read and I got through it in just a few days. It is not overly sensational like some true crime books and has a sense of compassion towards the victims without glamourising the crime or the suspect.
The book could have benefitted from some illustrations or photos of the suspects like many crime books that are published today have.

An interesting look at a part of Essex, which from the outside looks quiet and peaceful.

Summary: A fair quick read, some interesting points