Supper with the Crippens by
David James Smith
pbk out June 06
(Orion)
at £7.99
The Crippen case has long fascinated me, and even featured in my fiction, and this re-
evaluation of 'the most notorious domestic murder in history' was long overdue. The
late Tom Cullen's book about Crippen, the last to study the case, appeared back in
1988. Smith rightly regards Cullen's book as the best of those to have appeared
previously, but his own work surpasses and supersedes Cullen's – not least because he
has not made the same mistake of making important assertions of fact without
furnishing evidence to support them. The main focus of Smith's investigative work
has been on Crippen's mistress, Ethel le Neve, and her family. He has talked to her
descendants and floats the theory that Ethel and Crippen had a child who was passed
off as her sister's. But he admits that this suggestion cannot be substantiated and to
me it seems very unlikely indeed. Smith believes that le Neve was much more deeply
involved in the murder of Crippen's wife Belle Elmore than her quick acquittal
implied; this is not a new idea, but is soundly argued. He has researched archives that
cast fresh light on the police investigation, although I was sorry that he had not been
able to find out anything more of significance about Crippen's life until the period
leading up to the disappearance of Belle. To my mind, the solution to the puzzles that
have teased students of the Crippen case – not least, Raymond Chandler – lies in
Crippen's psychology. Smith dismisses as 'ridiculous' ideas which seem as plausible
as his own theory and he is perhaps more skilled at assembling and presenting facts
than interpreting them. Overall, though, this is a first-rate book in the best tradition of
true crime writing.
(
Martin Edwards
- author of the highly acclaimed Harry Devlin Mysteries)
Supper with the Crippens by
David James Smith
