Crippen: A Novel of Murder

Once you read one of John Boyne’s books, you will probably want to read all of them. That was the case with me after I read THE HEART’S INVISIBLE FURIES. I was happy to find his older books, including CRIPPEN, a book of fiction about Dr. Hawley Crippen, an actual person who really was accused of murdering his wife in 1910. Many of the facts in this novel really did happen, and many of the characters really did exist. But, again, CRIPPEN is fiction, and most of it comes from Boyne’s imagination.

And what an imagination! CRIPPEN is superb.

The Crippen in the book CRIPPEN is a wimp with a questionable character, maybe a result of his questionable upbringing. As an adult, he’s more a wannabe doctor than an actual doctor. Still, he’s show more prepared himself as best he could to practice medicine when he leaves Michigan (where he meets and marries his second wife) for New York and then leaves there for England.

Crippen’s second wife, Cora, is another wannabe. She is a not-so-good music hall singer who fancies herself great enough (with a little coaching) to sing before the queen. She is a miserable hellion and abuses Crippen both physically and verbally.

So you probably won’t feel bad about the way she ends up. You may even root for the murderer.

But what will keep you following this story, including Crippen’s attempt at escape on an ocean liner to Canada, is Boyne’s writing and his overall presentation. Although the word “genius” is overused in performance reviews, no other word better describes how Boyne arranges the story the way he does here. Because of this arrangement, you will be surprised again and again. show less

Hawley Crippen might have remained a footnote in the history of true crime without his unique capture and the skillful fictionalization of the story by the incomparable John Boyne. Hawley refers to himself as Dr. Crippen, although he lacks the education and credentials to do more than work in a homeopathic pharmacy. His third wife, Cora, calls herself a gifted singer, although she lacks the talent to become more than a dance hall performer. This couple lives in a world of pretension and self-delusion, always hoping to take a step up on what they perceive to be the social ladder. Boyne's descriptions of the society they inhabit in the early 20th century are memorable, and his characterizations of the greedy, self-serving women within show more this community are especially scathing. While reading this book, I was reminded at times of Dreiser's An American Tragedy when the deplorably shallow Clyde stopped at nothing to achieve his goal of fitting into society.

The SS Montrose is introduced at the beginning of this novel as it prepares to sail from Antwerp to Quebec. The first-class passengers become an early focus, overseen by the pompous Captain Kendall, whose observations are pivotal to Crippen's life. These passengers are described in detail from the overbearing, self-important Mrs. Drake to the reclusive Mr. Robinson and his son, Edmund. The significance of the passage to Canada and its conclusion are significant. I didn't anticipate the ending.

This book was published in 2003, so is perhaps one of Boyne's earliest works. His skill as a writer is in evidence here, as in every book he has written. No two of his books are the same, but he manages to keep his readers enthralled whatever the subject. show less

What is it about Irish writers? They just can't write a bad book (well, other than Anne Enright and her Booker prizewinner, "The Gathering" ). As in his previous book, Mutiny on the Bounty, John Boyne writes a great story. He is skilled at creating both suspense and humour and his character development is superb. A comment by a reviewer from Publishers Weekly (on the back of the book) is dead on--
"Boyne is to be commended for his ability to alternate between Wodehousian humor and Edwardian noir".
This book succeeds at every level. The interaction of the characters on the SS Montrose during the two week journey across the Atlantic from Antwerp to Quebec City is both humorous and disturbing. And if the portrait of Crippen's despicable wife show more is exaggerated to the point where the reader is relieved at her death that can be forgiven because it is just such a great story.
Highly recommended. show less

(4) This is a novel based on an actual murder case from early 20th century London. Dr. Crippen was an American living in London with a bogus medical degree running a homeopathic medicine store and married to a horrible woman. When she is found chopped up in many pieces in their basement by an Inspector from Scotland Yard, the husband is the first suspect. Especially as it seems he has absconded with his new girlfriend. What exactly happened - no-one knows. But Boyce weaves an interesting story, much of which takes place on a transatlantic journey by Ocean liner.

Boyne's writing has a dreamlike or sepia-stained old photograph come to life kind of feel. I loved his "Thief of Time" and his old character from that novel, Matthieu Zela, show more appears here which was a nice touch. The story was engaging and easy to pick up read anytime but did seem to move slowly. There was a decent attempt to develop other characters such as Captain Kendall and his attachment to his sick first mate, the grasping Louise Smythson, and first class passengers Amelia and Victoria Drake. But ultimately those characters didn't really have a story arc or serve much purpose besides just filler. I did guess the reveal, I won't spoil but a rather macabre detail gives it away.

Overall a good, but not great book. Atmospheric, engaging, fairly well-written, with a Dickensian feel. I would definitely read more of his novels. show less

Why do I find murderers so fascinating? I don't even want to kill a deer to eat unless it's an emergency, and I'd rather not then. Anyway, Crippen is such an interesting figure because he seems the last sort of person to do the deed he was convicted of. In fact, there are those who believe him innocent and suspect Ethel LeNeve or even an unknown third party. To which faction does the author belong? I won't spoil that for you, but I did like that he kept his solution under wraps until near the end of the book.
The book begins towards the end of the saga, in Antwerp aboard the Montrose which is bound for Canada. First there is a long scene in which an unpleasant woman demonstrates her claims for the title of Upper Class Twit of the Year, show more and the reader begins to wonder when the actual story will start. Finally a man and boy calling themselves John and Edmund Robinson appear as fellow passengers to the dreadful woman, and the stage begins to be set. I say "begins," because this is one complicated play.
At first it feels too disjointed as we leave the ship to watch a social climber complain to her husband and dream of becoming a Lady. I grew rather annoyed but kept reading until the connection to the Crippen story was finally made clear--this former dance-hall girl was the woman who first notified police that Cora Crippen had been murdered. Watch as she hounds the police and even pinches a constable's bottom!
And then suddenly, the next chapter has the marriage of yet more people we have not yet heard of. Oh, it's Crippen's parents! So every third chapter or so we're going to go way back in time until finally we catch back up to the present of the other chapters. Great.
Besides really not caring for that chopped-up format (oh dear, what a phrase to use in this particular review! Sorry!) I found some modern sentiments and phrases that were thrown in to be rather jarring. It seemed that a few facts had been played with, but I am not a Crippen expert so I may be wrong on that. I thought some of the characters were very well done and found myself wanting to know more about them. The three main players seemed pretty accurate from what I have read, though I have not come across anything suggesting a true sadistic streak in Hawley Crippen before. It definitely added a creepy touch to the story though. Cora was, if anything, not as terrible here as I expected her to be, but still the sort of person one could easily imagine wanting to kill if one had to deal with her very often. Ethel is much more subtle and really remains rather mysterious, which I liked.
A NOTE FOR THE SQUEAMISH: This murder case is one of most famous because the method of disposal of the corpse was to cut it into pieces and hide them under the basement floor tiles, except for the head which was never found. If you've survived reading that, you'll probably be alright. The book does not go into a whole lot more detail than that.
So did I like the book? Yes, overall I did. I even plan to see if there are any others by the same author at the library. I just hope that his others do not follow a similar patchwork format! show less

This is a novel to burrow into and one for the Autumn / Winter list. My 10th Novel by John Boyne and I really do find that this author has a talent for creating memorable characters and bringing history to live. Pure entertainment and great stroytelling.

Each of his novels are uniquely different, engaging and enthralling and I love picking up a John Boyne Novel as you never really know where his books are going to take you.
I didn't even read the blurb of this novel and was presently surprised when finishing to realise that this was (loosely) based on true events and I really enjoyed my google search to find photos of the people involved.

"July 1910 The Grisly remains of Cora Crippen, music hall singer and wife of Dr Hawley Crippen are show more discovered in the cellar of 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden. But the Doctor and his mistress Ethel Le Neve have vanished much to the frustration of Scotland Yard and the outrage of horrified London

John Boyne is all about the character development and while many of the characters are dislikable they are certainly memorable and vivid. This Novel is quite long at 500 pages and yet it is beautifully paced and the slow release of the story keeps the reader engaged and in suspense right up until the end. The book moves beautifully from one location and one time frame to another without confusing the reader.

I really enjoyed this one, its an old fashioned style thriller/ historical novel based on an actuary case in history. show less

It took me so long to get into this book but I love John Boyne and the faith that it was going to be worth reading kept me going. The novel is a somewhat fictionalized account of famous murderer Hawley Crippen who in the early 1900's killed his wife Cora and buried her in the basement. It was a rather famous case because he was on a boat fleeing when he was recognized and he was the first suspect caught with the aid of wireless telegraphy created by Marconi. Crippen was a pretty run of the mill wife killer but John Boyne really brings the characters to life by fleshing in a lot of backstory and I must say that by the end I was somewhat sympathetic to the plight of Crippen. The main problem for me was the time jumps. At first the book is show more all over the place with a lot of set up and characters to learn about it. At first I didn't really care about so and so on the boat and I wanted to get into the crime itself. By the time a certain character is reveled to not be who they pretended to be I was hooked. By the time I got past the first 100 pages I was completely invested in to the story. Even though I knew the outline of the Crippen case the book still held a lot of surprises and interesting twists. While the people in the book are long dead and with forensics being what they were at the turn of the century, the facts of the case will never be known. Boyne however presents an entertaining take on a case that has fascinated people for the last 100 years show less