The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer (2022)

by Dean Jobb

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History. Science. True Crime. Nonfiction. HTML:*�??A tour de force of storytelling.�?� �??Louise Penny, #1 New York Times* bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Gamache series �??Jobb�??s excellent storytelling makes the book a pleasure to read.�?� �??**The New York Times Book Review �?�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 murdered as many as ten people in the United States, Britain, and Canada, a death toll with almost no precedent. Poison was his weapon of choice. Largely forgotten today, this villain was as brazen as the notorious Jack the Ripper. Structured around the doctor�??s London murder trial in 1892, 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 Dr. Cream to prey on vulnerable and desperate women, many of whom had turned to him for medical help. Dean Jobb transports readers to the late nineteenth century as Scotland Yard traces Dr. Cream�??s life through Canada and Chicago and finally to London, where new investigative tools called forensics were just coming into use, even as most police departments still scoffed at using science to solve crimes. But then, most investigators could hardly imagine that serial killers existed�??the term was unknown. As the Chicago Tribune wrote, Dr. 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.�?� For fans of Erik Larson�??s The Devil in the White City, all things Sherlock Holmes, or the podcast My Favorite Murder, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream is an unfo… (more)

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Very well researched and told with enough Detail to read like a story. The way the Dr. repeatedly gets away with things due to his superior social and economic status versus the status of his victims and witnesses would seem like an indictment of England, Canada and the US in Victorian times, if anything had changed since then. Instead, it’s a reminder of problems that still exist (

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cspiwak | Mar 6, 2024 |

The protagonist is a very interesting figure. Alleged doctor by trade, inexplicably Cream devoted his efforts towards poisoning various prostitutes and lower income women (and one man) for reasons never entirely clear. Perhaps he simply enjoyed the sufferings of others. At least with his male victim, it appears he was attempting to profit along with the victim's wife in the death. So too with his various amateurish extortion attempts. Writing letters that accuse others of crimes is one thing. Containing information within those letters that could only be known by the perpetrator is simply foolish.

While the character is interesting, the book itself felt a bit disjointed and could be difficult to follow. What could have been a very compelling read simply wasn't. (

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la2bkk | Nov 4, 2023 |

I listened to this as an audiobook in my car. The narrator, whether deliberate or not, had a tone that seemed aloof.

It's set in a time when it was easier to change one's identity, easier to disappear to a different area--and apparently easier to get a medical license without the new jurisdiction checking why you moved from your former location.

Due to many aliases, I lost track of what Dr. Cream's real name actually was. (

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JenniferRobb | Apr 7, 2023 |

Running around at the same time as Jack the Ripper, the lesser known Thomas Neill Cream was also attracted to women of the "lower classes", preferring to use his knowledge of pharmacopoeia to overtake and subdue women instead of his more violent counterpart's use of a knife. Leaving a trail of dead women wherever he went, embarrassing Scotland Yard, and causing local law enforcement to scratch their heads, Cream's past finally catches up to him in a tantalizing trial that packed the gallery.

Jobb has a gift of bringing all these characters back to life and creating a compelling retelling of this intriguing case.

An advanced copy of this book was sent to me by the publisher. The opinions are my own. (

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LiteraryGadd | Jan 16, 2023 |

Loved this book. The author did a lot of research into the case and brought the reader into history. There were so many people involved in this case that it was hard to keep track but thankfully Jobb added a list for easy reference. This was well researched and brought a forgotten case back to light. Very well done. (

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lady_stokes | Jan 2, 2023 |

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Awards

Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction (Longlist – Nonfiction – 2022)

BookTube Prize (Octofinalist – Nonfiction – 2022)

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Canonical title

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

Original title

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

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2022

People/Characters

Thomas Neil Cream

Louisa "Lou" Harvey

Important places

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Joliet, Illinois, USA

London, England, UK

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

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Original language

English US

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▾Book descriptions

History. Science. True Crime. Nonfiction. HTML:�??A tour de force of storytelling.�?� �??Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Gamache series
�??Jobb�??s excellent storytelling makes the book a pleasure to read.�?� �??The New York Times Book Review
�?�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 murdered as many as ten people in the United States, Britain, and Canada, a death toll with almost no precedent. Poison was his weapon of choice. Largely forgotten today, this villain was as brazen as the notorious Jack the Ripper.

Structured around the doctor�??s London murder trial in 1892, 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 Dr. Cream to prey on vulnerable and desperate women, many of whom had turned to him for medical help.

Dean Jobb transports readers to the late nineteenth century as Scotland Yard traces Dr. Cream�??s life through Canada and Chicago and finally to London, where new investigative tools called forensics were just coming into use, even as most police departments still scoffed at using science to solve crimes. But then, most investigators could hardly imagine that serial killers existed�??the term was unknown. As the Chicago Tribune wrote, Dr. 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.�?� For fans of Erik Larson�??s The Devil in the White City, all things Sherlock Holmes, or the podcast My Favorite Murder, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream is an unfo

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