Reviews for Dancing for the Hangman

The average rating for Dancing for the Hangman based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-05-24 00:00:00 Katherine Taft This is a bookgroup read for me. I knew before I read this novel of Dr Crippen- notorious mostly perhaps for the publicity surrounding his pursuit and eventual capture aboard ship about to dock in Canada, but I did nt know about the controversy which surrounds his crime and his trial. This book however is spent mostly developing pretty unpleasant characters for Crippen and his wife Cora and the dreadful relationship they had. Crippen is portrayed as a weak, self centred man, with a superiority complex, while Cora is manipulative and grasping. The controversy is left late, and centres mostly on the deceit of his conniving solicitors and his accomplices. I am not sure how much of this is fiction and how much is based on historical records of police statements and trial transcripts. Dr Crippen probably did get a raw deal, but I suppose we will never know. I did not enjoy this much

Review # 2 was written on 2019-07-09 00:00:00 Robert Thompson Reading this fictionalized account of the life of Dr Crippen including the events around his wife's death I was reminded of Evan Hunter(Ed McBain)'s novelisation of the Lizzie Borden case. Both suffer from the same problem that the ending in both cases is known and while initially the accounts of Crippen's life are well written and engaging by the time it comes to the remains in the cellar being discovered and Crippen and Ethel de Neve are forced to flee it has all become too much an I admit I skimmed over the last part to get it over with. If you no nothing of the case this would be a good account of it but I don't think it adds much more than I knew before.