Supper with the Crippens

On 31st January 1910, Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen poisoned his wife, dismembered her body, and buried her remains beneath the brick floor of his London coal cellar. As suspicians grew, he and his mistress, Ethel Le Neve, disguised themselves as father and son and set sail for Canada.

In a highly publicised national scandal, a dramatic investigation ensued, involving a chase across the Atlantic, a Scotland Yard detective and a sleuth-playing sea captain. Crippen was arrested, convicted of murder at the Old Bailey, and hanged in November 1910. Ethel Le Neve was acquitted of being an accessory to the crime. David James Smith uncovers startling new information about the notorious case, and reveals a dark, psychological drama where class, desire and social ambition are powerful motives for murder …