JUST IN - MARY ANN COTTON: Victorian Serial Killer by Simon Webb and Miranda Brown. SIGNED BY SIMON WEBB. Shortly after she was hanged at Durham in 1873, a play about the notorious life of Mary Ann Cotton was staged at a theatre in nearby Sunderland. This is hardly surprising - Cotton was a real-life character straight out of Victorian melodrama. Darkly beautiful, Mary Ann married when she was young and pregnant, and worked her way through a number of husbands and lovers. By Victorian standards, she was remarkably free with her sexual favours: unfortunately, she also made free with the arsenic. Some estimates suggest that the girl from Low Moorsley, County Durham, may have poisoned as many as twenty-two people, including children, husbands, a lover and her own mother. In this new book about the so-called West Auckland Poisoner, the authors suggest that the true number may lie between ten and fifteen. This still makes Cotton the most prolific female serial killer in British history. Mary Ann evaded detection by regularly changing homes, jobs and sexual partners. In the end, she got careless and aroused the suspicions of a local businessman in West Auckland, County Durham. In this book, which Simon Webb wrote with his daughter, Miranda Brown, the authors have tried to tell the complete story of Cotton's life and times, and re-examine the evidence and offer theories as to why she did what she did. Illus. with Select Bibliography. 98pp. softcover. SIGNED. £8.00. Postage at the local rate and can be ordered via the website.

A WHITECHAPEL SOCIETY ANNOUNCEMENT. The Whitechapel Society are organising a One Day Symposium : 'The East End of Annie Chapman' to be held on Saturday September 8th, 2012 at The City Hotel, Osborn Street, E1. Details are available by clickng on the 'Messageboard' link on this page.

Welcome to a new-look Loretta Lay Books website, which you will see continues to cater for those interested in not just antiquarian and out-of-print true crime books, but also some of those elusive Jack the Ripper titles.

Apart from the obvious cosmetics, there are other changes, most of which are actually 'behind-the-scenes', to help make the site operate smoothly and efficiently. You will see that payments can now be made via PayPal, as well as by cheque (as long as it is in sterling on a British bank), or directly into my bank account (details will be provided upon request). Unfortunately I will no longer be processing credit cards myself - so apologies to those existing customers this is likely to affect, but it is very simple to sign-up with PayPal. I would actually recommend that you open an account with Loretta Lay Books via the website, for ease of transaction. All information provided is secure, and now of course doesn't involve any credit card information.

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Loretta Lay