The Apprentice of Split Crow Lane. The Story of the Carr's Hill Murder

First edition, first impression with full number line. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, WITHOUT DEDICATION, ON TITLE PAGE. Decorated boards, no jacket as issued. In almost 'as new' condition, price on back cover (£20.00), no other inscriptions, internally clean tight and square, looks unread. 355pp. Gateshead, April 1866. Five year old Sarah Melvin was walking along Split Crow Lane looking for her father when she disappeared. Later that night a couple walking home from the pub tripped over her body. Sarah was the child of Irish immigrants who had been drawn to the North east in search of work. Poor, perceived with prejudice, they quickly came under suspicion of killing their own child. The true murderer was a misfit whose social awkwardness stopped him ever rising above apprentice. He would eventually make clear exactly why he killed Sarah, and the reason would scandalise the whole country, yet to him had a dreadful logic. Told here for the first time, this is an extraordinary story of sexual deviance and murder, offering a chance to reassess a most unexpected judgement with new insight. In lively empathic prose, Jane Housham explores psychiatry, the justice system and the media in mid Victorian England to reveal a surprisingly modern state of affairs. Very scarce signed.…