Murder at No. 4 Euston Square: The Mystery of the Lady in the Cellar
Someone must have known what happened to Matilda Hacker.
For someone in that house had killed her.
So how could the murderer prove so elusive? 

Standing four storeys tall in an elegant Bloomsbury terrace, No. 4, Euston Square was a well-kept, respectable boarding house. But beneath this genteel Victorian London veneer lay murderous intrigue. On 9 May 1879, the body of a former resident, Matilda Hacker, was discovered by chance in the coal cellar. The ensuing investigation – led by Inspector Charles Hagen, rising star of the recently formed CID – stripped bare the dark side of Victorian domesticity.

In this true-crime story, Sinclair McKay meticulously evaluates the evidence in first-hand sources. His gripping account sheds new light on a mystery that eluded Scotland Yard.

‘With the gusto of a penny dreadful, Murder at No. 4 Euston Road dodges any stodgy courtroom testimony that can weigh down true crime stories and sticks to the juicy details. It is hard to avoid the comparison with Kate Summerscale’s The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and it has similar historical richness and plot twisting…’ The Spectator
 
'Sinclair McKay is an accomplished and talented author with a rare skill... True crime fans and history buffs will enjoy this book, coming away with an enthralling true crime story and a new knowledge and understanding of Victorian London.' Crime Traveller
 
‘Gripping, gothic and deeply poignant’ Mail on Sunday
 
‘A meticulously researched book’  - Brian Viner, Daily Mail
 
 

1138468753
Murder at No. 4 Euston Square: The Mystery of the Lady in the Cellar
Someone must have known what happened to Matilda Hacker.
For someone in that house had killed her.
So how could the murderer prove so elusive? 

Standing four storeys tall in an elegant Bloomsbury terrace, No. 4, Euston Square was a well-kept, respectable boarding house. But beneath this genteel Victorian London veneer lay murderous intrigue. On 9 May 1879, the body of a former resident, Matilda Hacker, was discovered by chance in the coal cellar. The ensuing investigation – led by Inspector Charles Hagen, rising star of the recently formed CID – stripped bare the dark side of Victorian domesticity.

In this true-crime story, Sinclair McKay meticulously evaluates the evidence in first-hand sources. His gripping account sheds new light on a mystery that eluded Scotland Yard.

‘With the gusto of a penny dreadful, Murder at No. 4 Euston Road dodges any stodgy courtroom testimony that can weigh down true crime stories and sticks to the juicy details. It is hard to avoid the comparison with Kate Summerscale’s The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and it has similar historical richness and plot twisting…’ The Spectator
 
'Sinclair McKay is an accomplished and talented author with a rare skill... True crime fans and history buffs will enjoy this book, coming away with an enthralling true crime story and a new knowledge and understanding of Victorian London.' Crime Traveller
 
‘Gripping, gothic and deeply poignant’ Mail on Sunday
 
‘A meticulously researched book’  - Brian Viner, Daily Mail
 
 

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Murder at No. 4 Euston Square: The Mystery of the Lady in the Cellar

Murder at No. 4 Euston Square: The Mystery of the Lady in the Cellar

by Sinclair McKay
Murder at No. 4 Euston Square: The Mystery of the Lady in the Cellar

Murder at No. 4 Euston Square: The Mystery of the Lady in the Cellar

by Sinclair McKay

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Overview

Someone must have known what happened to Matilda Hacker.
For someone in that house had killed her.
So how could the murderer prove so elusive? 

Standing four storeys tall in an elegant Bloomsbury terrace, No. 4, Euston Square was a well-kept, respectable boarding house. But beneath this genteel Victorian London veneer lay murderous intrigue. On 9 May 1879, the body of a former resident, Matilda Hacker, was discovered by chance in the coal cellar. The ensuing investigation – led by Inspector Charles Hagen, rising star of the recently formed CID – stripped bare the dark side of Victorian domesticity.

In this true-crime story, Sinclair McKay meticulously evaluates the evidence in first-hand sources. His gripping account sheds new light on a mystery that eluded Scotland Yard.

‘With the gusto of a penny dreadful, Murder at No. 4 Euston Road dodges any stodgy courtroom testimony that can weigh down true crime stories and sticks to the juicy details. It is hard to avoid the comparison with Kate Summerscale’s The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and it has similar historical richness and plot twisting…’ The Spectator
 
'Sinclair McKay is an accomplished and talented author with a rare skill... True crime fans and history buffs will enjoy this book, coming away with an enthralling true crime story and a new knowledge and understanding of Victorian London.' Crime Traveller
 
‘Gripping, gothic and deeply poignant’ Mail on Sunday
 
‘A meticulously researched book’  - Brian Viner, Daily Mail
 
 


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780711255838
Publisher: Aurum
Publication date: 07/06/2021
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 5.00(w) x 7.75(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

SINCLAIR MCKAY is the acclaimed author of history and historical true crime including the best-selling The Secret Life of Bletchley Park. HIs previous Aurum titles include Mile End Murder, The Lost World of Bletchley Park, The Secret Life of Fighter Command and The Secret Listeners for Aurum, as well as histories of Hammer films and the James Bond films. He writes features for the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday and lives in London.

Table of Contents

Preface - The Dislocation of the Dead 1

1 The Day Before 7

2 'There Is Something in the Cellar' 15

3 The Man from X Division 25

4 A City of Disappearances 31

5 'I Am Not a Judge of Human Bones' 35

6 Superior Apartments in a Quiet Home 49

7 'A Mass of Light-Coloured Ringlets' 55

8 The Canterbury Dolls 61

9 The Book of Dreams 71

10 'No, Not Me' 77

11 The Brothers Bastendorff 97

12 The New Age of Light 105

13 He Kept Company with Her 111

14 The Boiling Bones 123

15 'Everything Was Sweet' 131

16 'It Was Not My Place' 141

17 'Working Women Like Herself' 163

18 Avowed Admirers 171

19 'The Expected Child' 177

20 'Oh God! What a Sight Met My Gaze!' 197

21 She Had No Character 215

22 'I Have Disgraced You Before all the Country' 223

23 'I Depend Upon My Character' 231

24 'Such a Strange, Brotherly Part' 249

25 Disintegration 259

26 A Length of Washing Line 279

27 The Stain That Would Not Go 291

Notes 297

Picture Credits 301

Afterword: A Bloomsbury and Somers Town Walk 303

Afterword Two: Illustrated Murder and Mayhem! - The Victorian Press 305

Selected Further Reading 309

Acknowledgements 313

Biography 314

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