Burke & Hare

By Owen Dudley-Edwards

In a boarding house in the WestPort area of 1820's Edinburgh, an old army pensioner dies of natural causes. He owes the landlord 4 rent. Instead of burying the body, the landlord and his friend—one William Hare and William Burke, both Irish—fill the coffin with bark and sell the corpse to Dr. Robert Knox, an ambitious Edinburgh anatomist. Burke and Hare make a profit of 3 and 10 shillings. After this encouraging start, Burke and Hare decide to suffocate another sickly tenant, so beginning the criminal career of the most notorious double act in serial killing that would only end on the gallows with the worst kind of betrayal. It's a true tale of desperation and greed, of outsiders, ambition, corruption, love, and betrayal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Birlinn
• Release date: Oct 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781495650543

Owen Dudley-Edwards

Owen Dudley Edwards was initially led to his subjects by something he holds in common with them; he too is an Irish Catholic now making a contribution to higher learning in Edinburgh. A noted scholar, he is Reader in History at Edinburgh University and is a regular contributor and reviewer for radio, television and the press. His previous books include The Quest for Sherlock Holmes: A Biographical Study of Arthur Conan Doyle, Mind of an Actvist: James Connolly and P. G. Wodehouse: A Critical and Historical Study.