The Case of the Murderous Dr Cream

The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer Dean Jobb

Algonquin Books 2021 Hb, 416pp, £21.99, ISBN 9781616206895 Dr Thomas Neill Cream was a rough type, a blackmailer and abortionist who had been sentenced to imprisonment for life in 1881 after murdering a woman in Chicago, but freed 10 years later to continue his life of crime. Being incapable of any more doctoring or abortionism after his 10 years inside, Dr Cream landed on his feet after inheriting his father’s fortune. He went to Lambeth in London, where he poisoned four young prostitutes with strychnine, apparently just for the fun of it.

Confused attempts to blackmail and frame various wealthy people for the murders led to his downfall: it is only in the fantasy world of Sherlock Holmes that a doctor is the first of criminals. Cream was no master criminal, drawing attention to himself through his interest in the Lambeth poisonings and becoming the main police suspect.

Arrested after it had been discovered that he was a convicted murderer in the United States, and that he showed an abnormal interest in the Lambeth prostitutes, the 42-yearold Cream was found guilty of murder and hanged at Newgate on 15 November 1892.

Dean Jobb is no Dean Swift, but makes use of basic English without any long or difficult words, making his book easily digestible for the Internet generation. The production of the book is excellent, with many illustrations never seen before, and the research is impeccable.

It would have merited a five-star review had it not been for an uncalled-for quirk in the structure of the narrative, making the chapters jump back and forth in time in a confused manner. This may be “creative writing”, but still it significantly devalues the book. Jan Bondeson

★★★★