At about noon on Tuesday 2nd December 1788, James Reed and his sons were gathering kindling in Flitwick Wood when they found the savagely mutilated body of a young woman. It was a crime of passion quickly solved, but unusually, one for which contemporary documents allow its reconstruction. Members who attended our April meeting will recall Mark’s dramatised narration of the murder of Elizabeth White in Flitwick Wood in 1788 by her lover Joseph Cooke. A skilled story-teller, he had us spellbound. For those of you who want to learn more about Elizabeth’s tragic life and death, or who missed Mark’s talk, the event and the circumstances leading up to it are described in Mark’s short, vividly written book about the “violent unravelling of two ordinary human lives.”

A great read and very reasonably priced. I can do little better than to quote Richard Wildman’s comments: “I have enjoyed reading this convincing account of the crime, seen through the eyes of the main characters involved. We hear their own recorded utterances and a clear explanation of the legal procedures of the time.”

Recommendation: Highly recommended.