The Maul and the Pear Tree

About “The Maul and the Pear Tree”

The book recounts the Radcliffe Highway murders of 1811, a series of violent killings in the London Docks near Wapping Old Stairs, where two shopkeepers, their baby, and shop boy were murdered, followed twelve days later by the deaths of a pub owner, his wife, and servant. The account explores the rudimentary police system of Regency London as it attempts to investigate the crimes, which provoked nationwide panic and are compared to other notorious serial murder cases.