Tales of violent death and villainy always hold us in a grim but thrilling grip. In Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths Around Northampton the chill is brought close to home as each chapter investigates the darker side of humanity in cases of murder, deceit, and pure malice committed over the centuries in this part of the country. For this journey into Northampton's bloody but neglected past, Paul Harrison has selected over 20 notorious episodes that give a fascinating insight into criminal acts and the criminal mind. He reinvestigates some of the most intriguing cases, introduces new evidence and questions verdicts that were reached many years ago. Among the cases are two old people who were bludgeoned to death for no apparent reason, the murder of a mistress and her child, a philandering salesman who faked his own death, a promiscuous woman who came to a cruel end, a shoemaker who brutally attacked his wife, and the disappearance of Lydia Atley whose remains were never found. These human dramas are often played out in the most commonplace of circumstances, but others are so odd as to be stranger than fiction.