Off the Shelf: The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream

[Ally]

Rippercast Book Club reviews The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream by Dean Jobb.

https://www.casebook.org/podcast/listen.html?id=318

[Herlock Sholmes]

I haven’t listened to the podcast yet (I will though) but it’s an excellent book.

[Ally]

We overall enjoyed it and recommend it. The writing was great, but we did get hung up on the editorial decisions. Proving for me, something I've long believed, good writers suffer from the lack of good editors.

[RManny]

I listened to the Prologue podcast for "Off the Shelf" and the inaugural episode, "The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream" during my drive to a forensic meeting this past week. The creators and participants are to be commended for giving us these two episodes. The Prologue was especially enjoyable to me because I like to learn how people develop their opinions or what they use as comparators for their standards. For example, learning that two if not three of the presenters admired the writing of Terry Prachett tells me that these are good folks and reasonable.

Writing is not easy, but Prachett had the capacity to be witty, poignant, and he wielded a mighty pin that he used to puncture our mighty and self-righteous opinions, all the while keeping us laughing, even though we may be wiping away tears. I had the great fortune to have heard him speak, both times in a panel discussion. (Oddly, I cannot remember the other panelists.) Prachett's writing style was accessible, entertaining and graceful. These are qualities that so much of what is written are desperately devoid of (my current wall of text being an example). But enough cannonizing Sir Terry. I appreciate your appreciation of him as a writer.

I did not read "The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream", prior to listening to the podcast, I shall go back and read it, though. I do have a couple of thoughts on the topic of homicidal poisoning.

1. I have heard the expression or hypothesis that homicidal poisoning is the tool of women or the weak. I do not think that any of the presenters included "the weak" in association with "women" as poisoners, nor do I think that it was felt to be a very credible argument by the good folks on the podcasts. But, I would love to drive a stake through the heart of this hypothesis. Unfortunately, I do not think that I can. Primarily because homicidal poisoning does not to be common these days. This is probably because the availability of poisons has been diminished due to governmental and societal regulation, and because there are better ways to "do in" your enemy, like guns. I THINK that our perception of homicidal poisoning as a tool of women or others, comes down to us through the echo chamber of history that amplifies the salacious.

2. Point one, brings me here. Homicidal poisoning does still occur, it shows up in child abuse cases (male and female abusers) who use over-the-counter remedies to poison or sedate their victims, and among healthcare workers in situations of "angel of death" or "doctor death" cases. Harold Shipman, MD and Genene Jones, RN come to mind. In these cases, the murderers used their positions and their privileged access to therapeutic drugs to commit their crimes.

I cannot begin to guess how many active serial poisoners there are, but I have reviewed several thousand cases of accidental/intentional/suicidal/homicidal poisonings and have come up with less than a handful that were true homicidal poisonings. But, they are rare, and I hope that cases like Dr. Shipman are things of the past.

I should note, that there are some who have stated that we would all be surprised by the numbers of peoples in graveyards who would raise their hands when asked if they had been poisoned. Frankly, I would just be surprised that anyone was sitting up, much less raising their hands in a graveyard.

Thanks to the presenters for this wonderful podcast, I am looking forward to the next.

Cheers,
Richard

[Ally]

Hello Richard, thank you for the kind words on the podcast. Do not ever apologize for extensive lauding of Sir Pratchett, I could have conversation for days about the various plots, witticisms and skewering-with-great-style displayed in his writings. He remains one of my favorite authors of all time. I once, in a foolish attempt at embracing minimalism (snort), got rid of half of my Pratchett collection, determined only to keep "the very best and my decided favorites" and of course, exposing me as the foolish person that I am, have been repurchasing these books as nostalgia does me in.

If you enjoy poisoning cases, you'll enjoy our next book "The Case of the Salmon Sandwiches, by M.W Oldridge". It is both an interesting read, and delves heavily into the forensics of poisoning and how forensic testimony can make or break a case. It is currently only available in hardback, but the publisher has assured me that a Kindle version will be available soon.

[RManny]

Ally, thank you for your thoughtful reply. I appreciate being forewarned that the next book is HC, only. Will order now.

Richard

Update: I am having a bit of a tough time locating a copy in the US, any suggestions? Thank you!

[RManny]

Never mind, I have sorted it out. Missed a link on the Mango Books page. Feeling less Sir Terry and more Homer Simpson at the moment.

[Ally]

Unfortunately, the publisher is a small print publisher located in the UK. I did order my copy from them, and it took about 3 weeks to get, that's why I reached out to the publisher to find out if Kindle books would be available for US purchasers. The link for purchasing if you don't mind waiting on the postal service, is:

https://mangobooks.co.uk/products/th...mon-sandwiches

The publisher did say they are going into partnership with a US based distributer Indiana University Press, and Salmon Sandwiches would be available from them shortly, but I do not know what "shortly" signifies.

[Ally]

Never mind, I have sorted it out. Missed a link on the Mango Books page. Feeling less Sir Terry and more Homer Simpson at the moment.

D'oh!

[Ozzy]

What Jon Rees says about opening epub books, 3mins 40seconds in, where when you first select the book on your ebook reader and it doesn't open at the cover. I have that as well. I have checked my kindle in the past to see if there's a setting. My old kindle doesn't support epubs (computer says no) so I convert them to a format (mobi) which my kindle can use. Even so, I still get the same where you don't see the cover unless you start flipping the pages back.

Is the idea that when selecting an ebook in your ereader library list, it's the virtual version of opening the deadtree version?

I should add, I enjoyed the podcast lady and gents.